Hello there everyone,
Just thought I'd make a quick post because Evan is off getting pizza, but mostly because today marks 2 weeks before my surgery!
I'm starting to get mixed feelings... I've kept telling myself this whole time that this surgery is necessary but is it really? It's not causing me any TMJ pain, or problems chewing or speaking, the only thing is that the right side of my jaw clicks. And that doesn't even hurt. Also I'm starting to realize this decision was almost never mine. My Orthodontist basically told me I had to do it. Or made it such a big deal that I thought it was necessary.
Apparently this surgery is supposed to prevent things, but the risks involved are developing the things I'm trying to prevent?
Am I even old enough to handle such a surgery?
On the other hand, I am quite excited. This surgery has been talked about for 3 years, and the day is only 2 weeks away.
But seriously, is all this even worth my face completely changing when I don't even have any issues? Like yeah my lips don't touch, but that's cosmetic. And I've been trying to convince myself that this isn't cosmetic, since I'm against that, but I'm failing miserably.
For my friends and family that read this, any words of encouragement would be appreciated. I'm starting to get nervous already, and I know some people close to me don't agree with this surgery at all, which makes me even more nervous.
I'll post soon, the latest being a week from now when I get my surgical hooks on!!
Friday, March 29, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Final appointment with my surgeon
So like I mentioned in my last post, I saw my surgeon today, and he's completely restored my faith in him, like he always does. I always leave his building feeling confident.
I'll start from the beginning. We got there at 3 (The office staff called again today and said they had to move it to 3) and we waited less than 5 minutes before being called in. This lovely lady walked my mom and I to a room about 2 doors down from my surgeons office. It looked like a dentist room - There were 2 counters, a dentist chair, and an x-ray screen up on the wall. My mom and I had sat down for no longer than 2 minutes when my dad walked in. he sat down and we waited about 5 minutes.
I think I've posted before about how concerned my parents are about my Genioplasty. They both believed it served no purpose but cosmetic, and they were worried about how it was just more surgery, more risk, more recovery, just totally unnecessary. So my surgeon walks in, and while him and his assistant are preparing the molds for my teeth impressions, he talks about the procedure, what he's gonna do, what I should expect out of it. Then my parents start asking questions, like "Is the Genioplasty really worth it?" "What are the benefits to the Genioplasty?" etc etc. Turns out that there are more benefits than I realized to every different surgery he will be doing.
While moving my upper jaw a couple millimeters up, he's also moving it out, and somehow repositioning it, which will open up my airways, give me less of a gummy smile, and make things more proportionate. My lower jaw is being brought out and rotated up to fix all my bite issues. And my Genioplasty will give me a lot of benefits: It will support my lower lip, help close my lips together, and also help position my lower jaw and mouth in such a way that it will open up my airways even more, causing my snoring to almost completely cease and there being less of a chance for me delveloping sleep apnea in the future. It will also, of course, make everything more proportionate.
My surgeon mentioned that his biggest worry is over-doing it, meaning that he could move my bones too much and cause me to look much older than I already am. "There are 1000 ways to fix a persons bite," he says. "I could either fix your bite and have you come out of it looking old, disproportionate, and frankly a little ugly, or I can fix your bite and have you look the same, just better." So the good news is, I'm not going to look MUCH different than I already do.
He did the molds for my teeth, which sucked because I was feeling nauseous since i hadn't ate anything all day and there was some kind of peppermint scent/flavour to it. Seriously thought I was gonna puke. But then we got back to talking, and we started with the diet.
For one thing, I will not be eating out of a syringe. I'm a little disappointed, I seriously thought I would be. But my surgeon informed me that I will be eating either out of a cup or out of a spoon. He then said I would be on a liquid diet for 3 weeks. About that time is when I will be de-wired or my elastics will be taken off, whichever he finds more appropriate during surgery. Before that I will be allowed to take my elastics off for about half an hour a couple times a day to fit food in my mouth. Not too many protein shakes, he said. Not until 2 months post-op will I be allowed to chew anything. I'm most likely, almost 100%, going to gain back feeling in my upper jaw. The lower jaw not so much a higher chance, but still a pretty good one.
He then got me to bite unto a warmed up peice of pink wax a couple times. I guess this is to help design my bite plate. Hopefully I'll get to keep the fucking thing as a reminder of my surgery and the recovery.
That was basically my appointment. He gave me a 15mg tablet of Zantac or whatever it's called that I will take with a shotglass of water before coming to the hospital. It will settle the acid in my stomach and therefore keeping the anesthetic from taking such a hard toll on it, making it less likely that I'll be sick when I wake up. Then my parents paid for everything and we left. My parents now have faith that the Genioplasty is a good idea :)
I won't be seeing my surgeon until the day I get my surgery, but thank god he said I can call if I have any more questions. Unfortunately he's on vacation that following week (of course he is. of course) so I'll have to deal with his associate for the follow up 6 days later. I don't mind actually, he has a french accent so that'spretty sexy kinda cool.
Thank god the surgery is after Easter - I can eat all the chocolate I want!!
