Surgery Date

So guess what! I got my surgery date finally! Monday June 10.

very small moment of celebration

Getting that just makes surgery seem completely real and terrifying. Hopefully it just comes quickly so i can get it over with! Waiting almost seems worse... Anyway, I hope everyone out there is having an amazing holiday with their families and friends. Truly makes me grateful for everything. I guess i don't have much else to update with other than I'm getting extremely sick of these braces. Prayers and thoughts going out to all of you.
Until I have any sort of update, Katie:)

Waiting Game

Hello!! I have realized one thing recently.
Life is crazy busy... but sometimes being busy is what makes it worthwhile :)

Sorry i haven't posted or kept this updated!! school and golf and show choir and robotics has gotten the best of me! I think i have overbooked myself just a bit ;)

So hmm update! i got my surgery moved back until next june, which a huge (huge!) relief. Now i can just focus on everything else and not worry about my surgery until school is out (summer). So, everything is slowing down. I have been officially cleared for my double jaw surgery by my doctors so now it is just a waiting game until june! I honestly wish i could have my surgery a week from today to get it over with... but i guess you can't pick and choose everything.

I also just wanted to say thank you. Thank you to everyone else out there that has made a blog or anything to share their experience because it truly has been saving me. For every bad thought of mine, there is a successful journey of someone to find. I want you all to know that anyone going through surgery and recovery right now is in my thoughts and prayers.

Sooo hmm! oh soon ill put some profile and just other random pictures up and do that whole sort of post type thingy! im a bit too lazy to do that now... haha.

love to all, katie:)

Surgery Date... and Issues

Okay so here's where the part I'm unsure about comes along........

Right now i have a tentative surgery date for December 26, 2012. sounds perfect right??? not.

After we made that i realized that starting the first week of january i have show choir competitions and practices!! :( :( This year i finally made varsity show choir (and love it), so i would be so devastated to have to miss our competitions.

im not sure how long it will take me personally to recover enough stamina to compete, plus the swelling etc. idk! :(

So, after my mom and I realized this... we wanted to change the date. originally i just wanted to push it back to next summer. but that just seems SOOO far away! right? but i figured i loved show choir enough to wait.

but THEN a few days ago i had an ortho appt. my mom asked my orthodontist about my surgery date and he said christmas would be the best time... he said that my teeth would be moved into the best spot by then and it wouldn't be the best to wait ALL the way to the summer with my braces and such. so we asked him about the recovery time hoping i could possibly still do show choir!! :( he asked if i could maybe ask my school if i could take finals early and have it the week before christmas which might give me enough recovery time. that actually sounded like a good plan to me :)

but, i have an appt with my jaw surgeon at the end of august (yay!) and we will talk more about the recovery time then :) i just want to get this surgery out of the way... ive been waiting for it for too long!

*end rant*

sorry!! im trying to get all of these thoughts out of my brain. i think writing them down just might help. thanks for bearing with it.

HA. i love how i feel like someone is actually reading this.... but even if it is just me, myself, and i.... it's all good:)

love to all,
-Katie:)

Reasons...

Okay so I just wanted to say thank you to all of the other people out there that have posted blogs or just their experiences with their jaw surgery. Reading them has really helped me understand what i will be going through... :) thanks! really. that's one reason i wanted to attempt to start my own... plus it helps to just write everything down! makes me feel better.

I also just wanted to say why i personally chose to go through with surgery:

• pain in my jaw
• daily headaches from jaw
• don't want to have to deal with problems with my bite when im older...
• tiny bit for cosmetic reasons, hate my profile.
• finally want my bite to match up with all my teeth touching!
• easier time chewing/biting into things
• sorry gross, but the drooling too. want my lips to touch without forcing them.

more to come...

-katie<3

Where to even start? Some of my story:)

Okay, so hi! I'm Katie... just so you know:) and uh i have no clue where to start! let me just first say that i have absolutely NO experience with writing something like this. (i actually don't like writing all that much) but anyways here goes nothing!

most recent picture (in braces)

I figured that having this blog would help me keep my sanity through this all :P
i am 15 and am about to start my junior year of high school:)

****i want to apologize ahead of time for my poor grammar (due to laziness). oh and my long rants!****


To start, I will be having jaw surgery on both my top and bottom jaw. i have an overbite. (my bottom jaw is under grown (wayyy too small))..... fun stuff right there (not!)

my "history" (best word i could think of...)

Let's see, i noticed some of my jaw issues originally during my 8th grade year. I would wake up some mornings and my jaw would be locked shut so that i could barely open it. not fun! with that came headaches and pain through the joint of my jaw. After we met with a jaw doctor we realized i grind my teeth a lot at night causing the discomfort. so, he fitted me with a Mago, which is almost like a retainer. I would wear it at night and it would protect my teeth from the grinding and allow my jaw muscles to relax and show where my true bite was. it helped a ton:)

Now fast forward to the winter/spring of my freshman year! All through this i suffered from minor headaches from my jaw every day. THEN my jaw doctor and orthodontist told me that eventually i was going to need jaw surgery. I couldn't even comprehend it. AT ALL. I had barely ever heard of people undergoing something like that. and i had NO clue that i would ever need it. that was a stressful day:(

Then, my orthodontist said he would only start my orthodontic treatment (braces) if we agreed to have surgery down the road. So, after talking with my parents about the "pros and cons" we decided to go with braces leading up to double jaw surgery. ahh....

A little over a year ago (June 15 2011) I got my braces on! both top and bottom. after, we found and met with my surgeon discussing surgery options.

right after i got braces!

we were hoping for surgery this summer (2012), but that obviously hasn't worked out. haha. :( but seriously. ugh. after i was told that i needed jaw surgery i wanted it SOON. a year and a half later... nothing. boo. so hmm! i have met with my surgeon every so often since last year. I had a CT scan recently that showed that my condyle bone in my jaw is degenerating... so i am currently on medicine to stabilize that..

sooooo... if you survived reading all of that SUPER interesting stuff... congrats! ahh its sooo weird writing all of this down in one spot!! I'll put photos and now/future stuff in another post..

I automatically love anyone who decided to read this.
- Katie:)