3 week post-op!

So today will be my 3 week post-op! My! how time flies! The 1st week was definitely the slowest, the days went by so slow and it seemed to just keep dragging on but here I am at 3 weeks post-op! Swelling is down but definitely not gone! Still swollen more on my left side than my right, I can definitely feel it in my cheeks! I can now sleep in my bed but I still have a few pillows for elevation because I know that if you sleep flat, you will wake up with bit more swelling but that's not to say that I don't feel swollen in the morning because I'm no longer sleeping on my recliner, not the most comfortable place to sleep in but of course kept the swelling at bay! I have some pictures showing the amazing profile changes! So this week I had my 3rd post-op with my OS and everything is healing wonderfully! He removed my stitches on both my sides and the bottom of the jaw, it definitely was not the most pleasant feeling! At one point, it kind of hurt a bit, I had some bleeding cuz he kinda cut a little too close but whatever, I'm glad they're out, there were kind of an eyesore anyway! He also gave me a copy of my treatment plan that shows all the measurements of movement. The most was my bottom jaw which he moved forward 6.2mm and the chin 3.7mm, not sure if the 3.7mm is part of the 6.2mm since the chin is part of the mandible, most likely is since 6.2 plus the 3.7 would be quite a large movement. I might ask for his clarification at the next meeting but at least I got the measurements he promised! Sadly, I also found out that he's leaving Kaiser, even though it doesn't affect me because I already had my surgery, I am sad to see him go but he said that as my surgeon, he feels that it is his due-diligence to see me through my recovery to when I'm finished with my orthodontic treatment so that was a relief knowing that even though he's not going to be at Kaiser that I can still see him at no charge, yay! The great part is that his new practice is only about 3 miles from my work so it'll be much easier to go see him for post-op appts during my lunchtime rather than driving for 45 minutes for a distance of just 10 miles while 3 miles will probably take me at most 10 minutes which is awesome since I'll be seeing him during my lunch hour! So all in all, his leaving Kaiser isn't really the saddest thing, just unfortunate for jaw surgery seekers who have Kaiser and want him as their OS. I can't praise Dr. Relle enough, I think he is a really great and talented surgeon, he takes great care of you even though at times he seems like he doesn't have much time for you but hey, he's a busy guy! He cares about how you feel and is happy when you're pleased with your results!  So my next post-op will be at his new office in Century City which is closeby my work that I don't have to worry about taking too long of a lunch! I hope I don't have to pay the co-pays there, if so, that'd be awesome since I feel kind of cheated having to pay $15 copay every time when he just spends like 10-15 minutes checking me, it's not his fault, Kaiser's the one imposing it! Oh and yesterday I had to go back to Kaiser again to get my FMLA forms for work filled out and file a disability claim as well! I think my personnel dept. at work screwed up because the forms were dated 8/24 and it didn't get sent out until 2 days ago and I had to mad rush and get it to Kaiser! Plus they want it to be completed by 9/7, how do they expect it to be done by 9/7 when I barely got the forms on 8/31! Jesus! So they better extend it since they didn't send it out until this week when I had informed them of my leave way in advance and my last day of work was on 8/11!It better not mess up my FMLA thing! Other than that, my energy level is pretty much back to normal, of course I get tired when I'm out all day and I don't get much to eat because I'm still not allow to chew! So it's kind of hard to eat when there aren't many food choices that doesn't require you to chew! He cleared me to eat as long as I can smash food with my tongue at the roof of my mouth and then swallow it! Urghh! What a drag but what ya gonna go? I'm no longer losing weight so that's good even though I am still really skinny, gonna but the weight back on when I can eat like a pig again! Haha well I won't pig out but I will make up for lost time but will try to eat in moderation and not binge eat and eat unhealthy stuff! Well there you have it, that's what happened this week. I haven't really updated....got kinda lazy. But that's pretty much the story of this week in a nutshell!

2nd post-op with my OS!

