Going Under the Knife

A year ago, on April Fool's Day 2015, I had an appointment with an orthodontist to talk about getting braces to fix my teeth, which were getting more and more crooked each year.  I had braces for 5 years as a kid, but my orthodontist was super old and basically admitted that he couldn't get my bite just right and was retiring and we were moving so he just took them off, gave me an upper retainer only and sent me on my merry way.  At the appointment, after taking x-rays and examining my bite, the orthodontist explained that the only way to fix my teeth was to do old-school metal braces (I had been hoping for Invisalign) and surgery where my jaw would have to be broken and reset to correct my bite.

Then he showed me a simulation video of how and where the jaw would be broken and moved around.  And I started bawling and freaking out.  Then I went home and scheduled two more consultations with different orthodontists for a second and third opinion.

Long story short, they all said the same thing:  I had a "severe skeletal Class II malocclusion with a transverse deficiency problem."  Basically a terrible cross-bite and overbite that could be corrected only through surgical intervention, not just braces.  Because of my bad bite, my left joint in my jaw is "severely worn down from the open bite trauma" (this is all from a letter from the orthodontist I went with to my oral surgeons discussing treatment).

I got my braces on in May, which I blogged about back then.  It was all mostly funny ha-ha and the surgery was a far-off concept until a couple of months ago when we finally set a date for the procedure and started ramping things up with my treatment and meeting with the surgeons to prepare.

This Friday - April Fool's Day 2016, exactly 1 year from that first consultation about getting braces - I will be going in to have a 4-hour surgery where my jaw will be broken in 5 places, then plated with metal plates, screwed into a new position and wired shut for almost 2 weeks.  It's not going to be fun.

While I am wired shut, I won't be able to eat anything other than liquids.  And not even regular smoothies or milkshakes, which are supposedly too thick to get past my teeth.  We are talking chicken broth and apple juice that can trickle between my teeth because even if I COULD suck from a straw (which I won't be able to), I couldn't get a straw, even a small one.  At the class preparing me (and Paul) for the surgery, they said that we can try smoothies or shakes but first need to put them through a fine mesh strainer and I should be able to consume the resulting liquid.  So, yeah, that's going to be fun.  Also, no blowing my nose, sneezing through my nose, picking up anything more than 5 pounds or any kind of exercise for at least 6 weeks so I don't open up a wound or break sutures inside my nose or mouth.  Oh, and the vomiting blood and nose-bleeds that are side effects of the surgery for the first week.  It won't be pretty.

Once the wires come off, I will still have a splint in my mouth (sort of like a mouth guard that keeps my upper jaw in place but allows me to move the lower jaw) and at that point I should be able to move up to things like yogurt, applesauce, and anything soft enough to mush but not chew for another 4-6 weeks until the splint comes off and some bone has started forming between the broken sections of jaw.

The nurse explained that most people don't complain of pain after the surgery so much as feeling really uncomfortable.  All the incisions are on the inside of my mouth and they remove the nerves in the upper and lower jaws and set them to the side while they operate, then tuck them back inside when they are done.  Apparently doing that paralyzes or numbs them like when you get a cavity filled at the dentist.  Except instead of the numbness wearing off after one afternoon, it takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months (or longer) for the numbness (which will be my entire face below my eyes) to go away.

The other big part of the discomfort is from the swelling, which is pretty extreme for most people.  I will have to wear an ice pack that surrounds my face non-stop for the first 72 hours, and then 30 minutes of every hour for the next week after that to keep the swelling to a minimum.  And even at that, when they showed us pictures of patients who have been through the surgery before and documented their progress day-by-day, the swelling by day 5 is painful just to look out.  After that it is supposed to start subsiding and by 9 months after the surgery (sometimes 12), I should look how I am going to look for the rest of my life because all of the swelling will be gone.  I'm not exactly looking forward to looking like a chubby bunny for the next 9 months.

