Day 6!

soooo my phone deleted my attempt at a post this morning:( boo. so things are better. i slept for 6 hours straight last night! every so often i have sharp pain on the left side making my ear hurt too. goal of today is fluids and calories! my surgeon told me this morning when he checked on me that i look pretty good. the swelling seems to be improving. everything is still numb except for my bottom lip which has most feeling. still thoroughly enjoying my mashed potatoes and gravy!!

starting to feel more positive:) ill type more up tonight once i get out my computer and my extended family leaves. today has been a good day! still on morphine, antibiotics, nausea medicine, and steroids for swelling. the medication through the iv is so painful though!:( 

-Katie:)

Day 5 - back to the hospital...

okay so the last day has been so scary and not fun. friday afternoon i was released to go home, and was doing alright, but as the night continued, my nausea increased to the point where i couldn't take my pain medication so i was miserable. i went to the emergency room at the children's hospital around 12:30 am finally with the advice of my surgeon. they gave me additional nausea medication and then a painful shot of morphine to try to get my pain back to a more tolerable level. I was stable enough to return home around 4 am. and then slept in 3 hour shifts waking up to choke down some more awful pain medication. my mom was able to talk to my surgeon again my morning and he suggested we come back to the hospital to see him. (an hour away). so in the car we went, prepared to check back in to the hospital.

we arrived at the hospital late morning and i was wheeled to a new room in the same general area as my last. i got to see a couple of the nurses that had cared for me earlier in the week which almost brought me to tears just because i am so grateful for how nice they've been. simply wonderful. they had to start up a new iv (yuck!) and take blood for a 3rd time this week. always fun. then i got some morphine and nausea medicine and then slept. then my surgeon dropped by and i was forced to try to be alert (not easy with medication!). he said my blood looked completely normal and that i looked good. he said that he feels bad that i am so swollen partially he said because i am so fair and have light, red hair! i have found it interesting how all the nurses say i have it worse off for that reason. hmm. but okay so THEN comes the surprising part. my surgeon simply asks me if i'd like to have my bands off! he normally reconfigures bands at 1 week, but we are completely banded shut until that point. but he said unbanding me would help lessen the pain from the stress and tension in my joints that was also making my ears hurt. he also said that this would help get more calories in me, which i wholeheartedly agreed with. haha. next thing i know, he is digging around in my mouth and my bands are out! he asks me to open my mouth, and of course i barely can open it, but it is enough to get liquids through, and i can even peek my tongue out! brushing my teeth felt glorious after that awful fuzzy, wet feeling. then i passed out for 3 hours which was much needed. by the time i woke up my grandparents and sisters were here to say goodnight. then the best part of the week came. for dinner... i had MASHED POTATOES. it was incredibly delicious and amazing to be able to shove the potatoes heavily diluted with gravy into the front of my mouth with a spoon. i became much happier. much much happier. tomorrow ill post a string of photos from the hospital! i don't have them on my computer, so ill do a quick post from my phone. right now i am just going to head to sleep and relax! i am hoping that i am past the worst of things. cause friday-saturday was really awful and scary. not gonna lie. here is to a better recovery starting tomorrow! much love to all.
-Katie:)

Day 4 - Home!

SOOO... i made it HOME! i didn't know it would feel this good. but it does. wow. yay. so let's see, last night i slept pretty well, just continuing sleeping for 4 hours cause that is how often i get my pain medication. I saw my surgeon this morning and he said that i looked really good! i randomly have a bruise on half of my bottom lip as of today sadly. now half of it is purple. just lovely. so then we were able to leave the hospital around 2 pm today and all of a sudden the weather is HOT and humid out here. ew! the ride home was an entire hour and was completely awful. :( not gonna lie. i am so congested and my mouth just feels like i am constantly drowning it in spit. (gross, but true). i just want to dry out my mouth and be able to swallow all the spit and mucus! also, my ears feel extremely plugged which made me really dizzy on the ride home. i will be avoiding cars from now on :( that was a terrible experience. nausea and dizziness returned for an entire hour :( you could say i am kinda settled by now. but i still don't feel all too great. i get medicine in 15 minutes and hopefully thatll make everything better! it tastes soo nasty but is worth getting rid of the terrible pain. Im sorry if this makes no coherent sense. im literally just typing down the first thing that pops into my head. which doesn't seem too happy. im sorry! ill write more as i become more positive i guess... sigh. bye all!
-Katie:)

Day 3

i think i would say that today has been harder than yesterday was. i woke up just feeling groggy. but! i did get a lot of sleep last night. i slept for 3 four-hour blocks! woo. but, i woke up needing medicine very badly. the time in between my medication just waiting for the next dose has not been fun.... i felt a little more dizzy and foggy today! i don't know how to describe it. i just feel really out of it today, so i apologize though if none of this makes sense! my thoughts are not together. hmm, so i have been half watching house hunters on my hospital tv today alll day. this is the first time i could actually focus on a tv show though. progress! that is when you know you are drugged.. when you can't even watch tv.... haha. so hmm. today i feel like swelling is very similar to last time i posted a picture! although my lips are reallllly raw. so it is painful to move my lips, and food with salt in it burns. i still love tomato soup. let me just say that it is NOT fun being lactose intolerant through this process! hmmm, i am still completely numb except for my bottom lip. oh! i can actually breathe through my nose today. it has been glorious:)
overall though, today has been bad. i just feel super weak and helpless and swollen. i think i get to go home tomorrow. but i just don't even care. i don't mind it here since i get a lot of help here. hopefully i am able to have a decent night! wish me luck with continuing eating. that is NOT fun. why can't i just have normal food? :( anyway, take care all!
-Katie:)

