This is getting ridiculous....

So...I did have a tentative surgery date for March 15th and it was so nice to have an actual date to count down to. Unfortunately, this date no longer seems too likely to happen because my teeth are just moving too slowly. It's just so annoying how I can't get a definitive date on my surgery since it's all dependent on how my teeth move. But at my last orthodontist appointment they put these springs in that will hopefully speed up the process and I can tell it's working because my teeth kill! I now know how more poor teething puppy feels when he just needs to bite everything in sight! 

But here's some awkward photos of my teeth!

                                                    

The larger space is where the tooth to the right used to be. That tooth is moving into the place where I had a tooth pulled. It's been moving toward that molar since June. Once it's far enough, then the rest of the bottom teeth will get pushed back as well. The same thing is happening on the other side too. 

                                         Here's the spring they put in.

 As you can see, some of the other bottom teeth are already starting to shift. It looks like such a crooked mess haha

                                                    Here's a better view of the bottom


 And here's some photos of my new puppy just because! He's making this whole living at home/taking time off to get this surgery done bearable! 

Speech Pathologist

I met with a speech pathologist who was recommended through my surgeon and has a lot of experiencing with patients undergoing jaw surgery. Basically she just had me come in and talk and then read some sentences out loud to her. She said based on that she could tell I tend to thrust my tongue on certain sounds because of the placement of my jaw and this can cause my speech to be slightly mumbled. Pushing out my jaw will hopefully correct this.

She also gave me some very helpful insight to my surgery and what I'll be feeling like in the weeks after the surgery. She said it was going to be a hard time, I won't be able to do much, I'll probably lose 10-15 pounds, and I'll have to eat everything out of a syringe for awhile. BUT she said it does get better. Like any major surgery, it's a huge process and it takes some time for you to get used to it and for you to realize that it was totally worth it. All in all, it was a helpful meeting I just wish my teeth would move faster so I can get an official surgery date!

Also, I am a big Sex and the City fan and throughout this whole process of TMJ and braces, I always think of that episode where Miranda has to get braces because she's a tongue thruster who might have TMJ! Ha looks like I have the same problems as her...

Nothing too New

So I have not updated in a while, because honestly there hasn't been much to update on. I'm still going to the orthodontist every two weeks to get my wires all adjusted. Basically, I'm just waiting for two of my teeth to fill the gaps of the two teeth I had taken out and it is a slowww process, but they're moving! And then once that's done, then we start work on my other bottom teeth. From what I understand, my orthodontist's goal is my make my overbite even worse (I know that sounds weird) but then in surgery my lower jaw will be pushed out to make everything the way it should be.

I have an appointment scheduled in December to see my surgeon, which is the first time I've seen him since I decided to go through with this process. So hopefully from there I can get an official surgery date. But as of now, surgery is still tentatively scheduled for March.

My surgeon also recommended that I see a speech pathologist so she can see if there is anything wrong with my speech or swallowing. I swear, from seeing an ENT to a sleep apnea specialist, I feel like I have seen every type of doctor on the planet. But I guess it's a good thing because it will diagnose if I have any other health problems as a result of my jaw, making the surgery even more worth it!

All I keep thinking is that this time next year, I will most likely be done with this whole process. It is so weird to think about in a years time, my braces will be off (fingers crossed), I'll know what it's like the sleep without sleep apnea, and I'll look different too. It's all pretty mind blowing.  

Feeling Optimistic

So not too much news today. I had an ortho appointment and although it is still wayyy too early for an official surgery date, my orthodontist said I was on the right track for a March surgery. He also said that I probably won't need the top braces until a month or two before the surgery which I am very happy about!

Some Current Photos

From reading everyone else's blogs, I've found everyone had great before and after photos. So, I awkwardly took some photos of myself the other day....it felt like the good old middle school days of myspace with taking countless photos of yourself on your phone lol. 

Here's just a regular photo of me smiling. I'm so thankful you can't even see the bottom braces..but I'm also dreading the day when those top braces go on :( 

And here's a non-smiling photo (so awkward..I don't usually take "serious" photos) As you can see, I have a weak chin. 

So, I found it's really difficult to take profile photos of yourself lol maybe next time I'll get someone to take those for me. But....here's the dreaded profile...

And...here's the lovely bottom braces! I had to get two bottom teeth removed and I believe the plan is to get my other bottom teeth to cover those gaps..but I'm not really sure? All, I know is that my orthodontist said I would begin to see my teeth spacing and that was a good thing. 

Well..now I have about 50 pages of reading to do before class at 6. I do not know how I feel about school starting up again...

Sleep Apnea

I just got back from vacation and I start taking MBA classes tomorrow...and I already have reading to do. It's all a little overwhelming after spending the summer being completely lazy.

