Catching Up & Building a Timeline!

 

The years go by FAST! And I find myself having a hard time recalling certain dates off the top of my head when it comes to all this "mouth stuff". So here's the timeline (so-far) of the Whos, What, Wheres and Whens of my ortho-journey! (Will likely update as things develop.)

June 2007- Wisdom Teeth Removed

    Where/Who: (I honestly can't remember!)

August 2007- Braces Begin

    Where: South Texas Orthodontics

    Who: Dr. Bruchmiller

July 2008- LeFort I Osteotomy

    Where: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
    Who: 
        Dr. Leibold
        Dr. Largent

December 2008- "Lipo-sculpture"

    Where: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
    Who: Dr. Leibold

January 2009- Braces Removed!

    Where: South Texas Orthodontics

    Who: Dr. Bruchmiller

2011- Upper Essex retainer lost.

    Where: In a landfill somewhere

    Who: Me 🤦

2012- Prescribed BiteSoft anterior splint

    Where: Today's Dental

    Who: Dr. Frieda Hale

2019- Permanent retainer removed

    Where: Today's Dental

    Who: Dr. Tiberiu Oancea

January 2021- Consultation for smile improvement

    Where: The Smile Designer

    Who: Dr. Maisa M. Idriss

January 2021- Consultation for Orthodontics

    Where: Studebaker Orthodontics

    Who: Dr. Robert Studebaker

March 2021- Consultation for Smile Improvement

    Where: Klein Crossing Dental

    Who: Dr. Melissa Welty

March 2021- Consultation for Smile Improvement

    Where: Consultants in Dental Aesthetics

    Who: Dr. Wes Urich

13 Years Later?! And starting over??

The year is 2021.

Masks are the new lipstick, no one socializes anymore, who cares what my teeth look like?

I do.

I'm sorry I all but abandoned this blog all those years ago. There were many times I'd forgotten all about it (didn't even know there still WAS blogspot?) BUT I will do my best to catch you all up on the last 11 years since my last post.. and nearly 13 years since this whole journey started.

The summer of 2009 I moved from the apartment in San Antonio I shared with my sister back to the Houston area with my parents. Started working, saving.. and in the summer of 2011 I bought my first house and pretty much been there since! (so much for a 5 year plan, but shit happens!)

Jaw surgery just became all but a distant memory.. retainers got lost.. permanent retainers didn't do their job.. and you are just as self conscious about your smile as you were before the whole ordeal and then you wonder... was it even worth it??

The short answer is "yes", with some caveats. I will attempt to explain why that is as well as document and update you all on this new journey.. 

So here I am creeping back like a long-forgotten ghost ship..

BOO!

Welcome, or welcome back.. I am Kam and the journey sets sail once again!

UPDATE. :O

Sorry I kinda dropped off the face of the planet. So much has been going on since the last blog, new jobs, and moving, so many things, I can't even begin to try and recall it all.

Not too much on the jaw-front. My jaw is nice and in place, I still feel that my upper lip is tight, and sometimes, my smile too "gummy", but other than that, and on rare occasion some soreness or puffiness in my mid-face, I feel pretty much normal!

I will have to take some of my update style pictures, but for now, here's a current pic: I've let my hair grow out, it really has been a long time! haha

*sniffle*

Well, I'm almost 6 months post surgery, and it finally happened- I got my first post-surgery cold.

Sneezing, congestion, sore throat and sniffling and yuck, yuck, yuck.

It hit me REALLY hard, I was pretty miserable for a good 4 days, and even though I'm feeling much better, I still get a sniffle here and a cough there. However, I feel that I'm really fortunate. If this thing had hit me sooner, I don't think I could take it.
I mean, with the Lefort I it's like your entire sinus cavity is COMPLETELY changed. I still get a little snoreness in my mid-face, even without a cold, so I'm SO glad that I had healed up enough where I could blow my nose (gently, of course!) and deal with the pain of congestion.

Sinus Cavity- Before & After:

In other, much nicer, news: my Mo-Mo, Daddio, and lil' brother Clay are visiting me and my sister this weekend! It's really nice having them over, my dad and I repaired my car then later tonight we got all fancied-up and went to dinner. It was great! First time we all went out like that since the night before my surgery.