So on 8/23, I had my 2nd post-op with my OS and it went swell! <-----no pun intended =P Anyway, it was a quick 15 min. checkup, he came from surgery so it was rather fast and he was also checking another patient after me. He said my healing is going wonderful and said that my stitches seems to be ready to come out and if I wanted them out, he can remove them. I said they don't really bother me so let's just leave 'em for now. He still says I can't chew so still on a liquid/swallowing diet! What a drag! My weight is slowly coming back up since I am now swallowing mash potatoes, fish, tofu, anything I can just mush with my mouth without chewing hence why my weight is no longer descending. Yay! I long for good food though, wonder when that day will be =( And today is my 2 week post-op! Hooray! I was able to poop for the very 1st time since my surgery! Sorry TMI but whatever! Not like anyone's reading this and if anyone is, sorry! Being on a liquid diet, you don't have much to release and it sucks! Plus my first stitch fell out today so that proves that my healing is looking good! Other than that, swell has gone down a lot but there's still residual swelling and soreness left so I am still a work in progress! It has gone down enough that I am not afraid to go out in public! *gasp* =P I'm starting to love my profile even though it's still bit chubby, hopefully it will get more distinct once the swell goes down completely because I still look a bit like Ms. Piggy! I can definitely feel the swelling more on my left check than on my right. It's quite sore in the area between my nose and upper lip so I can't really blow my nose or use tissue to wipe it and it's frustrating because you feel like your nose is all stuffed up so I kinda use q-tips to clean it instead which helps a lot and doesn't hurt as much! Chin is still a bit swollen and numb but at least now I have a chin! Hated my profile before because I had a retrusive chin which is practically no chin at all! I think I inherited from my dad before I look at his profile and he seems to have the same retrusive chin as me but it never bothered him! So anyway, that's pretty much what happened this week! Oh and I went and got a haircut and color before I have to go back to do and figure if I am going through change, I might as well change my hair to go with it plus I am not doing much these dayss so might as well find something to do before I head back to work! Note: 2nd week is definitely much better than 1st week hands down! Your energy starts to come back, you're able to consume a bit more than just juices, broth, milk, water, etc. so your weight doesn't go down as much! You're a bit more sane and normal 2nd week post-op, you tend not to feel as shitty and beat up as before, you don't need to sleep every hour of the day, you don't get tired as fast! You are more likely to want to see other human beings and get some daylight! You definitely don't need to take your painkillers anymore and you should be done with your antibiotics by now! So what a big difference, 1st and 2nd weeks make! It's like night and day! Okay, I guess that's pretty much it! Ciao!

1 week post-op!!!

Hi Everyone! Yesterday was 1 week post-op and the swelling is slowly going down! It wasn't as bad as before but definitely not good enough that I wanna go out in public! I just had my 1st post-op appt with my OS and he said everything is healing well and I go see him again this coming Tuesday! I hope by then he'll OK me to be on a soft chew diet! I am so hungry! I now know how famished countries feel like! I should of loaded up on food prior to my surgery! I didn't feel like I went all out eating and now I am on an all liquid diet and I totally regret not going on a binge eating spree! Oh well, hopefully this will blow over soon and I'll be back enough to eat at least soft food! I am craving so many different kinds of food right now but all I can do is just drool while seeing my family eat their daily meals! Man, I really took eating for granted because I would remember saving food for another meal or trying to watch my weight that I would try not to eat too much and boy do I regret it! After this, I will definitely eat! eat! eat! So word of advice future jaw surgery patients, eat now or forever hold your jaw shut while you're banded from eating! I am hoping by next week, my swelling would be down enough that I can go out because I hate being cooped up in the house and not being able to go anywhere! I think the upcoming days are harder now than the days after surgery because I was so drugged up that all I did was sleep through the day whereas now, I can't bring myself to sleep too much because it actually makes me more tired by oversleeping! On top of that, I'm not longer taking painkillers so I don't get weak and tired as much! There's a reason why you shouldn't sleep no more than 7-8 hours! Well, I hope my 2nd post-op with my OS will go well enough that I get the greenlight to go on a softchew diet! Mash potatoes, chicken noodle soup, pasta, anything and everything mushy! I am the hungry hungry skinny hippo right now!!

