Saturday, January 10, 2009

AHHHH!!!!

ITS 7:00 AM!!!! and of coarse i am not sleeping. I am not sure if the pain medication which is the liquid form of percocet is keeping me up or not. I will try to research and see if others had this problem i just feel jittery and the pain is not going away! I figured that it would be best to turn the expander after the pain medicine but wow!!!!! it hurt so bad!!! it was my 5Th turn and hurt so bad! i did not really feel the other 4 so i was probably still numb from surgery . I guess later on i will turn it after the pain meds already kicked in. I am gonna try to read about my meds online and hopefully get tired. TTYL

Friday, January 9, 2009

THE JAW BRA!







So it is day 2 post op and i have discovered my best friend the Jaw Bra. It was giving to me at the hospital by the nurse. I have included pics so you can see. It is a pouch that you put your ice bags into. You then velcro it around your chin and head. Since today has been teh worst day for swelling I think that is why I have found my new best friend. Also Today was my first field trip out since my surgery. Me and my mom drove to Walmart beacuse we had to stock up on baby food and soft spoons. I also got a humidifier beacuse my nose is so stuffy and can not blow my nose. This sucks so bad i have tried everything and the only thing that works i shoving vicks up my nose. Its late and i am goin to go to bed well try at least. TTYL!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Day after Surgery.











OK,
So yesterday was my surgery and it went OK except when I came to there was a lot of pain. It must have been severe because my mother said they would not her back in the room for a couple of hours until i woke back up from the pain medication. The rest of yesterday was blurr. Today I woke up round 7 with my nose bleeding and also a little in my mouth. This was on and till almost 10 before it stopped all together. I finally looked in the mirror around 12 and took a few pics to go along with it. I am very swollen and my gap is bigger than i expected it to be already. I also at that time turned the expander it was not painful but it did take me a while to find the key hole. All day long i have tried to eat but only could keep chicken broth and pudding down. I guess when they mean liquids you have to stick with liquids. I tried noodles around 5 and those came right back up. Hopefully I will actually get some sleep tonight and have a better day tomorrow. I will take more pics when I wake up . Till than , See ya !

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Twas the night before surgery!!

Ok so it is about 8:00 p.m and i am starting to get a little nervous. I am wondering how bad it will hurt and also what i am goin to look like afterwards. I am just ready for the surgery to be here and done! I will try to post tommorow and update with pics depending on how i feel !

Monday, January 5, 2009

The Journey begins!!!!!


Hello Everyone,

My name is Lindsay and i am 21 years old. I live in Pittsburgh , PA and this is my journey to a what i hope is an amazing smile. I knew for a long time now that i would need braces to correct my teeth. When i was a little younger I visited the Orthodontist and they explained that to make this happen I would need to have a surgery to correct my narrow upper jaw. I was still in school at the time so myself and my parents decided it was not the right time. So i waited and waited and waited until one day when i had already graduated collage and started working in at a real job i decided that i was ready. So I called around and made some appointments, I actually got lucky cause my regular dentist also had orthodontics so i went with them. They told me the same information the previous Orthodontist had said about the surgery (SARPE) so i began the long task of preparing. First i had to have molds made of my teeth which was the easy part. After they studied my molds and had an "action" plan set out they referred me to an oral surgeon. That was great until i called and got and appointment 3 months out only to find out they did not accept my type of insurance. It was almost another month till i received a call that my orthodontist found someone who would take my insurance, then the fun began. I had my consultation and then a week later my insurance approved the surgery so i went to my ortho to have spacers put in between both my upper and lower teeth for the expander and lower brackets. They were very uncomfortable and i had to call off work the next day the pain was so bad. Next they made yet another set of molds to be sent out for the expander and also put my bottom brackets on. A few weeks later i had to go through yet another set of spacers on top to get ready for the expander. They were not bad this time and barley even hurt. Then a week before Christmas the day came for the expander to be cemented. It did not hurt but it was very hard to speak and of course eat properly and i lost almost 10 pounds due to this. I then scheduled my surgery which is this Wednesday and I CAN NOT WAIT! I don't know if i am excited or nervous about it yet , but i am sure tomorrow i will feel more anxious. This whole process so far has been a shot in the dark as far as the surgeon tells me it will not be so bad as far as pain. I have been looking all over the Internet for information and the blogs I have found left a lot to the imagination. That led me to start my own. Hopefully someone in the same boat as me will learn from it and not be a day away from surgery wondering. I will try to post pics each day and also information on how it is going. I am excited to begin my long journey to the perfect smile! :)