So Close I Can Already Feel The Pain

To be exact, I have 6 days and 8 hours left till the very big life changing day! I'm not counting or anything and just in case you are wondering my bag is packed like a woman that could possibly go into labor at a moments notice. I have so many emotions going on right now; I am excited, anxious, nervous, and quite frankly scared out of my mind of next Friday.

 It may sound a little weird but I am enjoying being able to open my mouth, smile, yawn, talk, chew and all the things we take for granted being able to do everyday. I know that I won't be able to open mouth for awhile and chewing will be off limits for at least 4 weeks. The surgeon said it will take me some time to be able to smile and have facial movements again since they cut thru the nerves and muscles in my face on both sides. There is  even a slight possibility of having long term or permanent paralysis of facial movement. The surgeons I have seen seem to think since I have never had any type of surgeries that I have a much higher chance of the TMJ Replacement being a complete success!

In other news I saw the orthodontist last week to have all my surgical hooks put on. I have them on every  bracket except between my front top and bottom teeth. I guess that is so that I will be able to eat my yummy liquid in a syringe thru there. I already had some hooks on my brackets when I got my braces on so it was a pretty quick visit. He also took some pre-op pictures, and of course they are of every view of my face and mouth that I can't stand right now, but I know I will appreciate all of these pictures these Dr.'s take after this is all over and I'm happy with my face and teeth.

Surgical Hooks July 8,2013

I know I'm not very good about making blog posts but I really haven't had a lot happening. I will post again the night before surgery because I have my pre-op with my surgeon that day and will let everyone know the details. I am also going to try and keep up with post-op pictures fairly frequently. In the meantime, for the next 6 days eating is the name of the game!!!!!!

33 Days To Go

Hard to believe how quickly July has crept up on me. I thought that it would drag by since I had to change my surgery date, but the time is almost here! I wanted to post a quick picture and update since I have been in braces for six months. It's getting harder and harder to post because I have pretty much been in a holding pattern and just waiting for surgery. I told myself I would at least make a post once a month even if I didn't have much to say. It will be a lot easier to post and more interesting when I have LOTS to talk about during my recovery =).

I don't go back to the orthodontist till July 8th to have my surgical hooks put on that will help keep my mouth wired shut so that my jaw isn't able to move while the bones and titanium implants are healing. Since my last post my teeth have completely shifted since he separated my top wire into three pieces. My front 4 teeth that are sharing the same wire have lifted up and forward making my teeth out of line with the others. I know that it's not permanent and has to be done to make room for the surgeon to make his cuts in-between my top teeth but I am not liking it at all. My over/open bite was looking a little better in the front but now that he has been prepping my teeth for the surgery it is worse than it has ever been.  I will just have to wait patiently for the final result, that makes this all worth it!

6 months in braces

my open/over bite from a different view. This is with my teeth touching as much as they can

This and That

Since my last blog post I have been back to the orthodontist several times for broken brackets and I'm sure they are sick of seeing me.  I got the "power chain" off  that was pulling my teeth close together after he slenderized them. This time though he separated my top wire into three pieces to make a gap on each side of my mouth that will allow the surgeon to cut up and between my teeth, because my upper jaw will be in three pieces so they can put it into correct position to fix my bite and help my breathing. I really haven't had much pain with the new wire change so I hope that it is making enough space. I also thought I would post pictures of what it looks like on each side. It isn't noticeable unless you look really close. I can't wait for my teeth to be able to actually fit together. You are able to to see that my teeth don't touch at all when I bite down.

right side

left side

 

 

On a bad note, I got a call from the surgeon's office that the company making my joint replacements(TMJ Concepts) had contacted them and said that there is no possible way that my replacements would be done by my surgery date on June 24th. It is frustrating that the CT scan was sent off about 10 weeks before the scheduled day thinking that would be plenty of time. They said mid July would be the soonest that they will be done. I'm really frustrated that we have scheduled our entire summer around this surgery date and now we are getting pushed back another month. There is nothing that I can do about it though so I'm trying not to get down about it. I'd rather the joint replacements be done perfectly than to have them rushing to get them done in time.

My new surgery date is July 26th and is still at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale. On the bright side, I will get to have my cake and eat it too on my 30th birthday. I would have been wired shut if surgery was still happening in June.I'm trying to stay positive about everything and enjoy being able to eat real food a little longer.

 

57 Days To Go

Only 57 days left till I have surgery!!!!!! I am so anxious for June 24th to be here that the days are just dragging by now. June will be here before I know it and hope I am prepared as I feel like I am at this moment. I literally feel like I am more and more prepared every day.

I don't have any new news, but wanted to post an up close picture of my teeth. The orthodontist slenderized my upper and lower teeth a couple of weeks ago and put a "power chain" on to fill in the gaps. My teeth have been very sore ever since. No pain, no gain I suppose! It really is amazing to see such a significant change in the alignment of my teeth and bite in a short time. It makes it all worth it. I could not be anymore happy than I am right now with the group of Dr.'s that I have and that will be caring for me during and after surgery.

December 2012                             April 2013

The Waiting Game

I had a CT scan done earlier in the week for the company in California to start making my new jaw joints. It takes about 8 weeks to make them and will be customozed to fit the exact shape of my face. So..... that means I have a new surgery date and am scheduled for June 24th at 7:30 am.  I am so excited that I am able to have it done here in Northwest Arkansas and I get to have it done sooner than my original scheduled date in September. I have lots of appointments between now and then. I haveto go back to the surgeon next week to make molds of my mouth and teeth so he can decided the best way to get my teeth and jaws to fit together. 