I'll start from the beginning. We got there at 3 (The office staff called again today and said they had to move it to 3) and we waited less than 5 minutes before being called in. This lovely lady walked my mom and I to a room about 2 doors down from my surgeons office. It looked like a dentist room - There were 2 counters, a dentist chair, and an x-ray screen up on the wall. My mom and I had sat down for no longer than 2 minutes when my dad walked in. he sat down and we waited about 5 minutes.
I think I've posted before about how concerned my parents are about my Genioplasty. They both believed it served no purpose but cosmetic, and they were worried about how it was just more surgery, more risk, more recovery, just totally unnecessary. So my surgeon walks in, and while him and his assistant are preparing the molds for my teeth impressions, he talks about the procedure, what he's gonna do, what I should expect out of it. Then my parents start asking questions, like "Is the Genioplasty really worth it?" "What are the benefits to the Genioplasty?" etc etc. Turns out that there are more benefits than I realized to every different surgery he will be doing.
While moving my upper jaw a couple millimeters up, he's also moving it out, and somehow repositioning it, which will open up my airways, give me less of a gummy smile, and make things more proportionate. My lower jaw is being brought out and rotated up to fix all my bite issues. And my Genioplasty will give me a lot of benefits: It will support my lower lip, help close my lips together, and also help position my lower jaw and mouth in such a way that it will open up my airways even more, causing my snoring to almost completely cease and there being less of a chance for me delveloping sleep apnea in the future. It will also, of course, make everything more proportionate.
My surgeon mentioned that his biggest worry is over-doing it, meaning that he could move my bones too much and cause me to look much older than I already am. "There are 1000 ways to fix a persons bite," he says. "I could either fix your bite and have you come out of it looking old, disproportionate, and frankly a little ugly, or I can fix your bite and have you look the same, just better." So the good news is, I'm not going to look MUCH different than I already do.
He did the molds for my teeth, which sucked because I was feeling nauseous since i hadn't ate anything all day and there was some kind of peppermint scent/flavour to it. Seriously thought I was gonna puke. But then we got back to talking, and we started with the diet.
For one thing, I will not be eating out of a syringe. I'm a little disappointed, I seriously thought I would be. But my surgeon informed me that I will be eating either out of a cup or out of a spoon. He then said I would be on a liquid diet for 3 weeks. About that time is when I will be de-wired or my elastics will be taken off, whichever he finds more appropriate during surgery. Before that I will be allowed to take my elastics off for about half an hour a couple times a day to fit food in my mouth. Not too many protein shakes, he said. Not until 2 months post-op will I be allowed to chew anything. I'm most likely, almost 100%, going to gain back feeling in my upper jaw. The lower jaw not so much a higher chance, but still a pretty good one.
He then got me to bite unto a warmed up peice of pink wax a couple times. I guess this is to help design my bite plate. Hopefully I'll get to keep the fucking thing as a reminder of my surgery and the recovery.
That was basically my appointment. He gave me a 15mg tablet of Zantac or whatever it's called that I will take with a shotglass of water before coming to the hospital. It will settle the acid in my stomach and therefore keeping the anesthetic from taking such a hard toll on it, making it less likely that I'll be sick when I wake up. Then my parents paid for everything and we left. My parents now have faith that the Genioplasty is a good idea :)
I won't be seeing my surgeon until the day I get my surgery, but thank god he said I can call if I have any more questions. Unfortunately he's on vacation that following week (of course he is. of course) so I'll have to deal with his associate for the follow up 6 days later. I don't mind actually, he has a french accent so that's
Thank god the surgery is after Easter - I can eat all the chocolate I want!!
Here's a question for you all...
Is it normal not to trust your surgeon 2 weeks before surgery?
I've been incredibly nervous about the surgery the last couple days, I think the thought of the surgery being so close has finally hit me. Anyways, it's made me think a lot about my surgeon and if he really is the right choice.
Let me start by saying that I never had a say in who my surgeon was. I was only 17 and had no idea what was going on. My orthodontist referred me to a surgeon and my parents just decided to stick with him. Now, needless to say, it's basically too late to change my mind.
I remember he always seemed to be in a rush. Didn't seem to care about my worries, just gave me straight forward answers and ignored how much these worries concerned me. At the time, I just saw this as him being incredibly honest and blunt, which is a quality one would like in a surgeon. But now I'm getting scared.
I don't know anyone who has had surgery done by him before. It would be incredibly helpful if I did, that way I have personal opinions on his ability and the results. So I decided to look him up on Google and look at some reviews. maybe 3 out of 15 were good. Most of them pointed out his arrogant behavior, and the fact that he doesn't care about your concerns. Now, I'm starting to notice the bad points more than the good points.
I'm freaking out. Is this normal?
To share a bit of personal information with you all, I'll tell you my biggest fear is throwing up. Biggest fear on this planet. I have not thrown up for almost 4 years. Before that, about 2 years. And before that, 7.