3 days since Le Fort I/BSSO/Genioplasty Advancement

 It's been 3 days since my jaw surgery, the first 2 days were pretty bad because I felt so weak and restless. Today isn't as bad as I am able to walk around whereas before I would walk but would be so scared about collapsing because I felt so weak and flimsy. So far, the pain/soreness level has been tolerable, if it gets too annoying, I usually take my Lortab still helps the pain/soreness subside a lot. I also have to take antibiotics to prevent infection. Both medicines taste like crap even though there's fruit flavor in it but whaddaya gonna do?Anyway, everything that led up to the surgery was pretty vivid and after that was all just a blur. I remember getting prepped and saying bye to my parents and next thing I knew I was wheeled into the OR and was told to climb over and the last thing I remember was this oxygen mask that got put on top of me and that was all I remembered until I woke up what seemed like only 5 minutes had gone by was actually 4-5 hours, pretty crazy! My energy level has been slowly coming back, I'm trying not to stay in my recliner too much because moving around is good for me but every time I take my medicines, it makes me drowsy and sleepy that I want to lie down and not want to move. The worst part few days post-op I would say is the sore throat and the unpleasant taste that came along with it. Swallowing the first 2 days was just horrible and painful and nasty tasting that even when you try drinking apple sauce would leave this gross after taste. Swelling is at its peak for me right now since it's been 3-4 days since my surgery took place, I still look like Ms. Piggy x 10!My brother said the swelling on the first day wasn't that bad but now it seems that I am ballooning up! Hopefully the icing and arnica montana pills will help!All I have been drinking is the stuff that the hospital gave me which includes: apple juice, milk, soda, carnation, etc. My mom has been making me some soup so that help a little since soup tasted so much better than the other stuff. I will probably try to make some miso soup and perhaps buy some cream of corn soup which I love. I am also eat apple sauce out of a syringe. The good thing is that my OS didn't put a splint in me which I don't know whether it is a good or bad thing because I took the splint was suppose to hold your bite in place. I hope that since I don't have one, it wouldn't compromise my malocclusion. So far, it's not that bad, like everything mentioned, pain/soreness isn't too bad since it can be controlled with painkillers, it is just the uncomfortableness that's annoying. I felt so dirty the first 2 days cuz I couldn't take a shower and wash my hair! Yuck! Man, it felt so good once I was able to wash my hair and take a shower, that clean feeling just makes the uncomfortableness less annoying! Well, my medicine is starting to kick in so I'm getting a bit drowsy and sleepy. I will write some more tomorrow when I am more alert. To be continued....

T-minus 5 hours! Ekkk!! Scariest thing ever!

It is currently T-minus 5 hours before I gotta check in at Kaiser Sunset. I am both excited and scared to death! My surgery is scheduled for 7:30a but I gotta be there by 5:30a! I gotta wake up at 4:30a and be out of the house by 5a which is probably when college kids goes to sleep and when farmers wake up! Haha I really don't know what to write except that my nerves are just on edge right now! I'm OK right now, I can feel the fear in me but not quite yet probably when I sit on the OR table is when I'll freak out but then I would of been hit with valium or something to calm me down so it shouldn't be too bad. I'm pretty well informed of what to expect since I did my obsessive digging at this surgery procedure, watched other's youtube videos, read other's blogs, started my own blog, research countless medical and informative sites, talked to other jaw surgery patients, you name it I did it! Nonetheless when the actual surgery is here that I am still going to be scared shitless. I wonder whether this is more painful than having a baby. It's funny because before when my mom didn't support me on this decision, she would say that why don't I save the blood loss for childbirth rather than undergoing something so necessary! She says the weirdest thing but I understand her feelings since seeing your child undergo surgery is no one of the things you want to go through especially if it isn't life threatening. My dad will be driving us both there and they will stay with me until I go into the OR and my bro says he'll visit me at night. My handsome and lovely Derrick will come see me I believe even though I didn't really want him to see me all beat up! I hope that tomorrow the genioplasty will be performed at the same time and that I don't have to come back later to be traumatized twice! This is my first major operation so I am on pins and needles, I don't think I can sleep tonight and here I am just blogging when I probably should be packing! I want to write down my thoughts at the exact moment though because if I type it later, I won't remember how I felt at that time so writing out my feelings now is helping calm my nerves a bit. Blogging is actually quite therapeutic, it's just like having a journal except it is so much easier to maintain and create! Tomorrow night will be me with a new jaw so here's to a smooth sailing surgery along with a swift recovery!