I have had my braces on for 4 months now and my teeth are straighter than I thought they even could be this quickly. I will go to the orthodontist next week and have the lower teeth slenderized and retracted.  I'm not completely sure what this involves but it doesn't sound like it will be a good time. 

One last opinion

After several weeks of my family asking me to get another opinion from a surgeon that is closer to home, I decided to make an appointment with a surgeon that I saw 12 years ago when I was still in high school. He recommended that I have lower jaw surgery, but we did not go thru with it at that time. I came across A YouTube video last week with this particular surgeon and he was discussing that he had been doing total jaw joint replacements for 20 years and that he studied at Baylor Medical Center under the surgeon that I have been planning on having surgery with in Dallas. I finally felt like I might have another option rather than having surgery 300 miles away from my family.

I had my consultation with him on March 19th. They took me back and got a lot of X-rays. I gave the nurse all my medical records and MRI reports that I was able to get from Dallas. Before he even looked at any X-rays or medical records he did measurements of my face,mouth,teeth at all different angles. He asked me to tell him what kind of symptoms I have and how long I've been living with them. He then pulls up my 3d X-ray they took witch is basically a mold of my face and shows me what he believes is wrong with my facial structure and joints. He said that both of my jaw joints are non salvageable (same as Dr Wolford had told me). He said there is nothing to do with the joints but to replace them and the sooner the better before the resorption has more time to deteriorate the bone. He also said my airway was 4mm which is the same as I was told in Dallas. He said my lower jaw (chin) is pretty much non existent and needs to be rebuilt after my lower jaw is brought forward to make my face symmetrical. He put me at ease by saying the he does everything the exact way Dr.Wolford does his surgery expect he will not take fat from my belly to cushion the joint like Dr. Wolford was planning to do and he didn't think it seems necessary to slenderize the turbinates inside my nose that block off my airway because when he pulls my upper jaw down it will take all the pressure off of my nasal airway and should be able to breath perfect without going thru with that procedure. Another nice thing is that he only has privileges to do surgery at Northwest in Springdale and he said for me that he would work really hard on getting his privileges at Mercy so that I could have my surgery there, where I am comfortable. I though that was extremely nice of him to do.

He said my surgery will only take 4 hours and hospital stay would be 2-3 days. I will be banded shut for two weeks but l can eat some things like jello, mashed potatoes and should be able to return to work in three weeks! This is night and day difference from having surgery In Dallas where he said it would take 9 hours for the surgery to be completed stay in the hospital for 4 days and stay in a hotel room for a week after so he could see me everyday, eat thru calorie counted syringes for 4 weeks and couldn't return back to work for eight weeks. 

Needless to say I'm ecstatic that I listened to everyone that told me to get one last opinion before we put down a significant amount of money to the surgeon in Dallas . Although, this surgeon is right down the road his office and hospital is still out of network with my insurance company but his fees are significantly less so we are looking around end of  June or July. We are waiting on approval from the insurance company to approve Dr. Bolding doing the surgery instead of Dr. Wolford and as soon as that happens I will have my CT Scan done to start making the joints to fit my mouth. The company that makes the jaw joints say it takes about 7 weeks to complete and then it's surgery time! So glad that I did my research and found a surgeon that is in my area and does this all the time that was trained under the surgeon in Dallas. I feel so much more at ease and peaceful about the surgery now knowing that my family and friends will be close.

Braces Insurance Surgery Oh My!

catching up to where I am now-

Braces- I saw the orthodontist in November and got my braces put on in mid December. They were very painful for the first few days or so, but I also had my wisdom teeth out the same week so it was hard to tell where the pain was coming from which was probably a good thing. I had my wires changed for the first time about a month ago and again it hurt so bad that my ears were ringing and wasn't even able to chew anything for several days, but it is much better now and am scheduled to have my wires changed again in two weeks (oh yay)! on the other hand, I can really see a difference in how straight my teeth are over the past 8 week although my bite is so much worse than it was before I got my braces on. I can only touch my very back molars together and has made my jaws hurt a lot more when I'm eating. The orthodontist said that my bite won't be any better till after surgery when they fit my upper and lower jaw together and that he is just trying to get my teeth in position for the surgeon. needless to say, I am looking very forward to my teeth fitting together for the first time since I can remember =)

Braces Day 1

Braces Week 6

Insurance companies- I've learned they are not my friend and are only around to make the process even more difficult. We were able to get the authorization approved to have the joint replacement and jaw surgery which means that they agree that the surgery is medically necessary for me to live a normal life BUT the surgeon and hospital are out of network and they will only pay 50% of what they (the insurance company) says is a reasonable fee for the surgery hospital stay and joint prosthesis,not what the surgeon and Baylor Medical Center actually charge. Our out of pocket cost is quite substantial and I'm just praying that everything comes together.

Surgery Date- Since the insurance company approved the surgery I was able to set up a date to have my joint replacement and it looks like September 5th it is =). It seems so far away and I am so ready to have this over with but they have to have money for the surgeon's fee up front. I am assuming this is because they don't want you to back out after they start making the custom joints and then they lose money. so, we will have to wait several more months before we are able to pay this. Also, once my teeth are ready from an orthodontic standpoint (probaby June) I have to have a CT scan of my head so they can make molds that they will use to make specific joint prosthesis to fit my face and it takes 8 weeks for them to do this before I can have surgery. Even though it sounds so long from now there is no way that I could have the surgery any sooner than September. and as much as I am ready to have surgery and move on I have to admit i'm pretty afraid of the "what if's" during and after surgery. Guess that is the worrier in me and have to learn to just let that go and trust the nurses and surgeons that will be taking care of me.