I hope it is worth it.  A big motivating factor for doing this now is that our insurance covers the entire procedure and all I have to pay is a $20 co-pay, which is amazing.  Each of the three orthodontists I consulted with said "please tell me you have Kaiser?" when they realized surgery would be necessary because of how good they are with the amount of coverage for this.  Also, I knew my teeth were just going to keep getting worse and worse and this would eventually result in more pain (it already feels pretty terrible) and they say the older you are the harder it is to recover from surgery.  But I'm worried about not being able to care for the girls, not being able to talk normally, what it will be like to throw up with my jaws wired shut (a major concern and one that we talked quite a bit about in the prep class), the recovery time, how I will look afterwards (both in the near and far terms) and so much more.  Thankfully my parents are coming to stay with us and take care of me and the girls and Paul while I am out of commission.

Wish me luck.

Braces, Grandma & Adelaide Visit, and other Randomness

 

Braces

 

On April Fool's Day, I went into an orthodontist's office for a consultation about what to do about my teeth.  You know how every so often the question is posed about the one physical thing you might change about yourself?  Well, mine would be my teeth.  I had braces for 5 years as a kid and it was brutal.  My orthodontist then was 90 (or so it seemed) and from what I remember he was trying to retire, I was his last patient, and he couldn't figure out how to completely fix my teeth.  So he finally just removed the braces, told me I didn't need a retainer, and sent me on my way. 

 

Well, as it turns out, the real issue is that I have a "severe skeletal Cass II malocclusion with a transverse deficiency problem", which basically means a terrible crossbite and overbite that has been wearing down the joint of my left jawbone and back teeth because of the "open bite trauma" (this is all coming from a letter from my new orthodontist referring me for a surgical procedure).  It is like when you go to a restaurant and get the chair with one wobbly leg that is shorter than all the others - my bite is never stable and it is causing major problems, in addition to the fact that my teeth are just plain old crooked too. 

 

When the first orthodontist explained all this to me in his office and showed me videos of how this will all have to be corrected through a surgical procedure where my jaw is broken in multiple places to then expand my palate, I started bawling.  I mean, I knew my mouth had problems but I was not expecting to be told I was going to need surgery to fix it.  I'm sure this was naïve but I was kind of hoping against hope that Invisalign would be an option for me, but it won't work to correct the probems.  I went to two other orthodontists for opinions and they all said the same thing, so as much as I hate to go through with this, I decided to move forward and get it taken care of before I get any older and this gets any worse. 

 

The upside of it all is that my medical insurance will cover the surgery, which will involve an overnight hospital stay, breaking my jaw in 5 places, plating my lower jaw in place, and possibly a chin implant - Paul said I should ask for the Jay Leno special - and having my jaw wired shut for 10 days all for the cost of my co-pay ($25) which is totally insane.  And apparently the Kaiser surgeons in Oakland who perform this surgery are the best around according to all three orthodontists I talked to.  So, hooray, I guess. 

 

So yeah, I get to be a brace face for the next to years I guess.  Hopefully not any longer, but we will see.  I got the upper bands put on while my mom was in town visiting and could watch the girls for me.  The lower braces will go on later.  My teeth are killing me already (its been 2 days), as are my lips which feel raw in places where they are rubbing too much against the metal brackets, and I feel like I look like a 12 year old again.  When they finished placing the brackets on my teeth they held up 20 different colors of rubber bands to put around each bracket and I had a flashback to when I used to choose red and green or orange and black or whatever color combo best represented the holiday of the month.  I kept it classy and stuck with clear this time though, which is my intention for the entirety of this process.

 

I jokingly posted on Instagram the day I got the braces put on that I had gone to the mall and all the preteen boys were hitting on me and asking if I was babysitting Clara and Rose since we were there with my mom.  When Paul got home that night I mentioned that I had bought a new shirt while we were at the mall and he piped up: "Where? Forever 12?".  I'm glad he's getting such entertainment out of my suffering.  Just kidding, though.  He's actually been super sympathetic and supportive through all of this and the humor helps me cope. 

Grandma Cece & Adelaide come to visit

In other news, my sister, Jennie, had her baby girls two weeks ago.  Everything went well and they are identical (as far as anyone can tell).  Clara is super excited about her new cousins, Kaitlyn and Brigitte and spent a couple of days drawing pictures of the two of them and telling me all about them. 