I told him about my huge fear and he basically said there's nothing he can do about it. To just deal with it, or whatever. He said he would give me anti-nausea medication, and that only like 20% of his patients get sick from surgery, but that if I puke, I puke. Which, I understand. But then he started telling me HOW I have to puke. To the side, and in some kind of dish, I don't fucking know. But he said it as if I wasn't allowed to puke whichever way I want, and if I'm about to puke, you bet your ass I'm gonna panic and puke whichever way I'm facing.
I am seeing him tomorrow/today at 2:30. However, I'm finding that the staff isn't up to par as well, as many people pointed out in their reviews. They called last week asking to confirm my appointment at 2:30, which I knew the time, because I have a card with the time written on it. But then they called today (I guess my mom forgot to confirm) and said they really needed to confirm my appointment at 3 pm? Sorry what? Ugh. I'll post again tomorrow when I get back from my appointment.
lateeeeeerrrr
I've been incredibly nervous about the surgery the last couple days, I think the thought of the surgery being so close has finally hit me. Anyways, it's made me think a lot about my surgeon and if he really is the right choice.
Let me start by saying that I never had a say in who my surgeon was. I was only 17 and had no idea what was going on. My orthodontist referred me to a surgeon and my parents just decided to stick with him. Now, needless to say, it's basically too late to change my mind.
I remember he always seemed to be in a rush. Didn't seem to care about my worries, just gave me straight forward answers and ignored how much these worries concerned me. At the time, I just saw this as him being incredibly honest and blunt, which is a quality one would like in a surgeon. But now I'm getting scared.
I don't know anyone who has had surgery done by him before. It would be incredibly helpful if I did, that way I have personal opinions on his ability and the results. So I decided to look him up on Google and look at some reviews. maybe 3 out of 15 were good. Most of them pointed out his arrogant behavior, and the fact that he doesn't care about your concerns. Now, I'm starting to notice the bad points more than the good points.
I'm freaking out. Is this normal?
To share a bit of personal information with you all, I'll tell you my biggest fear is throwing up. Biggest fear on this planet. I have not thrown up for almost 4 years. Before that, about 2 years. And before that, 7.
I told him about my huge fear and he basically said there's nothing he can do about it. To just deal with it, or whatever. He said he would give me anti-nausea medication, and that only like 20% of his patients get sick from surgery, but that if I puke, I puke. Which, I understand. But then he started telling me HOW I have to puke. To the side, and in some kind of dish, I don't fucking know. But he said it as if I wasn't allowed to puke whichever way I want, and if I'm about to puke, you bet your ass I'm gonna panic and puke whichever way I'm facing.
I am seeing him tomorrow/today at 2:30. However, I'm finding that the staff isn't up to par as well, as many people pointed out in their reviews. They called last week asking to confirm my appointment at 2:30, which I knew the time, because I have a card with the time written on it. But then they called today (I guess my mom forgot to confirm) and said they really needed to confirm my appointment at 3 pm? Sorry what? Ugh. I'll post again tomorrow when I get back from my appointment.
lateeeeeerrrr
Friday, March 22, 2013
3 weeks!!!
Hiya errrrrr-one,
Today makes it exactly 3 weeks before my surgery!! I'm actually surprised at how calm and ..unworried? I am. It's gonna be such a life-changing experience, and I'm going around acting as if it isn't even going to happen.
Maybe that's just it. Maybe I'm in denial that it's gonna happen. Whatever the case, it is going to happen.
Oh, and if anyone who has had Genioplasty stumbled across this post, please let me know your experience since you got it. I'm concerned that it's more likely I'll lose permanent feeling in my lower lip/chin and I want to know if that's actually the case. Of course I'll ask my surgeon but any personal experiences on it will be so much help.
I'm kinda rambling now so I think I'm just gonna go do some Rosetta Stone now... I'm learning German hehe. Anyways I'll post after I see my surgeon next Tuesday.
Have a good weekend everyone :)
Oh and PS- I think I'm not going to do Jaw Surgery videos on Youtube just yet. Unless my friends convince me otherwise, I think I'm just gonna wait until after my surgery, when I'm able to talk properly, to do videos. Idk. byeeeeeeeeeeee
Today makes it exactly 3 weeks before my surgery!! I'm actually surprised at how calm and ..unworried? I am. It's gonna be such a life-changing experience, and I'm going around acting as if it isn't even going to happen.
Maybe that's just it. Maybe I'm in denial that it's gonna happen. Whatever the case, it is going to happen.
Oh, and if anyone who has had Genioplasty stumbled across this post, please let me know your experience since you got it. I'm concerned that it's more likely I'll lose permanent feeling in my lower lip/chin and I want to know if that's actually the case. Of course I'll ask my surgeon but any personal experiences on it will be so much help.
I'm kinda rambling now so I think I'm just gonna go do some Rosetta Stone now... I'm learning German hehe. Anyways I'll post after I see my surgeon next Tuesday.
