It's been such a long time!

So over the past 48 hours, I've moved on from being a broken jaw patient, to a "normal" human being undergoing orthodontic treatments (i.e. braces).

I'm really going to miss being able to say I have two broken jaws. Kind of crazy what a good conversational piece that is! I got bored, however, telling people that I just had surgery, so sometimes I would just invent stories to keep others on their toes. It was a fun game to play for awhile.

I finally went home today and saw people who had known me for years with the under-bite the way it was and they were amazed at how "different" I look. Being at school, with some who had only known me for a couple of years, I didn't get as many comments about me looking totally different. I hadn't even thought about taking pictures or uploading new ones to check for MYSELF how different I look. I just keep looking at my post surgery pics (the fat bastard ones) and thank the good Lord that I don't look like that anymore!

Two things that I don't believe I mentioned previously that definitely deserve some attention, however.

1). One of the things that I missed the most while I had my jaws wired shut/closed was that I couldn't sing in the car! My sister sent me some new music that I was listening to, and I couldn't sing along with it. That drove me absolutely nuts because that's what keeps me from getting bored when I drive, is singing along to the tracks as I go. What a relief.

2). My whistling ability has seriously been damaged. I am sure my roommates have gotten sick of hearing me practicing my whistling (or maybe I've been good about doing it when I'm home alone). I used to be able to whistle with my fingers and do it crazy loud, but I can barely do it at all anymore. I've got a lot of work to do! No time to waste!

C). I finally get to eat my Christmas candy! I totally forgot I had some!

4). My best good friend Douglas and I are going to have an official food date this weekend. Both of us have been limited in what we have been able to eat due to various mouth procedures, but I believe the plan is, this weekend, to get some pizza, wings, chips and a sub and enjoy each other's friendship and ability to chew food again.


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This is like a bonus track.  I found this humbaby in my drafts that never got published.   So, enjoy this gem!  Unless it did get published somehow...oh well, deal with it.

6-Months

So...I totes forgot to keep this thing updated and tie up some loose ends.  Not that anyone is reading this anymore...or cares about this topic anymore...or about me.  But regardless.  It must be done for posterity.

So, has my life changed drastically?  I would say no.  I've gotten a few interesting comments, though.  I went back and visited my classes that I student taught when I was recovered and the first thing that each class said was "Something looks different about you!"  But nobody could figure it out, and I didn't talk about the surgery.

A few people also mentioned to me that I sound a little more clear when I talk.  I still haven't listened to myself talk yet.  I'm nervous to hear it.  Maybe some day I'll be brave enough to listen.

The biggest change I have noticed is that I can bite cleanly through things with my front teeth.  For example, I could never bite through a pickle spear without having to resort to using my back molars.  I successfully bit through one with my front chompers for once.  That was pretty cool.  However, the coolest thing was being able to eat a burger with onion on it/a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and not pull all of the contents out on my first bite.  I BIT THROUGH IT.  That right there makes the surgery a TOTAL success and totally worth it.

The numbness has gone away at a remarkable pace.  I don't think I have any left, save for maybe a really tiny strip on the left corner of my mouth.  My right jaw area also clicks a bit more than it usually did when I chew.  I also have a bit of scar tissue that has built up in my left, inner cheek that is a bit annoying, but has slowly been breaking down.



Other than that, I would say it has been pretty successful.  It was certainly an ordeal to go through, but I am a pretty lucky guy to have a nice support system around me both here at home and back at school. 

Hopefully the braces are off at the end of this summer so I can REALLY enjoy my new face.  I'll put up a new post most likely when that happens, so everybody can see me smiiiiiile for realsies.

So, goodbye for now.

Stay classy errybody.

Free at last, free at last, thank God almight, I'm kind of free at last...

Today marks the 9 week since my facial reconfiguration. I had been in very light elastics for the last two weeks, and was expecting one more week of it. However, my Dr. basically flew in the room and said "ehhhhhh screw it - let 'er rip". That wasn't quite as scientific as he put it, but he more or less said that I look good, everything checks out, let's take off the bands but still take it a little easy when you eat.

It's so different being able to actually talk now. I find myself sometimes reverting to talking with my mouth closed, or barely moving, because I am so used to it. I also tend to find myself having to talk much, much slower than I normally would to get used to my tongue and teeth touching/moving in different places. I'm kind of self-conscious about it still right now, but most of the people I talk to know me well enough that they know my situation and can at least nod their head along like they know what I'm saying. So, thank you for that, whomever you may be.

So basically, the Doctor wants me not to eat anything crunchy like chips or pretzels for another week.