Progress Photos - Pre-braces:12/2009 to Pre-surgery:8/2011

2nd Pre-op with my OS

So yesterday was my 2nd pre-op appt with my OS, it wasn't a very long appt, I talked to him for like 30 minutes, just asking last minute questions and stuff. Good news is that he will not need to segment my top jaw into 3 pieces, it will just be a one piece Le Fort I, thank god! So basically what he's going to do is remove part of the maxilla to correct the cant and mild gumminess and rotate it to correct the midline. As for the mandible, he's going to bring it forward and possibly perform a genioplasty advancement if I don't look too much blood during the operation. If he doesnt perform the chin advancement that day, I might need to go in for another operation! I do not want that! I want him to do everything at the same time but he won't know until he's done with both my jaws! Please God, please do not have to go in for a 2nd op! I was told that if I get the genioplasty, it'll be considered cosmetic so I gotta pay out of my pocket and they'll call me in a couple days to let me know how much I'm looking to pay, I hope it's not going to put a ding in my bank account! Next off I went to my pre-admission surgery appt. So many people where, I was afraid that I wouldn't make it to my pre-op appt at my ortho! Thank god I was able to get there on time and finish before they were closing. The pre-admission appt included seeing the anesthesiologist nurse going over whether I'm allergic to anything, have I gone under before, family history, health questions, etc. all in all it went well. Next I had to speak with the admissions rep. just signed a bunch of papers and paid $250 hospital stay copay! Not too bad, better than paying several Gs for the surgery! Finally after all that was done, I rushed to my ortho for my pre-surgical workup, got hooks, new wires, progress photos taken, xrays - pan and ceph! Got out a little after 5pm, was there for about 1.5 hrs!Wasn't too bad, I am a little on my left side though maybe because of the new stronger wires they put in along with the surgical hooks, my mouth is like a full metal jacket!This weekend will be my last weekend with this jaw! Come next weekend, I will have a brand new jaw and profile, I am both exactly and very nervous. They said they will put some stuff in my IV to come my nerves down so hopefully that will help! I remember when I was young that when I had to take my shots at the pediatrician's office, I was so afraid of the needles that when I saw it, I stormed out the clinic and ran downstairs and hid behind a dumpster! Haha hopefully history doesn't repeat itself now that I am an adult!Anyway, from here on out, it'll just be counting down the week so until next time! Good luck to everyone else who has upcoming surgeries!

Less than 2 weeks to go!!!

So I am approaching my jaw surgery in less than 2 weeks! This friday will be my 2nd pre-op where I meet with my OS and anesthesiologist to ask my loads of questions! I am anxious to know exactly what will get done to my jaws even though I had a preliminary plan already but things might change. Then afterwards I will head down to my ortho to put on my surgical hooks and all that jazz. Will take my last set of xrays and progress photos before operation jaw breakage. I can't wait to see my after results but at the same time am scared of the changes to my face especially my nose. I've lived with this jaw for almost 30 years of my life and to have it change and look different is something I am afraid I cannot accept. I'm kind of scared that I won't recognize the person I see in the mirror anymore. I've heard that depression is common and normal but I don't know if I can handle the physical force on my body along with the mental stress on my mind and soul. I am both excited and scared at the same time. I'm also scared that I won't make it out to see the light of day since one other jaw surgery patient did not make it through although it is a rare occurrence, that's not to say that it won't happen. I gotta start buying all my supplies this weekend as it will be my last weekend before I go under. Will post another entry upon my 2nd pre-op this Friday, stay tuned!

1st pre-op appointment!

So yesterday July 19th was my 1st pre-op appointment with my OS. My appointment was at 1:30p and I didn't finish until 5:30-6p! So I got to my OS and his resident comes in to chitchat with me while we wait for him to arrive because he was running late from a surgery. She takes my impression and does all these work up stuff that the OS probably doesn't want to do himself. Finally he comes in and the whole time, he was just taking measurements and pictures, waiting for my molds, fitting me on this articulator device, we barely even talked especially since I had a ton of questions I wanted to ask! I hope I get to ask them at my 2nd and last pre-op before the surgery! Lots of running in and out with the resident, I wait so long that I took a nap! After he was all done, he was like we're short on time, we gotta get you to the blood bank and xray. I'm like blood bank? I guess I needed to donate a pint of my own blood in case I need to use it for my surgery since it was a bi-jaw one. I've never donated blood before so I didn't know what to expect plus I wanted to ask him the list of questions I had but I was rushed out to do those tasks because they were closing soon! Urghh! I did get to ask the resident a few of my questions but I felt more comfortable asking my OS. So I went to imaging and had to do a pan xray but not a ceph? Oh well whatevers. That wasn't too bad, it was quite quick because there was no waiting, I then rushed to the blood bank and got there 10 mins before they closed! Thank God b/c I would not want to go another time to do that especially with work and having to drive there is a pain in the butt! It was only about 10 miles from my work but it took 40 minutes to get there! Anyway, I never donated blood before and heard horror stories about them poking around your arm to find that vein. The nurse too a sample of my blood and checked my iron level and I was good otherwise, I couldn't donate or something. We then proceeded to draw blood, sat on the big fat chair and she does her thing and all of a sudden, I feel this pinch and then blood started getting sucked out of my body! The pinch wasn't too bad, I expected worst so I was thankful that it went smoothly. Afterwards, I had to stay 15 minutes just to make sure I was OK and they told me to snack on some cookies/juices. This all end at about 5:40p and then proceeded to the pharmacy to pick up iron supplements per my OS instructions. I didn't leave Kaiser until 5 minutes til 6! I hope I'll get to talk to my OS next time I see him but I have a boat load of questions I wanna ask! If not, I'm going to email him so I'll have more time at my next pre-op to talk to him about the surgery itself.

