Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Day 29 - First Ortho Appt and Conversations

So this morning I had my first appt with my orthodontist since surgery. It went really well overall! I walked over to check in and of course the receptionist asked me how i was doing. and then i got called back and all of the assistants kept saying hi and asking how i was, and saying how good i looked. so i guess getting jaw surgery makes me pretty popular at my ortho office!! haha.... but they were all so nice to me, and i just felt so great :)

okay.. on to the actual point of the appointment. haha. so my surgeon had to cut the top wire of my braces into 3 pieces during surgery.. so while my orthodontist normally just looks at the patient and switches bands their first appt back after surgery... lucky me had to get a new wire instead. (they didn't want my teeth to relapse back to how they were before braces and then have to backtrack... and yeah) i guess it wasn't too awful, but since my cheeks on the inside are still fairly swollen and stiff, it wasn't the most pleasant experience with fingers jabbing in the back of my mouth. Then, they said that my bite is looking great and were pleased with how wide i could open my mouth at this point after surgery. My orthodontist also reconfigured my bands. instead of the 3 tight ones in the front that i had placed by my surgeon, he is just having me wear 2 "boxes" on the sides. these are a lot looser and technically i don't even have to take them off to eat if i don't want to.. but they are MUCH harder to put on since it is so hard to get to the back of my teeth! (with my stiff lips and swollen inside cheeks). soo... we will just see how that goes the next few days. My surgeon said i need to wear them 18-20 hours every day and that i don't need to see him for 6 weeks. at which point he will put a new wire on my top teeth.




the band configuration is the same on the other side. sorry it is hard to see! very hard to move my lips to show it.........

hmm, the rest of my day was pretty normal... golfing, reading, and well i got my hair cut if that counts for anything? haha. barely got any off.. since i am terrified of cutting my hair short again. even if it does touch my belly button right now... haha

but... on to more relevant topics. hmm, so i actually know the lady that cuts my hair  really well. she even gave me my first hair cut. and about a year ago we got to talking and realized that we were both having jaw surgery. she has an underbite and is scheduled for surgery in december. so today she was asking all about my experience and how i was doing and such, cause she has started to get nervous for her surgery. it was actually really nice to talk to someone who is in a similar situation.

I also don't ever think i mentioned that 2 other girls in my grade had jaw surgery this summer too. We discovered this as we all were in the same study hall last year.... even weirder. we all have the same surgeon! and he even is an hour away. just so ironic. we all had our surgeries a week apart too. 3 consecutive mondays. so one of them had her surgery the week before mine. she only had upper jaw surgery while i had both... but it was so great to text her off and on before and after my surgery to know some things to expect especially since we had the same surgeon and would be at the same hospital etc. She also had a MUCH easier recovery than I did. but hey, it was a way for me to stay positive knowing that since she was able to get better so quickly, one day i would turn the corner and start healing. so yeah. just great to know other people going through this. both in person and through the blogging world :)

good luck to everyone going through recovery. it gets better. i promise!
-Katie:)

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