But other than that, the exciting news is that I can really increase my diet from pudding and eggs and pasta to some more substantial things. I went to Wegman's thinking I could buy all of this new stuff...but then I realized I had no idea what I really missed and wanted to eat. I only ended up buying some peanut butter and bread and ate my first legit peanut butter sandwich. Those who really know me, know I enjoy my peanut butter.

I'm thinking next week, when I'm fully cleared, I'm going to go out somewhere relatively nice for a meal. And eat a burger. I can't wait.

The journey is just about complete. One more visit in two weeks time and I will be, i believe, completed with my post-op visits. If I can, maybe I'll post an X-Ray picture so everybody can see how metallic I am. You could all call me Steel Man now.

Basically, all I have left is to begin the final few months of orthodontic work before I'm completely human again. Got a couple of teeth to pull and yank on to line me up right!

Next week I will probably post the last 10 songs to my soundtrack and bid everybody adieu once again.

Until then, stay classy.

It's been...8 weeks.

Today marked the 8-week period. I had another appointment with the surgeon and things pretty much remained the same. He put some different bands on (I think) that are basically just going to be used to guide my bite, according to him. He plans on leaving these on for two weeks.

The exciting news comes from the fact that he said at 10 weeks, he is going to clear me to eat just about anything I want. My diet now is largely consisting of eggs and pudding. I haven't gotten to the point where I've made egg pudding...yet.

The main issue I have is with how often these bands break. They're pretty low caliber, and the ones I had one previous to these were breaking about every 2 days. On top of that, I had to try and be an orthodontist myself and put them back on. I would say I was pretty successful (for the most part) at hooking those bands back on myself considering I don't have the tools of terror to use at my disposal like the orthos/surgeons do. Maybe I should reconsider my career path......

So there really is not much new going on. Doug and I are planning on having a food day when I am fully cleared to eat food. So I've got two more weeks to look forward to that blessed day of blessed food in which Chinese food, Mexican food, Canadian food, and American food will be bountiful.

Until then, stay classy.

You've got to admit it's getting better!

Today marks 7 weeks since I let a couple of surgeons go into my face and rearrange the bones to make a more aesthetically appealing appearance. After being wired shut for 5, tightly banded for 2, it was time to get another X-Ray and hopefully let the bands loosen up.

Going in to the appointment, I really had my hopes set that I was going to be cleared to start eating soft foods like eggs and such so anything less than that was going to be a major league letdown.

I got right in, saw the surgeon who then took an x-ray to see how my bones were healing up. In order to take the x-ray, he completely took the bands off so I had full range of motion for the first time since he unwired me at the 5 week mark. I was able to open my mouth much easier this time than the first time, but I could steal feel that it was sore. Getting the muscles to work in that fashion again is going to be an issue.

After looking at the x-ray, the Doc said I was healing up very nicely. He showed me a picture of the X-ray and said that while he could still see that the bone had some more healing to do, he was very impressed with my progress and felt comfortable loosening my bands. So basically, I have only one, much lighter band that is somewhat limiting my mobility. I got a little devilish grin when I felt how much MORE mobility I had, and the doctor caught that right away. He made sure to warn me that the bone was not fully healed yet and that I could break it again if I get to ambitious in what I wanted to eat. I understand that, so it's all eggs, potatoes and soft things for me until I get the full go ahead to eat that burger or buffalo chicken sub that I am craving.

Taking the doctors advisement under warning, it was almost 9 o'clock. That meant I had only previous few minutes to race back to campus to get into the dining hall and get an omelet made before they closed down. It is less than a five minute drive from campus to the Doctor's office, but the universe knew I was hungry and was going to try its best to prevent me from getting there.

There are 5 stoplights that I hit in between the office and campus. I hit every single red light. On the two left hand turns I had to make, I had to wait for about a million cars to go by. when I finally did turn, I was following a grandma driving. The time was ticking away....

I eventually got to campus, but lo, I was unable to find a parking spot by the dining hall! I would have to park in the next lot over....

(Cue "Chariots of Fire" theme song) I dashed across campus, dodging and weaving, ducking and spinning slow moving pedestrians, and made it into the dining hall just in time to snag the last omelet made to order. "I'll take an egg white omelet, bacon, cheddar and onion please."

(Cue Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf") I chowed down hard. Chewing is still kind of an issue. My teeth were somewhat sore, so I didn't want to push it too much. I also couldn't really bite into anything, a large part of that being I'm not used to being able to use my teeth like a normal human. That's going to take awhile to get used to...I'm sure I'm going to bite my bottom lips a whole heck of a lot.

Tonight, I think I will celebrate with some pasta. It's been a long battle, but the real end of it is in sight. Thank you everybody for your support, and I'll plan on making a couple of more updates - when I get fully cleared and I still have my last 10 song selections!