Have a good weekend everyone :)
Oh and PS- I think I'm not going to do Jaw Surgery videos on Youtube just yet. Unless my friends convince me otherwise, I think I'm just gonna wait until after my surgery, when I'm able to talk properly, to do videos. Idk. byeeeeeeeeeeee
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Pictures
Hey everyone
So I promised that I would upload pictures today and I'm sticking to my promise. Down below are pictures of the front of my face, and my profile from the left and right side, with my face completely relaxed. The only thing I have on in regards to make-up is a bit of mascara so that shouldn't alter the look for the before and after pictures.
Front ( So attractive)
Left side (Even more attractive)
Right side (Oh hot damn)
And just for shits and giggles, an even MORE attractive picture of me taken the other day.
And since you're probably scarred for life by looking at that picture above, here's a nicer picture of me.
Oh, and I finally joined the gym today! Goodlife Fitness. Everyone there is so nice, and I have a couple friends who work out there. And thankfully, they will hold off my payments until I come back from surgery. So that's a plus.
I'm just about to record and edit my first Youtube video, and see how well that goes. If it turns out good, I MIGHT upload it. But I don't know. I think I said in my post last night that I find it more invasive than just blogging by itself. So we'll see.
The next time I receive new information on my surgery will be Tuesday, as I explained in my previous post. If I post before then, it will most likely be a personal post.
Talk to you all soon!
I'm just about to record and edit my first Youtube video, and see how well that goes. If it turns out good, I MIGHT upload it. But I don't know. I think I said in my post last night that I find it more invasive than just blogging by itself. So we'll see.
The next time I receive new information on my surgery will be Tuesday, as I explained in my previous post. If I post before then, it will most likely be a personal post.
Talk to you all soon!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Sorrrrry
I feel bad about not posting for so long, but I've just been crazy busy. Finally got some shifts in at work, lots more appointments in regards to my surgery, and dealing with college stuff. And to top it off, today is my first day off work/not with my boyfriend/3 weeks before my surgery, and my mom decides NOW is the right time to flip the fuck out about my surgery and tell me not to do all of it.
So I'll start off by telling you I went to my doctor yesterday and she filled out her form from the Surgical Package. After I got some blood work done (the lady fucking man handled me so bad, my arm was in so much pain) for stuff unrelated to the surgery, I called the hospital and pre-registered for my surgery. I gave the lady all my information and then she suddenly asked, "would you like to stay in the ward, a semi-private room, or a private room?". I asked her what the difference was in regards to pricing, and she said I would need insurance for the semi-private or private room. Which, I do not have. Fuck.
I asked my dad if there was anything we could do about the fact I have no insurance, so maybe I could get a private room (I very much love my privacy) and he said no. So.... Fuck.
Meanwhile the last few weeks I've been stressing out about college because I don't know where I want to go, and if the courses I picked are even what I want to do. So I have 2 colleges waiting for my confirmation and the expiry date on the offer is coming up so... Fuck.
But today pushed me over the edge. After asking my dad about the insurance stuff, I sat down with mom and talked about my surgery. It went from a casual conversation to really heated within minutes. She suddenly freaked and said I'm doing too much surgery, and that I shouldn't do it because it could backfire and this and that and bla bla bla. She basically pointed out all the fears I have about the surgery, all the things that could go wrong. I got defensive and told her why the surgeon thinks he should operate on both jaws and my chin. She started going off about how she's been saying from the beginning about how I shouldn't go through with this, how it's too much surgery, that it will WRECK my face, etc. And I told her, that after our first appointment with my surgeon, she was really supportive, and a couple times over the last few months she's said she thinks it may be too much, but when I told her why I should do it, she backed down and agreed with me. Even when I told her I'm getting Genioplasty, she was fine with it, until now.
I'll be honest, I'm fucking terrified. I'm so scared. I've kept my cool up until now, because I'm realizing how little of support I'm getting from any of my family. They point out how I "need to grow up", yet everything regarding my surgery AND college preparation I've done 100% by myself. The only reason anything has been discussed about the surgery is because I've brought it up. They've been so busy with their own lives up to this point, they haven't given a damn, and now that they realize how close it is, they're starting to care and freak out. So now I'm sitting here, realizing the only person who has been supportive of me and my decision to do this, has been my boyfriend Evan.
You'd think out of all people, your family would support you right?
The worst part is, everything my mom said about how I don't need the Genioplasty and whatnot, is what I've been thinking for a little while. I know that there's a higher chance of you losing feeling in your lower lip and chin permanently, and I'm so scared about this all changing my looks. My mom freaking out about it has officially pushed me over the edge.
I'm off to see Dr. Moore next Tuesday, the 23rd, for my impressions, measurements, diet plan, and details about the surgery and an overview of everything. Hopefully he'll restore my faith in my decision and show my mom how she shouldn't be so worried.
On another note, I'm seriously thinking of starting to make Youtube videos. I haven't been interested in doing it so far because I feel like it's more of an invasion of privacy than just blogging. I feel that it's less invasive of me to post pictures of my swelling/recovery of each day, than to post a video each day of me attempting to talk and having drool pour down my face.
I'm planning to take some pictures tomorrow of my face and my profile and put them up here, so I can compare when most of my swelling goes down.
Last but not least, I want to say congratulations to my friend Vanessa, who will be a mom in about 2 hours! So excited and happy for her.
