day two

I managed to actually get a lot more sleep last night that I thought I would on my mountain of about 6 pillows (no joke!!) I would sleep for a couple of hours, wake up then sleep for a couple more. My boyfriend did need to get up and make me up some painkillers half way through though. I ended up waking up for good at about 6.30 and getting up.

My boyfriend is being an absolute star, waiting on me hand and foot getting me painkillers and drinks! For that I really want to thank him! :) He deserves a giant gold star!

I felt really rubbish and still couldn't be bothered having a shower - minging I know. i just had no energy whatsoever!! I lazed on the sofa for a bit, snoozing here and there and taking a mixture of painkillers and complan (meal replacement drinks). I felt poo and didn't want to do anything really. Sickness was starting to kick in so my Marc (BF) went to the chemist to get some anti sickness stuff! It worked a treat and meant that when I was taking all my medications I felt half as bad as I had been doing.

It was difficult to breath through my nose and through my mouth. I spent most of my time if i'm honest just sat there thinking about everything, too tired to do much. Marc had to help me upstairs and downstairs which I didn't like. I hated being so helpless!!

Jaw spasms :(

Main problem: Jaw spasms. The reason they banded me fully shut was because my bottom jaw was still hanging really far back and nowhere near where it should be. This meant they were trying to train my muscles to move forward. This is really really painful if I'm honest. Especially as I have no numbness around my lower jaw. I have been having a  lot of aches and a lot of spasms. This happens particularly when I start to relax or fall asleep. My bottom jaw jerks forward in front of my top jaw and most of the time clatters my teeth whilst doing so. This obviously hurts, but it then wakes me up. Sometimes aswell when I am just awake watching tele or something my jaw would just tremble and jerk :( not pleasant!

It was worrying me as it hadn't been mentioned to me before and I hadn't really read much on it. I was worried about what pressure it was putting on my freshly broken jaw. I could feel and hear creaks and cracks on my top jaw which were really unnerving!!! :(

Day one!

I didn't get much sleep over night at the hospital as it was too noisy even though I had my own room. Between that and them keep checking my blood and fitting new IV stuff I just snoozed on and off. I woke up at about 6 and decided to just stay awake as I knew the doctor was coming to see my at 7am. My boyfriend had paid for me to have the TV card and I made use of it watching a couple of films (dipping in and out of them) and some trash telly! All in all it really didn't seem too bad.

The doctor came at 7 to put on my bands. I wasn't going to be banded shut., he put about 4 on in the end and I still had a lot of movement. I felt around my mouth and it didn't feel like my bite was together which did concern me... a lot!!!  I was then supposed to be going down for xray straight after but they expected me to walk on my own downstairs and to the other side of the hospital which I said I didn't feel up to. This meant I waited about 2 1/2 hours for a porter. In this time the surgeon came round to check on me. He had a look at my bite and wasn't happy at all with it. This really freaked me out as he made out the operation hadn't worked (Which is what it felt like in my mouth!!) He said I needed to see my orthodontist so he could have a look at me and sort the bands out.

I went to see my ortho - SO embarrassing!! I had to go and sit in the normal waiting room with everyone else. Me in my pjs, bashed face with blood over it. Not great. The looks I were getting from people weren't great either! I saw him and he had to take off the bands that had been put on and re do them. He banded me completely shut.... ouch!! The bands didn't hurt when they were being put on, which I were worried they would. It was more the feeling of being fully shut and the pressure of my teeth against each other!

Quick note on hospital food - so annoying! They brought me a proper breakfast and I said I wouldn't be able to eat it and asked for a shake so they brought me one. In total this took me about 2 1/2 hours to finish using a syringe as I just didn't feel like it! They then brought me lunch.... chicken casserole!! By this point I was really struggling to speak as I had been banded fully shut! I managed to ask for a shake instead and she was not happy. She did bring me one though, not before telling me she would blend the chicken casserole instead (Eww!).

I then went down for xray - again they tried to make me walk down on my own. After this I came back up to the room and it was visiting time. I was looking forward so much to seeing my boyfriend after spending my time on my own there! He ended up sneaking in half an hour early and didn't get caught :) :) Whilst he was there a nurse came with my medication and said I could leave. I was SO happy!! He helped me get changed and then off I went home!

I felt so weak and the walk to the car really took it out of me. When I got home I was in pain and so started to take my concoction of medications I was prescribed. Within about half an hour I felt alright and was talking away! Then came the downer after the up! I was knackered. We lazed on the sofa and I drifted in and out of sleep for a good couple of hours.

Going in for the Op

My boyfriend came to the hospital with me and we asked the nurse if he was able to wait. She didn't seem as if this was normal and said he could but we would have to wait in the 1st waiting room as the others are split male/female as people would be in their gowns. I was happy with that, as long as I didn't have to wait on my own. She took me into a room asked some questions and checked my blood pressure and temperature. My temperature was 37.8 and normal should be 37 - this wasn't good. I asked if it would make a difference to me getting the op and she just said we would have to keep checking it and hope it goes down. I was so stressed about this, what if I couldn't have the op and it had to be postponed. I didn't feel ill and knew the reason was just because I was so stressed so coming again at a different time probably wouldn't make a difference.

