Like a Real Person

It's amazing how obvious it has become that those wires were standing between me and happiness. I've been feeling so good this week.

Pain: I have very little pain in my jaws, except for some that I attribute to them constantly being clenched with rubber bands. I also get an occasional sharp pain in my upper lip or chin that lasts a few seconds. Nothing I can't handle.

Range of motion: With the rubber bands on, I can open my mouth about a quarter of an inch. Without them, I can open about an inch and a half, or a finger and a little bit.

Bite: I haven't gotten over the fact that my upper teeth are in front of my lower teeth. Just lovely. My left back teeth don't make full contact, but the doctor says rubber bands + orthodontia will fix this. I also have a smallish gap in my top teeth on both sides from where my jaw was advanced. I assume that's what it's from, at least; the wire on my braces is cut there, also.

Eating: I eat almost everything. That's not to say I eat almost everything normally, because many things I just swallow whole. I'm getting better at chewing but not all there.

Appearance: Either my swelling is going down, or I'm just getting used to Chubby Cheeks. Also, I totally love my profile. I've been paying extra attention to everyone else's, and I've decided that mine is definitely normal now. Saturday, I went out with some friends for dinner, and put on mascara and did my hair for the first time in a month. That's when I decided I looked like a real person!

School: Yup, this is my first week back at school, and I'm getting back into it. It's nice to be back, though I am exhausted. Reactions from my classmates are varied and interesting. Many don't say anything about my absence or new face -- my dad's explanation is that "only good friends or very tactless people will comment on something like a change in your appearance". Good friends and I suppose the tactless ask. One kid tentatively asked me if I had my wisdom teeth removed. I told him I hadn't, and explained my surgery, basically that my jaw had been broken and then wired shut. This story attracted quite an audience of ooooo-ing people. I was a little proud, I must admit!

THE EAGLE HAS LEFT THE NEST

And by that, I totally mean that THE WIRES ARE OFF! MY TONGUE IS FREE! PANCAKES ARE IN MY BELLY!!!!

Today was the longest I've had to wait at the surgeon's office, but it was also the only time that I didn't really have the urge to kill him (nice guy, yes, but I have not been a very happy girly). Finally, a nurse showed me into the exam room, brought in a tray of tools, and left. I admit it, I peeked. There were a bunch of those pincher clamp scissorlike looking things, a wire cutter and oh my god that's the biggest needle I've ever seen!













I spent the next 5 minutes scared shitless that there would be novacane involved, at which point the nurse returned, calmed my fears, and took x-rays. I learned that there are 4 plates and 16 screws in my upper jaw, plus 4 screws in my chin.









Then came the de-wiring. The first cut produced a little *pop!* and I thought a naive all done! that was easy! I was wrong, of course. The removing of the wires didn't hurt per se, but all the pulling on my lips and cheeks certainly didn't feel good. Then I was asked to open my mouth, a little wider, a little wider, thereeeeeeeee you go *yank* and the blasted splint was gone.










I was sent off to brush my teeth (an act I've repeated twice already tonight) and then the doctor showed me how to put on the rubber bands. Now, I had my share of braces at thirteen, and I was expecting something like those lovely little things I dreamed of tie dying shoelaces with. You know! Like the ones Shontell has? Not the case, my friends. These things are THICK and there are four of them wrapped around various sets of teeth. I can't really open my mouth with them on (but the surgeon says I should be able to soon), and without them my mouth opens about half an inch. I'm allowed to take them off to eat and then brush my teeth. I forgot to ask: what if I'm eating constantly? I guess the amount of trouble it takes to put them on with dissuade me from this though. I had to make a diagram!





Of course, my dad and sister took me to dinner at IHOP. I ordered pancakes, hash browns, and grapefruit juice. The pancakes were covered in butter and syrup and cut into tiny pieces, which I swallowed whole (I don't really... get?... chewing yet). I drank the juice with a straw, which was exciting. The hash browns were eaten by my sister. It was delicious, but in the end, I only managed about a pancake and a half. Baby steps, people, baby steps. When I got home, I had Peeps for dessert.

In summary! Brushing my teeth: a dream. Eating: a struggle, but wonderful. Twenty thousand less things are poking me, my speech is so much clearer (still sounds like my teeth are clenched, but it's my voice again), I can give my mom a kiss, and I'm feeling HAPPY!

Jaws Wired Shut

Two more days!

Meanwhile, open this link, scroll down, and press the pause button in the video screen. Give it those two days (or about 45 minutes) to load up the whole thing. Watch! Quite funny.

mmmmPancakes......

IN FIVE DAYS!

That's right, the unwiring -- and my 4-week anniversary -- are in just five days. I can't wait to eat pancakes, brush my teeth, drive, and even go back to school.

At three weeks and a little bit, I'm healing up nicely. The only lingering problems are really sleeping, soup, and swelling.

Sleep: I must be on some weird schedule, because I haven't been falling asleep until 3 or 4 for the past few nights. There's nothing more lonely or depressing than being the only person awake at 4. Ugh. Even when I wake up at a semi-reasonable 9 the next morning, I cannot fall asleep. I guess I could take something, but I don't really want to deal with that

Soup: No, thank you. It's really an eating problem, but I liked the alliteration of "sleeping, soup, and swelling" :-D I... just don't want to eat. It's annoying, slow, messy, and it doesn't taste very good. I basically live on blended, strained soups, yogurt, and ice cream. Sometimes juice. My parents tried to get me to eat Cheese-Whiz out of a syringe, but I told them exactly what I thought of them for that. I think I average around 1000 calories a day, but for some reason, I'm not still losing weight. Huh. Good thing too, because my parents have instated a no-new-dress-until-you-gain-the-weight-back policy. And I reallllllllllly want that dress, too.

Swelling: Not a huge problem, really. Just when I was feeling down about my cheeks being huge -- and worrying again that they were here to stay -- I noticed that they really do look smaller. My doctor says that it might take a year for my face to look like it will. The only reason the swelling is difficult is that my face is still very tender, which makes it hard to wash my face, wipe my nose, etc. I'm also just a little concerned that my jaw was overcorrected. Someone please reassure me that I now have a normal profile, not an overbite? (Please excuse my bony bare shoulders and my yellowy splint. Curry soups = tasty, but not that attractive to wear for a month)

The Three-Week Slump

I'm half way through week three, and I'm really feeling that three-week slump. I don't feel like going anywhere, doing anything. I'm hungry, but eating is too depressing. Schoolwork is really stressing me out. I'm kind of a mess.

Things have been improving, though. I can drink water (veryyyyyyy slowly) out of a glass. I've been sleeping on my side, and finally managed to fall asleep last night without Nyquil. It's been taking me about 2 hours to fall asleep lately, but I think this can be attributed to the vicious sleep-til-noon-stay-up-til-three cycle. I even went to see a show with my family yesterday. Today I got dressed and walked the dog around the block. Things are very slowly looking up.

My next doctor's appointment is on Saturday, which will mark the three weeks and a few days mark. Last appointment, I came with a small list of questions written out on an index card. This week, I will have just one question: "when is the soonest next week I can come in to have the wires cut?"