Talk to everyone soon!
So I'll start off by telling you I went to my doctor yesterday and she filled out her form from the Surgical Package. After I got some blood work done (the lady fucking man handled me so bad, my arm was in so much pain) for stuff unrelated to the surgery, I called the hospital and pre-registered for my surgery. I gave the lady all my information and then she suddenly asked, "would you like to stay in the ward, a semi-private room, or a private room?". I asked her what the difference was in regards to pricing, and she said I would need insurance for the semi-private or private room. Which, I do not have. Fuck.
I asked my dad if there was anything we could do about the fact I have no insurance, so maybe I could get a private room (I very much love my privacy) and he said no. So.... Fuck.
Meanwhile the last few weeks I've been stressing out about college because I don't know where I want to go, and if the courses I picked are even what I want to do. So I have 2 colleges waiting for my confirmation and the expiry date on the offer is coming up so... Fuck.
But today pushed me over the edge. After asking my dad about the insurance stuff, I sat down with mom and talked about my surgery. It went from a casual conversation to really heated within minutes. She suddenly freaked and said I'm doing too much surgery, and that I shouldn't do it because it could backfire and this and that and bla bla bla. She basically pointed out all the fears I have about the surgery, all the things that could go wrong. I got defensive and told her why the surgeon thinks he should operate on both jaws and my chin. She started going off about how she's been saying from the beginning about how I shouldn't go through with this, how it's too much surgery, that it will WRECK my face, etc. And I told her, that after our first appointment with my surgeon, she was really supportive, and a couple times over the last few months she's said she thinks it may be too much, but when I told her why I should do it, she backed down and agreed with me. Even when I told her I'm getting Genioplasty, she was fine with it, until now.
I'll be honest, I'm fucking terrified. I'm so scared. I've kept my cool up until now, because I'm realizing how little of support I'm getting from any of my family. They point out how I "need to grow up", yet everything regarding my surgery AND college preparation I've done 100% by myself. The only reason anything has been discussed about the surgery is because I've brought it up. They've been so busy with their own lives up to this point, they haven't given a damn, and now that they realize how close it is, they're starting to care and freak out. So now I'm sitting here, realizing the only person who has been supportive of me and my decision to do this, has been my boyfriend Evan.
You'd think out of all people, your family would support you right?
The worst part is, everything my mom said about how I don't need the Genioplasty and whatnot, is what I've been thinking for a little while. I know that there's a higher chance of you losing feeling in your lower lip and chin permanently, and I'm so scared about this all changing my looks. My mom freaking out about it has officially pushed me over the edge.
I'm off to see Dr. Moore next Tuesday, the 23rd, for my impressions, measurements, diet plan, and details about the surgery and an overview of everything. Hopefully he'll restore my faith in my decision and show my mom how she shouldn't be so worried.
On another note, I'm seriously thinking of starting to make Youtube videos. I haven't been interested in doing it so far because I feel like it's more of an invasion of privacy than just blogging. I feel that it's less invasive of me to post pictures of my swelling/recovery of each day, than to post a video each day of me attempting to talk and having drool pour down my face.
I'm planning to take some pictures tomorrow of my face and my profile and put them up here, so I can compare when most of my swelling goes down.
Last but not least, I want to say congratulations to my friend Vanessa, who will be a mom in about 2 hours! So excited and happy for her.
Talk to everyone soon!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
UGH
Hey guys,
Story Time: When I was 15, I had no idea HOW to stretch your ears. I've seen it on people, and i knew the terminology, but I didn't know how it was done. My friend handed me a 2g spacer and just told me to go at it. So that night, while I was a little stoned, I decided to just put the whole thing through. I went up 9 fucking sizes, from a 20g to a 2g. Completely ripped my ear hole, it was not fun. I ended up putting navel jewelry in my ears a couple weeks later, and then about 2 years later started stretching again.
So, when I went to put the "4g" jewelry in my ears, it went in fine for the ear that had been ripped. My other ear, however, it just wouldn't go. It would not push through. I decided today to go to the mall and buy a 4g taper, which looks like ...
I compared the 4g that I got from a store that primarily sells body modification jewelry and the "4g" that I got from the kiosk, and I noticed the one's I got from the kiosk are at least a size bigger. It's just very frustrating lol.
The third item I am going to bitch about is one of those mesh scrunchies, or a "donut bun", that you use to make ballerina buns in your hair. My boyfriend bought it for me today when we were at the mall, and when we got back home, I tried it on once, and it completely fell apart! The actual scrunchie, not my bun. If it was my bun that fell apart, I wouldn't be so pissed about the whole thing. But I'm really disappointed, I'm taking it back to see if I can get some store credit or something.
Now, this isn't something I was going to complain about, because we got it for free. But when I was in Lush the other day with my boyfriend, the lady working there gave us free samples of fluoride-free (did I spell that right?) chewable toothpaste stuff! She said they were chewable tablets, each "flavour" is made out of different natural ingredients, and basically you chew it, then brush your teeth, and it foams up and cleans your mouth. I went for it right away, because it was free, and fluoride hurts my stomach and gives me a headache. But when I tried it... Ew. Just no. It tasted like chewable perfume tablets.