I'm still getting used to blogging and coming up with things to post since my surgery is still pretty far away, but one thing I am really curious about is sleep apnea. As I put in my first post, as soon as my surgeon saw me for my first consultation, he knew I had sleep apnea and strongly recommended a sleep test right away. Yet from reading all these blogs, I haven't really read anything on others having sleep apnea. So that made me wonder if most doctors generally recommend a sleep test to those preparing to have corrective jaw surgery?

I had a sleep test back in February and it was a pretty interesting experience to say the least. I had to go to the hospital and they had to hook all these wires to me. I felt like I was in the movie Inception. I didn't know how I was going to fall asleep with all these wires and knowing people were observing me. But I managed and a when I got the results of the test back, it indicated that I had moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and that my sleep was interrupted every 3 and a half minutes..so no wonder I'm always so tired! Because of my age and my TMJ, the sleep doctor strongly recommended the surgery as opposed to other methods for treating sleep apnea. The results of the test were actually really interesting. In addition to showing my interrupted sleep, it also showed how long it took for me to fall asleep and how many minutes I spend in the different levels of sleep and if I reached REM sleep.

But that's pretty much my sleep apnea story! I really hope my surgery is completely successful in fixing my sleep so I can finally know what it's like to wake up in the morning feeling well rested!

Hello There!

Welcome to my jaw surgery journey! While spending countless hours researching jaw surgery, I have found other peoples' blogs to be so informative, helpful, and encouraging that I was inspired to start my own! I have never blogged before and I'm still trying to figure it all out, but my hope is that not only will this blog be therapeutic for me, but it will also prove helpful to others who are starting this daunting journey into jaw surgery.

Officially, I began this journey early in June when I got two teeth pulled and then lower braces put on soon after. However, my decision to get jaw surgery has been a long (and I mean looonnggg) time coming. I went through all my orthodontics when I was in elementary and middle school. I had the complete works: palate spreader, head gear (I only had to wear it at night, thank gawd), and then I had braces from around 11 years old until I was 13 or 14. I was so excited to be done with the whole process, but when I finally got those braces off, something seemed a little wrong. My bite was not completely perfect and my appearance was sort of off. When my mom mentioned something to the orthodontist, he said something along the lines, "Oh her lower jaw is a little underdeveloped, you may need to consider surgery in the future." Umm..so I don't know why he didn't mention this BEFORE he started all this orthodontic work. But, too little too late and I just had to move on, knowing that surgery might have to happen a few years down the road.

Later on in high school, I suffered through years of headaches, jaw pain from grinding my teeth, and extreme tiredness. But, I was always very involved in sports and I also put a lot of pressure on myself to do well in school, so I mostly attributed everything to stress. I got a mouth guard to wear at night and that seemed to alleviate the grinding temporarily. However, it only got worse in college. The pain was overbearing and at times I just wanted to rip my jaw off. When I got back from studying abroad in the Summer of 2011, my condition worsened. Not only did my jaw hurt everyday, I also was not sleeping well and was starting to experience pain in my ears (weird, I know). I did a ton of traveling while in Europe and was constantly flying to different countries. When I got back to the United States, my ears felt like they were popping as if I was still on an air plane. So, I scheduled an appointment with an ENT and although there was nothing wrong with my hearing, as soon as he felt my jaws he said the pain was the result of TMJ. So, that led me to going to the oral surgeon who took out my wisdom teeth. She did X-Rays and listed some possibilities of what could be going on with my jaw, but said the only way to diagnose TMJ was to do an MIR. So, that was the next step and upon getting the MIR it was confirmed that I did have TMJ. 

So, knowing that I possibly needed corrective jaw surgery, I scheduled a consultation with an oral surgeon recommended through the ENT. The oral surgeon took photos and after looking at me, he strongly recommended surgery as soon as possible. I was enthusiastic at first because I couldn't wait to get rid of all my pain, but when he explained the whole process, I began to feel very overwhelmed. I was hoping I could skip the whole braces thing since I already did that, but he said there was no way I could (I definitely starting crying at this point, so embarrassing). Then, he starting talking about sleep apnea. Because of the size of my lower jaw there was a very strong possibility that I had sleep apnea and he recommended I did a sleep test (I will write more details on that later). So, earlier this year I did the sleep test and it was confirmed that I did have sleep apnea. I felt a lot of relief when I found out I had sleep apnea. After years and years of whining about how tired I was, it was almost comforting to know that there was a reason I felt this way. It also made me feel more secure in my decision to get jaw surgery, because the surgery is one of the best ways to treat sleep apnea. 

As stated before, I got lower braces put on in June. My doctors estimate that I will need lower braces on 10 months before surgery and top braces for only a few months before. My surgery is tentatively set for March 2013, but it is still a little too early to tell.

Well, this is way more than enough for now. I had no idea I had so much to say haha. But, more details to come! and hopefully I'll figure out how to upload some photos to expose my awful profile to the world!