The nurse came and told me we could go through to the next waiting room as there were no other female patients scheduled for the afternoon. I changed into my gown and got comfy. Conversation was minimal really between me and my bf as I was too scared, but it was just good to have him there. They kept coming and checking my temperature. Everytime it had gone down but only a tiny bit and not enough to make a difference. The anesthetist came to see me and asked what he needed, then I had to go and see one of the team of surgeons I was having. All the questions were pretty much the same repeated but I suppose they have to do it! They checked my temp one last time and it was normal enough for me to have it... PHEW! :)

I was left for a while and then the nurse came in to say it was time to go down. All of a sudden I burst into tears and couldn't control myself. She gave me a few mins with my boyfriend then it was time to go. As I walked down to the theatre I couldn't stop crying, I felt stupid. I think mainly it was a culmination of all the stress leading up to it. Plus I was SOOOO scared! I got onto the table and they started hooking me up to machines. They put the IV in and away I went...

I woke up in recovery about 2 1/2 hours later. The first thing I started doing was feeling round my mouth with my tongue to see what was numb. Only the top. That meant I must have had only a lefort 1 done. I felt really rubbish, in pain and sick. They asked how I was feeling then decided to give me a concoction of painkillers and anti sickness stuff. The anti sickness worked a treat and I felt much better. They kept coming and putting an oxygen mask over me as I was coughing a bit. I hated this as it hurt the inside of my nostrils. After about 1 and 1/2 hours they rang my boyfriend and took me up to the ward. I was so lucky I got my own private room which I wasn't expecting. This was much better than having to share when feeling like that!

I waited about an hour and a half until it was visiting time and then my Mum, Dad, sister and boyfriend  turned up. This was so good to see people close to me. I've never been in hospital and wasn't liking the experience much as I preferred to be at home. I was doing quite well, managing to speak quite a bit and they said I didn't look as bad as they thought I would. I got my mum to take a snap of me before leaving. When they left I watched some tv and tried to get some rest. I didn't end up even trying to sleep until about 1am. Here is a lovely pic of what I looked like just after:

Not too swollen really!

Surgery Day!

So surgery day is here and I am so scared its unreal! I managed to stay fairly calm last night but now its the morning its just took over! I am allowed to eat a very light breakfast before 8am but I couldn't actually manage any so that's that for proper food I guess for the next 6 weeks! hmmmmmmmmm... I keep saying to my boyfriend do I have to go? Which I know is hard for him. He doesn't want to see me go through this but also knows I obviously do need to go!

Not sure if I can have anyone wait with me at the hospital before I go down for it. I really hope I can have him wait though. So scared and sitting there on my own with just my thoughts to take over will be too much. Not sure what I am scared of most, the anesthetic, the actual surgery or the recovery! :(

See you on the other side guys!

More metal in my mouth

I went to go and get my surgical hooks attached to the brace. Now this was something that I was really scared of for some reason. I didn't really find a lot of information on it beforehand and so didn't know what to expect. This should have probably pointed me to the conclusion that is isn't a big deal!!

It was fine, a little bit of pressure and that's it! You can hardly even see them either. I thought they were going to be these giant monstrosities that took over my mouth! The ortho did tell me to use some wax on them but i am pretty anti wax, i'd rather let me mouth get used to it. They have rubbed a bit, but not as bad as when the braces got put on. My teeth are sore but I think that's mainly from the work he did on my wire and a bit of tightening prior to putting the hooks on!

Last surgeon appointment - before pics

I'm due to get surgery for my Open bite this coming thursday - 3 days eeeeeeeeeeeek!!!
I saw my surgeon last week for my final appointment to find out whats going to be happening. When I saw her a few weeks ago they weren't sure what they were going to do yet and needed more time to think about it!

I've been told since I was 15 I needed it done but its sounded to scary so I just put it off. Its now starting to affect my health and I didn't like my teeth anyway so I decided to just get it over with! I'm lucky enough to be getting it done for free on the NHS and haven't had a big wait. I had my braces put on March last year and here I am ready for my op. I've been told it will probably be between 3-6 month of orthodontics after the op!

Anyway so I went last monday and she still wasn't 100% sure. She said my xrays looked like there was a big gap and showed I needed bi Max but when she looks at me in person she thinks it will just need the top jaw doing. She doesn't want to go through with bottom jaw unless she REALLY has to. So we've decided on a Lefort 1 posterior impaction (where they are tilting the back of the jaw down I think!) She did say this will bring my chin and bottom jaw forward slightly! If she gets in and does that and it isn't a class 1 occlusion she said she would do a bit of work on the bottom jaw!

The only problem I have is I wanted a more balanced profile. I predominately came into it wanting just a better function but now I want to sort out the aesthetics too. She did say after I am healed if I'm still not happy with my profile, as she said it isn't as balanced as it should be we will plan a genioplasty separate which she said is just a day case! hmppppph things are never easy are they!!! I'm off to the hospital again later today to get my surgical hooks on! 

Here are some before pics:

Me before braces

Normal smiling face

Normal relaxed face

Close up of teeth -this is my bite completely together (only very back teeth touching)

Side smiling

Side relaxed