That's all I really have to complain about. I also bought this Blackhead cleanser from Lush called Dark Angels and a Lip Scrub in Bubblegum flavour, and I'm going to try those tomorrow to see how it works. This post was completely pointless but what else am I going to talk about... lmfao.
Welcome to my boring life, I hope you enjoyed this boring post ;)
I haven't posted lately for two reasons. One, my boyfriend is on reading week so I've been spending a lot of time with him. And two, there hasn't been anything of interest going on in regards to my Jaw Surgery, so I figured I'd just wait to post. But since this is my "general" blog, I'll use this opportunity to talk about all the new cool shit I've bought, and how a lot of it proved to suck ass.
So first off, I am happy to announce that I finally have my own working laptop!!! Finally, 5 months later. My dad bought it for me, since I'm going to college in September I basically need one. Anyways, it's a Sony Vaio, Windows 7, 2nd generation i5, 6g of RAM, all that good stuff. Honestly, there's not much to bitch about, it's a pretty nice computer. However, even though it's i5 it's still pretty slow, and the webcam is total S.H.I.T. So even if I decided I wanted to make Youtube videos for my Jaw Surgery, it wouldn't turn out very good.
This is what it looks like:
So first off, I am happy to announce that I finally have my own working laptop!!! Finally, 5 months later. My dad bought it for me, since I'm going to college in September I basically need one. Anyways, it's a Sony Vaio, Windows 7, 2nd generation i5, 6g of RAM, all that good stuff. Honestly, there's not much to bitch about, it's a pretty nice computer. However, even though it's i5 it's still pretty slow, and the webcam is total S.H.I.T. So even if I decided I wanted to make Youtube videos for my Jaw Surgery, it wouldn't turn out very good.
This is what it looks like:
A little different, but whatever.
You see, I hate shopping, because no matter what it is, when I buy it, it seems like a good idea, and then I come home and regret it. Which brings me to the next thing on my shopping list. Spacers.
Currently, I am stretching my ears and am at a 6g, which is about 4mm. The other day I was at the mall, and I saw in a kiosk that they had really pretty glass "talon" spacers, that were light pink. I decided it was time to stretch from a 6g to a 4g and bought 2 of the spacers. I noticed in some other sections with spacers, the ones under "4g" were much smaller than the ones under "6g", but I didn't think much of it.
Story Time: When I was 15, I had no idea HOW to stretch your ears. I've seen it on people, and i knew the terminology, but I didn't know how it was done. My friend handed me a 2g spacer and just told me to go at it. So that night, while I was a little stoned, I decided to just put the whole thing through. I went up 9 fucking sizes, from a 20g to a 2g. Completely ripped my ear hole, it was not fun. I ended up putting navel jewelry in my ears a couple weeks later, and then about 2 years later started stretching again.
So, when I went to put the "4g" jewelry in my ears, it went in fine for the ear that had been ripped. My other ear, however, it just wouldn't go. It would not push through. I decided today to go to the mall and buy a 4g taper, which looks like ...
That.
I compared the 4g that I got from a store that primarily sells body modification jewelry and the "4g" that I got from the kiosk, and I noticed the one's I got from the kiosk are at least a size bigger. It's just very frustrating lol.
The third item I am going to bitch about is one of those mesh scrunchies, or a "donut bun", that you use to make ballerina buns in your hair. My boyfriend bought it for me today when we were at the mall, and when we got back home, I tried it on once, and it completely fell apart! The actual scrunchie, not my bun. If it was my bun that fell apart, I wouldn't be so pissed about the whole thing. But I'm really disappointed, I'm taking it back to see if I can get some store credit or something.
Now, this isn't something I was going to complain about, because we got it for free. But when I was in Lush the other day with my boyfriend, the lady working there gave us free samples of fluoride-free (did I spell that right?) chewable toothpaste stuff! She said they were chewable tablets, each "flavour" is made out of different natural ingredients, and basically you chew it, then brush your teeth, and it foams up and cleans your mouth. I went for it right away, because it was free, and fluoride hurts my stomach and gives me a headache. But when I tried it... Ew. Just no. It tasted like chewable perfume tablets.
That's all I really have to complain about. I also bought this Blackhead cleanser from Lush called Dark Angels and a Lip Scrub in Bubblegum flavour, and I'm going to try those tomorrow to see how it works. This post was completely pointless but what else am I going to talk about... lmfao.
Welcome to my boring life, I hope you enjoyed this boring post ;)
Friday, March 1, 2013
Surgery Update... Genioplasty too?!
HEEEEY everyone!
Once again, it's like 1:30 am. I hate blogging this late, but it's the only time I get on the computer because my life is soooooooooo busy. Not.
I'm tempted to just crawl into bed with all my stuffed animals because I'm still 5 at heart, but I promised a detailed post about my meeting with my surgeon, so I'm going to give you all one. Warning: This post is very long. If you do not have the attention span or the care to read all of this, then go back to Facebook or something. Or, scroll down to the straight forward Q&A.