Until then, stay classy.

"We've only just begun...."

Today was the big day!!! I got my wires cut!!! I went in to the surgeon's this morning and he snipped off my wires and pulled them right out. It was kind of scary having freedom to move. I got to open my jaw up nice and wide, despite the fact it probably took me about 30 seconds to get there. Just picture it all happening in slow-mo with the Chariots of Fire theme song playing. Looking back on it, that's how I'm going to remember it happening. I could feel how tight my jaws were from being set in that position for 4 weeks. The doctor summed it up pretty well by saying it was like you are working out a muscle cramp. It was definitely an awesome feeling to be able to stick my tongue out and say a few actual words, although I think I'm going to have to go to speech therapy to remember how to talk correctly. Part of me wanted to continue talking like a ventriloquist and the other part of me had no control of where my tongue went, leaving me with an awkward semi-lisp.

So after a few minutes of freedom and the doctor checking me out (everything looked great, he said) it was time to be banded. Basically, I have 3 really strong rubber bands holding my jaws together. It's actually tighter right now than it was when I was wired shut. But I just feel more comfortable with the bands being on that I'm not going to break them. Big time relief, despite not having quite as much freedom as I was expecting/wishing for. It's still gonna be a liquid diet for another couple of weeks. I have an appointment in two more weeks to get 4 of the 6 rubber bands taken off, then another week after that he said he will hopefully take all the bands off/replace them with some that would allow me with much more freedom. So about 4 more weeks in total of being banded/restricted mobility. I can do that.

After that appointment, I headed over to my regular orthodontist to see if he could fix some of the leftover appliances in my mouth that had been killing me. Another thing about the whole being wired shut - I swear they just threw into my mouth any extra wires that they had hanging around the hospital because I could just feel really sharp bits of metal sticking out from random placed in the middle of my mouth stabbing at my cheeks. I think there was an old wire hanger in there for awhile too....

But I digress.

The people in the ortho office all gave me a very nice reaction when they first saw me saying they can't believe the difference and how nice I look. I think one way to tell you are a bit overweight is when people ask you how much weight you've lost since the surgery, you tell them 20 pounds in 4 weeks, and they say "wow way to go". I think the normal reaction a person of regular size would get would be "oh jeeze that's a lot of weight very quickly, make sure you keep up your nutrition". But I think I'm getting "Maybe you should cut back on the ensures to one of them a day, you know, to speed up the weight loss process..." (I kid, I kid, all in good fun. I'm not THAT sensitive haha)

So everything is taken care of now for the next couple of weeks. Going to class will be interesting, as is seeing people on campus who haven't, for some reason, been keeping up with the blog and following my situation. I'm sure I'll have some good stuff for a blog post or two in the mean time.

Until then, stay classy

The Final Countdown!

So it's been 4 weeks since my surgery. My mom mentioned something about how it seemed impossible that 4 weeks had gone by already. Well, mother, let me assure you. Yes, it is possible. It is very possible. If anything, it has seemed like 4 months. Hopefully on Tuesday I will get my wires cut and have a little more freedom!

Now, to be honest, I'm not sure what to expect exactly. The Doctor told me that I should start taking my pain medication again the day before I go in to get my wires cut because when he puts the bands on, I'm going to be quite sore, most likely. I really am not too worried about that anymore. I just want these wires out. I'm sick of being paranoid every 20 seconds that I'm going to somehow move my jaw, break my wires, and need to stay wired for another 4 years. So really, anything out of these wires will probably be plus, even if that means some pain.

I've also been sick and tired of the stomach issues that have seemingly come along with having this "liquid diet". I have, however, found a way to cheat and have started to eat a slice of bread per day. It's a pretty tedious process, but I think it has helped to settle my stomach some. I have some space between my upper and lower teeth, and basically flatten the bread into really thing pieces and feed it through that space and swallow. I think my stomach enjoys having something solid in it. I'm really looking forward to eating soft foods, like eggs and pudding (without having half of it winding up on my face). I'll certainly give another update when I get my wires cut and another when I find out when I can/can't do and eat/can't eat still.

I'm still debating on what I want my first meal to be....I'm gonna have to come up with a killer plan.

Here are a couple of 4 week post-op photos!


^I'm actually trying to smile somewhat in this photo. I still come across as kind of angry. Looks like I'm not making any new friends at college this semester! If you also see a bigger version of this picture, you can tell I have drooled whatever I was trying to consume on my chin, and the shine from Vaseline that I have to keep on my lips to keep from damaging them. I still think I have some swelling going on on the left side of my face too.

What a beard.


~Stay classy.