Day 68

Hi everyone. It's been a couple weeks since I posted anything. Last week I went to Dr. Simon's office and she said "Good God Girl, You're done!" that was exciting to hear. She said that she wanted to add one wire to close up the gaps in a couple teeth and then I'd be finished. The gap is very close to where Dr. Franco made the incision so she wanted to wait a couple more weeks before she put the wire on because it adds pressure there. She wasn't sure it was stable. She did tell me that I only had to wear my rubber bands at night. HALLELUJAH! But the following day I saw Dr. Franco and he said it all looks fine. My swelling is down a lot. There are tiny patches of thick swelled skin around my nose and upper lip and lower jaw near my jowls. I can rub my lips together which took a while to be able to do. I'm still feeling numb along the upper jaw gum line, chin and around my nose. I can eat most things. I tried tortilla chips the other day. I was able to chew them but the enjoyment wasn't really there because it was hard to clean out of my mouth and there is a weird numb zinger that goes down my chin when I bite together. My hearing was still out last week but I flew to Seattle for a wedding and poof! It was cured after my plane ride. Totally weird. I always forget to take my picture until after I put my hair up and wash off my makeup. But, anyhow here is my small swelling.

Day 48

Hello. I have nothing good to say about the hearing in my left ear. I thought that it might be improving when I could feel some pops but basically it's just popping now and so the level of how much I can't hear varies from Darth Vador sounds to underwater tea party. As a kid, did you ever go underwater and have a tea party with your friend and then come up and try to figure out what they were saying? If you didn't then you may want to try it so you can understand what your friends and co workers are saying after your surgery. Another thing you could do to practice is go somewhere in a plane and when you get to 30K feet, put on ear plugs and then have a tea party with the person in the seat next to you. Actually, they said this hearing loss is highly unusual so it probably won't happen to you. The good news is that I think my swelling went down 1 notch. They told me at work that I looked less swelled Monday morning. As far as discomfort goes, I have a lot of complaints still. I have zingers, pins & needles, my bottom lip and chin are very numb still the gum line on top and right against the bottom teeth are sore and annoyed. The roof of my mouth feels burned but mostly numb and the area around my nose is stiff and thickly swelled. I feel a lot of pressure there when I smile or laugh. My cheeks and around my TMJ are still sore too. My teeth were a little sore from getting my braces changed out but now they're all right. I have some pain when I first take off my rubber bands. I think I'm holding them together too hard when they're banded. It's not really necessary since the bands are quite weak. I'm wearing the rubber bands in my sleep and throughout the day. I take them off a couple hours around my 3 meals. Neither Franco or Simon were specific on how many hours I could leave them off, so I just chose what I want. But, I make sure to wear them most of the time because I don't want to slow the process down. Also, if I leave them off too long, it hurts more when they go back on. FOOD things are good. This entire time I have not had much of an issue with food. It was definitely a problem the first week or two but I haven't really felt that hungry. I'm up to eating some chewy things like sausage but I'm not that good so sometimes I give up. I can workout and run. Overall I lost 10 pounds but it's already coming back on a little. Here are some photos of food I've eaten.

Sausage and bison chili

Mushroom Risotto

chicken cacciatore

Shepherd's Pie

Day 45

So I finally got to go to the ENT about my ears. It was so stupid because I got there and had to fill out all the paperwork and wait. Then once I got in the smaller waiting room he came in and I told him how I couldn't hear for 2 weeks and that I felt like Darth Vader and could hear my own breathing sounds, etc. My left ear is the problem but my right is catching up quickly. He said that there was nothing in them to cause hearing loss and I should take the test. He put me on a waiting bench in the hall behind 2 elderly women where I waited another 2 hours! When I was finally called into the room the 'test' was a pressure sensor, where she said "Oh wow, you're showing pressures like what you would read if you were in a plane!" Duh. That's what I've been explaining. Then I went into the sound booth and pressed a button every time I heard a sound. When I was finished she explained to me that my chart showed "very poor readings for someone my age". I went back to the waiting room, this time I didn't have to wait long because I heard the doctor tell the staff he wanted to go home and hurry up with the last patient (me). He diagnosed me with swelling inside my ears. No meds, no help. He said just wait it out and come back to redo all that crap in 2 months. Jeez. In other news: here's my new nephew just 4 weeks old.

You can see in this picture how awkward my mouth is. It's still completely numb and I can't smile showing my teeth because they are nasty looking. I'll keep practicing.