So as you all know from my previous posts, I am having Double Jaw Surgery done in mid-April of this year. It is to correct: 1, my Short Lower Jaw, which is causing an overbite; 2, my slight Open Bite, and 3; My "Toothy Smile", which means I show too much gum when I smile (and I don't mean the tastey Excel gum you chew). The last time I saw my surgeon was in October, when I first agreed to do the surgery, and since then I've been having concerns because I feel like what I want out of the surgery is something he isn't concerned about looking at. So last week I booked an appointment to see him, which I did today on February 28th.
I waited in the waiting room for about half an hour with my boyfriend Evan. Then a lady called me in to sit in his office and I waited there for about another 10 minutes before my surgeon walked in. First he took a look at my information sheet, then took a look at my X-rays from October. It's so cool, he has this screen on the middle of his desk, and he hits a switch from underneath with turns on a light so you can see the X-ray. I don't know, I thought it was sick as hell.
Anyways, so we start discussing what he is exactly doing to correct my issues and how he does it in the operating room. He told me that with my Upper jaw, he will make a straight incision line about a centimeter or so above my teeth in my gums, right across my entire upper jaw. There he will be able to see my bone. He will cut at the back where my upper jaw connects to the rest of my skull, and then basically my jaw will be hanging there by veins, nerves and tissue. He will take either a 2 or 3 millimeter thick saw and cut straight across, where he made the original cut into my gums. He will then take "L" shaped plates and the necessary amount of screws needed, put my jaw back into place, and then screw in the plates. There, upper jaw done.
I'm trying to put in an image of the plates but my computer is being an asshole right now so I'll post the pictures of those another time.
My lower jaw, he will cut each side like an S. So from the inside of my mouth, he cuts in to about the middle, then cuts downward through the bone, then out towards my cheek. He will then pull my lower jaw forward so it meets my front teeth, rotate it slightly, and move it upward. This will correct my Open bite, and my Short Lower Jaw. To put the Plates and screws in, he has to actually make cut on the outside of my skin, at the back. He will insert through this cut, a stainless steel tube, which will be used to send the screws towards my jaw bone in a more convenient way. This way, the screws will be at such an angle that my surgeon can easily screw them into my plates and bones much straighter than doing it from the inside of my mouth.
So easy enough right? Well not really, but that's what I basically expected. So I start to discuss my concerns with this surgery. Basically, my lips do. not. touch. It is the most FRUSTRATING thing. Walking down the street, I look like my mouth is hanging wide open, it's a bit of an embarrassment. This is something that I want fixed with my surgery. I am having no other issues with my jaw; no pain, no problems chewing or speaking. So this was a priority for me.
Unfortunately... This cannot be 100% corrected. My surgeon told me that the reason the gap between my lips is so severe, is because I have a Cupids Bow and a Short Upper Lip (why is everything about me short? I mean, my sister got the actual shortness in the family, being at 5'3, but like what, that means everything else about me is short? I'm lucky I'm not a guy...). I'm sure you all know what a cupids bow is, but if not, it's basically where your upper lip is very curved, and because I also have a short amount of flesh between my nose and my upper lip, it really affects the positioning of my lips and how well they will close together.
However, he said that by taking the bone out of my upper jaw, and rotating my lower jaw upwards, it will significantly decrease how much I actually have to force my lips shut. He then took another look at my X-rays and said... "Now I'm noticing you have a very flat chin. If we were to bring your chin out just a little, then it will lessen the amount of effort your chin muscles put in to making your lips close. Of course we won't make you look like Jay Leno or Reese Witherspoon, but it will help a little, and make everything more vertical and proportionate."
This process is called Genioplasty.
I agreed to go through with the Genioplasty, however the more we discussed about it, the more concerned I've become. And now that I'm sitting here alone typing about this, it's concerned me even more. Before when I was just having the Upper and Lower jaw done, he said it wouldn't change the way I look. Now he's telling me that I will look different. And a few minutes later when I asked if I will look dramatically different, almost unrecognizable, he said "No. You will look the same, just better." So I'm kind of confused? But I'm a big girl. I can handle this, and I have 6 weeks until my surgery. Lots of time to decide.
The fantastic thing about my surgeon is that no matter what information he tells me, I feel calm, unconcerned, no worries. He makes me feel like everything is going to be fine. My mother went to him at one point as well, because he was recommended to her so many times. He's a great surgeon and I have complete trust in him.
So that is basically the discussion I had with him about my main concerns and the procedures. Originally, my surgery was scheduled at 12 pm and was going to last 3.5 - 4 hours. But because of the Genioplasty, my surgery is now going to start at 10:30 am, so it ends around the same time it was supposed to, unless there are any issues. I know for a fact that I'm going to freak out the day of surgery and cling onto my boyfriend.
Here are straight forward Questions and Answers that were discussed when I met with my surgeon today:
Q: What are the risks?