However, everyone is sick, especially my dad. Ooooh I don't want to get sick again!! I hope I don't re-catch anything.
That's about all for now!! And here's today's recovery picture:

BRACES OFF!

BRACES OFF
Yes! They're off! Actually, they've been off, for a while now. I was actually keeping my de-bracing secret for when I came home to my mom- she was SO SURPRISED!

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated my blog. I've been at my parent's for the holidays, so just getting the chance to sit in front of the computer, and taking and uploading pictures is kinda hard. (This is actually an older picture of when the braces just came off.)

It's so nice to not have braces on, being able to floss and brush, and eat, and everything feels so much more free. My orthodontist office gave me some laffy taffy and runts afterward.. I found that kinda funny, because I could'nt eat it anyway due to my jaw. I am totally jealous of Rachel's orthodontist.. flowers and cake after jaw surg and braces?! *envy envy* ;D

THE PUFF
My neck still feels sore.. and there's lumps of scar tissue and bumps here and there, but I just need to be patient and wait for the final result. Who knows, maybe my face will catch up to my neck!
My face still gets it's uber puffy moments. Honestly, sometimes I get really embarrassed of some pictures taken of me. It just doesn't look right sometimes, like my cheeks are unrealistically cherub like and I can still *feel* some of the swelling in my face. (Some pictures come out fine, but others just leave me thinking "What is that? Me?") I just hope it does improve and this isn't how it will be forever. It's already been 6 months, though, and most people I see are "so past the puff" at that time, but I can be patient too.


GARBAGE MOUTH
Just recently I had every post-braces person's nightmare- My retainer was thrown away.
I have an Essix retainer, and usally before eating, I rinse it out then sit it on a napkin to dry. Well, that night, I fell asleep on the couch without it, and the following morning I was looking for it so I would wear it during the day instead.

My retainer was missing.

It was cold.

It was raining.

It was garbage day.

So, after looking around the house franticly, I beat the garbage truck and brought the cold, soaking trash back to the house. It looked like an animal had gotten into the garbage overnight, so I had hoped that no racoon had dental problems, thus stole my retainer.
I also called the orthodontist before diggind through the decomposing mess. They said it would take a week and nearly $200 for a new retainer! UGH! It couldn't get any worse! The essix retainer is made out of a plastic similar to soda bottle plastic. How in the world do they charge $200 for a new one?!
I dug through the trash, no luck. It was so cold and gross that I couldn't go much further, so I waited until the day got a little better.
That afternoon, my mom came home with gloves and my mom, dad, and I (C.S.I.- Dental) dug through the rest of the muck... nothing..

until-- My dad pulls out my retainer! We had just missed it from the garbage that must have fallen out of the bag when the animal got into it!

Now, after many cleanings, my retainer and I are now happily reunited. :)

Whoo!

I just had my second appointment with Dr. Leibold today. He says things looked great!
The bruising has gotten a little worse, but the pain is mostly gone. My neck is just sore, and it's uncomfortable to move my lower face/lips. (I get these weird little sharp pains.)
I no longer have to wear my mummy/nun bandages during the day, just in the evening and when I sleep.
So far, I'm really happy with the way things look! I'm excited to see how things will look in a couple weeks from now!

Here's my before surgery/ 1 week after surgery pic:

Feeling a little better!

Day 1 -3 I felt pretty miserable. I have to wear my "the mummy returns" bandages for about 2 weeks post-surgery (week 1 24/7, week 2 12/7)
That's my day one "What did I just get myself into?" face.

Day 1 & 2 there was a huge amount of pain, everything hurt, my head and neck, and body. Then I got sick and nauseous off of the vicodin. I was not a happy camper. Day 2 I saw Dr. Leibold, he said things looked good and I have an appointment for next week, so I'm eager to see how I am in the next couple of weeks.

Day 3 was a little better, ibuprofen was fine to use. It still hurt a LOT to swallow, or move, or to do much of anything, so I just sat around all day watching tv.

It's now day 4 after surgery, and I'm feeling much better, but still in a large amount of pain. Mostly it's due to my not being able to move and stretch my neck, so there's a lot of tension pain in my neck and back. Swallowing isn't brutally painfull anymore, but it's still very uncomfortable.