 

My mom took Jennie's three oldest girls to her house for a few days so Jennie and Ryan could adjust to the twins before having all five girls (with Emma being the oldest at 5) at home.  Then this past week she flew out here to visit us and brought Adelaide, who turns 2 next week, so that Jennie only had the oldest two to take care of along with the twins.  And oh my goodness did we have fun with this girl.  Rose adores Adelaide and they got along great (most of the time).  Sure there were some jealousy issues when I would hold Adelaide or when they both wanted the same toy, but for the most part Rose was in stitches all week while watching Adelaide be her hilarious self.  Rose would crow with delight when we did dance parties and Adelaide would spin around and seat drop right onto her bum.  And when we took the girls to a splash park they were both having fits of glee over the spraying water and played and played until they were shivering like crazy and we made them change out of their wet clothes into the dry ones we had brought.  Adelaide was extremely angry over this and threw a massive tantrum, but aside from a few of those she was just such a sweet girl and gave me so many snuggles this week. 

 

 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) I got sick with some kind of stomach bug the first night my mom was here.  While it really put a wrench in plans to go out and do things, it was nice that my mom could help me with the girls while I tried to recuperate and hold food down.  She also made it so I could go to the orthodontist for two hours and put all three girls to bed on Wednesday night so Paul and I could make it to the temple for a date night. 

 

Go-Karts and Fondue

 

Speaking of date night, we had such a fun one a couple of weeks ago when we went to Boomer's in Livermore and rode go-karts (which I had never done before), played mini golf (we each got a hole-in-one so we are both winners but for the record I won by 2 strokes), and got chocolate fondue for dessert at a place in downtown Livermore.  We want to go back to the fondue place again and try dinner there, not just dessert.  We are so lucky to have a good babysitting-swap system set up with another couple so we can go out every other week.

Pedicures and Braids

Clara just loves having her toenails painted and the other week I actually even let her paint my toenails for me, which she thought was pretty awesome.  She even did an okay job of it and man alive was she focused on getting them just perfect.  I did both of our hair in milkmaid braids that day and she looked so darn cute. 

On most Thursdays I take the girls to Music Makers at the church.  There is usually a really good turn out of moms and toddlers there and Clara and Rose really enjoy the singing, games, storytime, and snacks.  I enjoy the chance to visit with other moms and watch the girls having fun with other kids their age. 

Kitchen Adventures

My friend Amy came over the other week and brought her pasta machine so we could try our hand at making fettucine from scratch.  It was super fun and interesting but probably more work than it was worth and I'm planning to stick to the dried pasta from the store rather than go through all the labor again.  But I sure love trying new things in the kitchen and we made plans to attempt other things that we have never tried making before like potstickers, baklava, and spring rolls.

Rosie-Posie

And last, but most certainly not least, Rose continues to be such a little sweetheart.  She has her hard days or hard times of days when she is a little fusspot and is prone to throwing tantrums when she is already cranky and doesn't get her way, but when she is happy and in a good mood she is the smiliest, sweetest, funniest little thing.  She has the best, most beatific smile and loves to tease and play.  Just this past week she has seemed to make some progress on forming some words.  She said "Adelaide" and "all done" with enough distinction that we knew what she was talking about in context even if it wasn't super clear yet.  Yesterday I'm pretty sure I heard her say "bubble" when getting into the bathtub and she seems to think a cat is called a "meow" because that is the sound she makes when we see one.  It's hard to say if any of these count as her first words because it is still more of just getting the correct number of syllables paired with the proper vowel sounds and maybe a consonant or two along with context but it is exciting to see her speech start progressing.

Rose loves berries, gummy vitamins, milk, all animals (she goes nuts over dogs and cats), her blankie (the purple one that Jennie made for her when she was born), touch-and-feel books, going for walks outside, being chased, Ring-around-the-Rosie, bathtime, and brushing her teeth.  She looks to be teething again given the state of her runny nose and drooling mouth and I am wondering if her canines are coming in next.  Rose is in size 2T and will move up to 3T by the end of the summer in all likelihood given how fast she is growing.  She is a very big girl and is the size of a 2 year old even though she is only 15 months.  She likes to climb on everything and follow her big sister around.  And we just love her to pieces.