Day 2 continued

so overall today was more positive than the last 2! the worst part was that i have been struggling to breathe :( i now have a system down of taking my liquid medicine for pain and so i am under control in that area. yay. it has been hard to focus on much though due to the ton of medicine. my nausea is gone too! i have really enjoyed having my family in the room to talk since i barely can! it made my day pas by much quicker. they can be fairly entertaining. haha. i believe i am taking liquid hydrocodone and had one dose of morphine through my iv and i didn't even throw up that time. yay! to help with my congestion, i tried taking sudafed, but that barely helped. so the whole "not breathing" thing is my biggest complaint today. today was also the first day ive been hungry. around lunch i decided that i really wanted a hamburger. oh the sadness. my favorite food today though has been tomato soup! sooo yummy! i am actually full for once. i have been brushing the outside of my teeth successfully and have been using some sort of prescription "mouthwash" not sure exactly what it is, but it feels good to attempt to clean out my mouth! my biggest complaint about food has been how the more rich things seem to coat my throat and make it harder to breathe. but the yummy tomato soup was so worth the difficulty breathing. hmmm what else! oh. my lower lip has a lot of feeling back, but otherwise i am numb all the way to below my eyes. i havent taken a single nap today... oops. just never felt tired enough to pass out. so maybe ill be able to sleep well tonight. idk. my surgeon came and checked on me today and said that everything looked great! i can't really tell anything, but i wont judge til the swelling goes down. i just cant believe how swollen my face feels! it is crazy... i think i forgot to mention earlier how my surgeon couldn't take out my wisdom tooth or it would have fractured my jaw:( so ill have to deal with that later in life? not sure since it hasnt brought me pain yet. more updates on that to come at a later date. hmm, oh! so back to when my surgeon visited. he also said that i could maybe go home tomorrow, but im not sure whatll happen! either tomorrow or friday. and im good with either. all of the nurses here are sooo nice to me. i feel so extremely grateful :) anyway! im gonna go! ill update more tomorrow. i apologize if this post doesnt make much sense due to my lack of uh focus! idk! just blaming everything on the medicine. take care all. bye!
-Katie:)

Day 2

I survived the second night. woo. kinda was able to sleep in 2 hour shifts. and of course i was sleeping super super well this morning and then the nurses came to check vitals and bring food. overall a lot of the pain has gone down today. just feel SUPER puffy and swollen. today's goals are to drink and walk more. i showered last night which felt absolutely amazing! the nurses have been so helpful and nice. i am just about to go on a walk but ill update later today. i am determined to have a better day today since the last 2 were awful :( until later!

-Katie:)

Day 1 continued

so today i finally had some fluids. i am

extremely swollen and discovered that is it really hard to swallow anything. i do like the syringe though, a very helpful thing. my family was very nice to keep me company in the hospital all day seeing as i can only mumble. i have some feeling back in my lower lip. but everything else is super numb. i attempted the liquid medicine earlier. but that didnt go well and so they let me go back to the iv demerol. the last 2 days have been so hard :( i just want it to be over. hmm, i was able to drink grape and apple juice,

sprite, water, and tomato soup today. my nausea is finally subsiding. yay. i have felt more pain than i though i would have thought. not fun :( my moon isnt crazy good as of now. it was better this morning. now i just feel puffy and awful. well, im going to go try to sleep for a couple hours since i can actually partially breathe right now. much love.

-Katie:)

Surgery/Day 0/Day 1

so i had a post written up earlier but i think it go deleted! :( surgery went well. had a rough last 24 hours though. arrived bright and early at the hospital, but then my surgery got delayed 2 hours :(

my doctor did a 3 piece on top and impacted it up and moved my bottom jaw forward. morphine made me nauseous and i threw up at least 6 times. so i switched to demerol for pain which is helping. i slept kinda in 2 hours shifts. with medicine in between. not gonna lie, yesterday was really rough. i could barely breathe. which was scary. i havent had much to "eat". just some sprite. apple juice. and broth. it realllly hurts to swallow. ill post more tonight after i take a nap updating you on my afternoon. thanks to all:)

Surgery Tomorrow. ahhhhh...

Okay, so the day is ALMOST here. wow. I can't believe it finally is the night before surgery. While i am so happy that I am able to finally get this all over with, I am feeling scared tonight. I just don't even know what to expect. Sigh. I have been so grateful all day for everyone that has been sending me luck and praying for me. I just don't know what else to say. Kinda overwhelmed. Thanks for any of you deciding to read this! After surgery I will keep this updated mostly because all of these other blogs that i have read have helped me immensely. so thank you all!! see you after the big day i suppose:)

last pictures before!

profile, not the best, but oh well!