Occasionally when I move my face, or something, I get theses sharp pains in my neck, like the muscles hurt, or there's an invisible string being pulled on from the inside of my skin. Also, it feels like I kind of have a bad sunburn.

I really hope all the money and pain will be worth it for the final result. Here was my before surgery/day 1 after surgery pictures. You can't see a huge difference, since I am still pretty swollen and I can't extend my neck comfortably, but it gives you a little idea.

PAIN!

I had my "Lipo-sculpture" today. I had NO idea how much pain I'd be in. It feels like I'm constantly being punched and stabbed in the neck.
I woke up from the anesthesia and the back of my hair was covered in blood.

I thought the most painful thing would have been the price tag. ;) but this, surprisingly, is more painful than the pain I experienced with jaw surgery, and even getting my wisdom teeth removed.

I hope the pain doesn't last long. I'll provide lots of pictures later when I can, but for now, just about everything I do hurts to do so I'm off to go back to bed.

A question for those who have had upper jaw surgery (Lefort 1)

I am at 13 weeks today. These are the "problems" I'm still having and I want to know if these are similar to anyone else who has had upper jaw advancement. Theses are things I haven't heard discussed much, so I hope I'm not alone.

- The roof of my mouth is still sensitive. If I put pressure on it (with my tounge or something) It feels almost like there is a soft spot it kind of feels "ticklish" and it makes the inside of my nostril feel itchy.

- The muscles in my mid face are still twitchy. When I try to wrinkle my nose it spasms and feels uncomfortable.

- I don't think my incision has fully healed yet. it feels fine on the sides, but the area in the front of my mouth looks a little.. strange. I'm not sure if it's normal, or there just wasn't the best job done on my stitches, but here's a picture to describe what I mean. Only in the front, it looks like there are little pockets or something. It also feels irritated when the doctors slide their finger around it (like it gets in and slices across the "pockets")


-Also as far as everthing goes, the right side of my face is SOO much better than the left. Everything is less swollen, but even stranger, I can eat better on that side, whereas on the left, it still feels strange to eat on that side at all.

That's all!! (for now, haha) Pleaase share any insight on how your healing was at 13 weeks. Thanks guys!

Mo-Mo Weekend 2

It's another Mo-Mo weekend! It is great to see my mom again since surgery! She came to town Friday afternoon and we went to dinner at La Madeline. I figured it would be a good place to go, since I can eat soup and pasta like a pro now. And I actually managed to eat the tomato & cheese croissant pretty easily! My momma' and sister where patient as I made my way through the meal. And it was just so great to enjoy dinner, have great conversation, and a lot of laughs. :)

On Saturday we were "out and about" the whole day! We went to a tile company so my sister could get some samples for her Interior Design project. I wanted to go to the opening of the new Jo-Ann Fabrics store. We got a cute metal pumpkin sign to hang on my front door, and some other Halloween decor (they were insanely well priced) and I stocked up on hotglue sticks (which, it sounds funny that I would be so excited over that, but I got 40 HUGE sticks for only $2, which would probably cost me $14 normal priced.) Yeah, I use a lot of hot glue in my projects, so I was stoked. My mom thinks I must be the easiest person to please.

We went to the mall so I could pick up a pair of pants I had purchased earlier, and then we went to Gringo's for dinner. I saw James, a waiter that me and my sister are really familiar with and he didn't even think it was me at first. He said he couldn't be sure when he saw me, but came over because he recognized my sister. He said Stina and I used to look exactly alike and now we look totally different from each other.
This is similar to another experience I had at my orthodontist. Even though I don't think my sister an I look exactly alike, everyone always thinks we're twins. When we went to schedule another appointment one day, one of the ladies there said "Oh, you want to schedule ppointments at the same time- are y'all really good friends or something?"
"We're sisters."
"Oh really?"
(then the other lady comes up from behind us who has only seen me before surgery)
"Oh they're twins!"
"No, haha, we're just sisters"

it just makes me kind of anxious of how different I really look. I see me when I look in the mirror, but the moment I smile or if I see myself from far away I don't really see me.
I worry about what is actual change and what is just swelling or lack of movement in my mid face.

Bah! I'm ranting again.

Anyway, the weekend was great regardless, and I miss my mom already! She's so enjoyable to have around. :)