Orthodontic Progress Pictures

I don't know why but I seem to look mad when I am not smiling! and it seems like I got a lazy eye in the first one! haha

Problem Areas and Timeline of my Jaw Surgery Journey!!

Here is a list of the problems with my teeth/jaw proposed by my oral surgeon, Dr. Robert Relle, DDS.

1. Mild dolichofacial pattern
2. Class II malocclusion
3. Occlusal plane cant-down on right
4. Maxillary asymmetry-cant and midline to left of midsagittal
5. Mandibular asymmetry-cant and chin point deviated to left

Here is a list of my journey to the perfect set of teeth so far:
11/2008 - Braces consultation
12/2009 - Braces and palate expander come on
12/2010 - 1st oral surgery consultation
2/21/2011 - 2nd oral surgery consultation
4/6/2011- 3rd oral surgery consultation
5/4/2011 - 4th oral surgery consultation & decided to go with Dr. Relle
6/2011 - Palate expander comes off
7/19/2011 - 1st pre-op with Dr. Relle
8/5/2011 - 2nd pre-op with Dr. Relle & Anesthesiologist
8/5/2011 - Surgical Prep with Orthodontist!
8/12/2011 - Le Fort I/BSSO/Genio advancement @ 5:30am
8/18/2011 - 1st Post-op
8/26/2011 - 2nd Post-op
9/5/2011 - 3rd Post-op
7/2012 - Month quoted for Debracing but hopefully it'll be sooner!

1st day of blogging about my jaw surgery countdown!

Today is my very first day in documenting my jaw surgery journey, so excited! I've seen many other progress blogs and was very inspired to start one of my own so that when I look back, I can see exactly how I've changed. I started my braces journey 18 months ago but had always wanted to start it earlier, either because I was scared of the pain with braces or just didn't have the time and money to do it. I realized that I needed to do it for myself, both functionally and aesthetically. I've always had a problem with how my teeth looked, I had one incisor that was protruding and never smiled comfortably, I've always covered up it up with my lips when pictures are taken or put my hand in front of it when laughing in front of people. Before I went with braces, I went to several consultations with different orthodontists. Many said that jaw surgery was definitely in my cards and I couldn't accept the fact that braces alone wouldn't take care of my teeth situation which didn't seem very bad to me but I guess there were many underlying issues that one can't see. Finally, I found an orthodontist that was a bit far but saw rave reviews about her that I decided to make her my orthodontist, in addition to her pricing being more affordable compared to other quotes I've received, one quoted me as much as $6K! I didn't expect it to be that high, I figure I'd pay around $2-$3K but $6K was just outrageous considering what I've known others have paid. She said that she would be able to fix my teeth w/o going through operation which I was happy about because I couldn't fathom going under the knife, breaking the jaw sounded like something you go through if you were tortured and tormented! Ekkkk!!! I opted for braces w/o surgery and avoiding extractions, about a year into my braces, I was told that my bite will not be perfect since the problems were with my jaw and not my teeth and decided to change to the surgical route despite the fact that I was horrified by even the thought of it. So here I am, a little over 1.5 years into my braces journey, I am set to have a Lefort I/BSSO/Genio procedure on August 12, 2011. I am both excited and nervous of the operation since this will be a grueling journey.