- Katie:)

Surgical Hooks and 4ish Days Left

Hello anyone and everyone!
Today was my last orthodontist appt before surgery. They put surgical hooks on almost every tooth, definitely feel like i have a full mouth of wire! All of the assistants and my orthodontist wished me luck and said they'd be thinking of me on Monday. They even gave me a care package with a tiny toothbrush, syringe, etc which was really nice:). Made me realize how serious this surgery is.

current bite, awkward hooks!

Just starting to get last minute supplies for surgery and figuring out what I'll do to waste time the next several weeks! Anyone have any amazing books they've read lately? I am a complete book nerd and am always looking for more to add to my "to read" list:) I guess I don't know what else to add to this post... hmm. Today I am feeling more scared for my surgery. Last night I dreamed that I had surgery and was disappointed when I woke up that I still have to go through it all. Why can't it just all be over?? Okay, back to being more positive. I have been eating a TON of my favorite foods this week, from steak to apples to hamburgers, I've stayed pretty full! I'd love any words of advice or anything I should be doing these last few days before surgery. All of you going through recovery right now are in my thoughts and prayers. Thanks so much to any of you reading :) I'll keep posting!

-Katie:)

1 more week. wow. (and pictures!)

Hello!! Well, here we are. One week from today I'll be in surgery. Kinda scary. Well, my pre-op appt went super well! I mean, as well as it could have. Lots of molds, measurements, and pictures were taken (ew). My surgery is officially Monday June 10. I am supposed to arrive at 5:30 to check-in for a 7:30 am surgery. I will be tightly banded shut for the first week, and then a different configuration of bands will be used that i can take out to eat. I am on clear liquids the first week, and after that I am on a strict "no-chewing" diet for 8 weeks. So this week I am enjoying LOTS of food, I hope I don't end up losing too much weight! So with regards to the actual procedure, I will for sure be having both jaws done. My lower jaw will be moved forward due to my overbite while my upper jaw will be moved up, forward, and tilted as i have a slight open bite too. I don't have exact measurements from my surgeon as he is still finishing the models. Also, (I think in April) I had my x-rays taken at my orthodontist to be sent to my surgeon, and in the last while 1 wisdom tooth has grown. I was SO happy a year ago when they said I wasn't likely to have any wisdom teeth since they hadn't grown at all yet, but here we are (at least i only have 1!). My surgeon said he would try to take it out during surgery, but only if it doesn't cause problems, so he couldn't promise anything. I am hoping to get it out so I only have to deal with one surgery!! But hmm, I'm trying to think what else I need to write down right now. I mean, if anyone is reading this and has any advice, I would really appreciate it :) I just want to get this surgery over with as it has been almost 3 years of waiting! I feel like this week is going to go by reallly slowly as I just want it to end already. but oh! i finally can put up some pictures! (kinda a lot since I have been slacking on them in other posts). Thanks to any of you reading. I really appreciate it!

-Katie:)

most recent picture:)

ignore the weird face, but this was taken a couple days before I got my braces (summer 2011)

this was june 15 2011, taken right after i got home from getting my braces on

one year after braces

last november (2012), after I was cleared for surgery

(this is my relaxed jaw, lips don't close)

forced lips and teeth to completely close

cheesy smile

kinda shows my overbite

this was from a couple of weeks ago (may 2013)

Less than 2 weeks.

So tomorrow is my pre-op appt and i will definitely be posting more after that! Just coming to the realization that surgery is actually coming. Trying not to freak myself out too much... but it is kind of scary. I just want it to be over with by now! I am really going to try to keep posting throughout this entire ordeal. I have loved reading the blogs you guys have made. so a big thanks for that:) Just felt like i had to rant a tiny bit today about how close surgery is getting... sigh. I will be eating a lot of my favorite foods the next week and a half! June 10th will come sooner than I think... any advice or things i should be doing before surgery would be great. Ignoring the fact that surgery is actually happening wont be possible for much longer! Anyway, much love. Thinking of all of you going through this right now. if anyone's surgery is around the same time please let me know!

-Katie:)

4 Weeks Until Surgery

Quick Post!
So I was just kinda sitting around and then I realized that my surgery is 4 weeks from today. I need to profusely apologize for not posting at all lately (oops!). I just have been busy and haven't had much to say I suppose! Starting to get worried for surgery I guess. Tomorrow I have my last dentist appt before surgery. Then, I have my Pre-op appt May 30 and I go to my orthodontist for my surgical hooks on June 6 for my surgery June 10. School finally ends next Thursday. Although I want summer, I have mixed feelings since that means my surgery is close. Don't get me wrong, I really have been waiting for my surgery for ages... but that doesn't mean it'll be pleasant :( Hope all of you guys are well :) in the next few weeks ill definitely put a bunch more up after I get through my finals and AP exams! (and thanks to the few people that may or may not read this!)
- Katie:)

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:)