A: There is about a 5% chance of permanent numbness in your lower lip, and there's always the risk of infection. There is a chance you can develop joint issues, possibly starting up TMJ pain. However there is a very rare risk, about one in a million, where your entire upper jaw can deteriorate and basically fall out. But that happening is like thinking "I might get in a car accident and die on my way to the movies." and then actually dying in a car accident on your way to the movies.
Q: Will I have my own hospital room?
A: You will be in a section of the ICU that isn't actually the ICU. The people around you won't be 3/4 dead. You will be sharing a room with about 8 people, with one nurse assigned for every 2 patients.
Q: How long will I be in the hospital for?
Q: Will I have my own hospital room?
A: You will be in a section of the ICU that isn't actually the ICU. The people around you won't be 3/4 dead. You will be sharing a room with about 8 people, with one nurse assigned for every 2 patients.
Q: How long will I be in the hospital for?
A: You should be released the following day, on the Saturday. In some cases we will keep you there until Sunday, but that's unlikely.
Q: The last time I met with you, you said you would not be wiring my mouth shut the first week.
A: Since I last saw you in October, I've had 2 patients of whom I haven't wired their mouth shut for the first little while. Because of this, they didn't listen to the "no chewing rule", and ended up having extensive issues of which I've had to go back and correct. I'm not so comfortable with not wiring your mouth shut, but we'll see.
Q: Will the surgery change how I look?
A: Yes, it will. You will still look the same in some ways, but better. **What I believe he was trying to explain to me**
Q: For anti-nausea medication while I'm at home, is it fine to crush up chewable Gravol, mix it with water, and drink it through my syringe?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Is there any anti-anxiety medication you could give me for the last couple weeks pre-op?
A: Usually I'd suggest taking Ativan* the night before if you can't sleep, but I wouldn't suggest taking it every day for 2 weeks prior to operation. That's something your physician would help you with.
*The irony is I took Ativan 2 years ago for my anxiety and panic attacks. I still have the bottle with about 10 pills in it lmfao.
Q: How much weight do you expect me to lose?
A: About 8 - 10 pounds. However, you will be able to be on a soft-food diet after 3 weeks, so for you I'm guessing about 5 pounds.
Q: Will my nose change due to bone being taken out of my upper jaw?
A: There's a very small chance that will happen.
Q: How long will the operation take?
A: About 4.5 - 5 hours.
Q: What if I have any issues with the plates and screws? Can I just have them removed?
A: Having your plates and screws removed is a whole other operation that isn't so simple. If there is an issue we can have them removed, but many patients of mine have booked appointments to get them removed, and then called shortly before the surgery and cancelled because the plates and screws don't bother them anymore.
Q: How long will I be numb for?
A: With your upper jaw, 3 months. It's harder to determine how long you will stay numb in your lower jaw, because there's always the chance you can become permanently numb in your lower lip and/or chin.
That's all I can think of right now. If I remember anymore I'll be sure to add it in. I've written so much I'm about to explode, so I'm going to bed. I hope this was interesting to read, and it helped you in any way if you're considering surgery. Thanks for reading :)
Q: The last time I met with you, you said you would not be wiring my mouth shut the first week.
A: Since I last saw you in October, I've had 2 patients of whom I haven't wired their mouth shut for the first little while. Because of this, they didn't listen to the "no chewing rule", and ended up having extensive issues of which I've had to go back and correct. I'm not so comfortable with not wiring your mouth shut, but we'll see.
Q: Will the surgery change how I look?
A: Yes, it will. You will still look the same in some ways, but better. **What I believe he was trying to explain to me**
Q: For anti-nausea medication while I'm at home, is it fine to crush up chewable Gravol, mix it with water, and drink it through my syringe?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Is there any anti-anxiety medication you could give me for the last couple weeks pre-op?
A: Usually I'd suggest taking Ativan* the night before if you can't sleep, but I wouldn't suggest taking it every day for 2 weeks prior to operation. That's something your physician would help you with.
*The irony is I took Ativan 2 years ago for my anxiety and panic attacks. I still have the bottle with about 10 pills in it lmfao.
Q: How much weight do you expect me to lose?
A: About 8 - 10 pounds. However, you will be able to be on a soft-food diet after 3 weeks, so for you I'm guessing about 5 pounds.
Q: Will my nose change due to bone being taken out of my upper jaw?
A: There's a very small chance that will happen.
Q: How long will the operation take?
A: About 4.5 - 5 hours.
Q: What if I have any issues with the plates and screws? Can I just have them removed?
A: Having your plates and screws removed is a whole other operation that isn't so simple. If there is an issue we can have them removed, but many patients of mine have booked appointments to get them removed, and then called shortly before the surgery and cancelled because the plates and screws don't bother them anymore.
Q: How long will I be numb for?
A: With your upper jaw, 3 months. It's harder to determine how long you will stay numb in your lower jaw, because there's always the chance you can become permanently numb in your lower lip and/or chin.
That's all I can think of right now. If I remember anymore I'll be sure to add it in. I've written so much I'm about to explode, so I'm going to bed. I hope this was interesting to read, and it helped you in any way if you're considering surgery. Thanks for reading :)
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