Day 39

I saw Dr. Simon yesterday. She said I won't be in braces long because my bite looks so good! Yay! As usual, she had a lot of trouble opening the doors on my brackets and said she could feel my teeth moving. I couldn't feel much on the top because I'm still so numb but there were a few sharp stings in the roof and behind my canine when she was changing the wires out. She put 2 triangle rubber bands on but they're not nearly as tight as the ones Dr. Franco had me wearing. She also mentioned that my swelling looked pretty normal for 5 weeks and that it would stay swollen for several months. She was surprised that I can't hear out of my left ear. I woke up today and it's the same. It's now been over a week and the longest I've ever had water or whatever is in there. I'm just waiting for my appointment with the ENT now and hopefully he can wash out the gunk so I can hear again. My teeth are so disgusting. The wash that you gargle with after surgery turns them brown! They look like wood almost. I'm so embarrassed by them but there is nothing I can do. I can't wait to get them cleaned and whitened!

Day 37

I ended up losing all hearing in my left ear. For days, there's been the feeling that I had water or liquid in there. When I turned my head upside-down I could feel it moving around...just like swimmer's ear or when you have water stuck in your ear. I tried sleeping on that side, hoping it would drain, I tried using a blow dryer to air it out, I tried holding my nose and breathing to make my ears pop. Nothing. Then yesterday my right ear started crackling and making the same sounds inside that my left ear did at first. I got really worried that I would lose that side too! I made an emergency apt. with Dr. Franco. today and he looked inside my ear and said that there was no fluid or wax buildup that was abnormal or anything he could see that would cause me to not hear. He recommended that I go see an ENT to get my ears flushed. He said it's very unusual for this to happen. When I say I can't hear, what I mean is that I'm hearing what you would hear if you plugged your ears. It's like I'm in an airplane 30,000ft up, with plugs in my ears and headphones over that. You can hear inside your head what you're saying but can't hear other people or things. It's very annoying. While I was at Dr. Franco's office, I asked him if he or Dr. Simon would take off my splint. He said either of them could and I asked him to take mine off. He said ok! I was so happy because that thing is really intrusive! He went and got some wire cutters and made a few clips and pulled it out. It was like getting stitches out. A little pinch here and there and it fell out. It feels great to have it out! I can talk better, taste my food and brush! I was worried the splint would be super nasty and full of food but it wasn't that bad. He said that it actually looked pretty clean and not disgusting. Yay! The roof of my mouth where the splint was laying is rough and hard feeling. I thought that it would be a little easier to chew but when I went to have a piece of cucumber I couldn't chew it. I can on the right side but the left is still struggling to chew. I think it will take a few more weeks. After my apt. I went back to work and everyone was like, "whoa! I can understand you!" so at least there's that. Tomorrow I will see Dr. Simon for my first post op orthodontic experience. Might as well throw in some painful braces tightening while I'm at it. Actually, I'm happy to go because the wires are all cut up and some are really stabbing me. I want fresh wires. Next Wed. is my apt. with the ENT specialist who will I guess flush my ears. Gross, who would want to work with noses and ears for a living. I don't really want to wait another week without hearing. Oh, well. Also, I've been drinking the occasional glass of wine. Dr. Franco said it was fine last visit and I found that it feels better to have a glass of wine than take an advil or tylenol. My pain is more discomfort at this point. It's not really that painful but it's just enough and for over 30 days it feels like it will never end. I'm constantly aware of my mouth. It's throbbing in some places and pinching in others. My lips and chin feel burnt and my cheeks, jaws and under my eyes feel sore. The skin feels sore. My swelling has gone down some but still puffy, especially in the jowls. Here are today's photos.

Day 34

Well I can't hear out of my left ear. Last Thursday I was hearing that white noise you sometimes get in your ears if there is water in them. I was hearing it when I listened to music in my car or sounds from the TV. If it got a little too loud, I would hear this "wind" in my ear. Remember when I was saying my left TMJ was hurting for several days last week? It doesn't heart anymore but I woke up last week and my left ear was totally clogged. I haven't been able to get rid of it since then! It's very annoying. It's just like when you have water in your ear but usually you can get it out if you tilt your head or take a hot bath. Nothing has worked. I'm supposed to go see Dr. Simon this Friday but I'm not sure there is anything she can do about it. I feel like there is just a tremendous amount of drainage going on there. Hopefully it will drain what's left of the swelling in my face. I want it to go away though because it's extremely distracting. Over the weekend I also had some palsy in my bottom lip. It just completely gave up. When I talked, it was completely uncontrollable. I wasn't sure if it was hanging open or what. But, that passed after a couple days. Now, I have lots of pins and needles in my bottom lip and chin, big pressure on my Right TMJ and drainage or something covering my left ear. When I smile there is a pressure on my zygomatic bones.

See on the chart #7. That's where I can feel the bolts. I'm not sure what I'm feeling exactly but there is an annoyance under the skin there and tension. The pain I feel now is mostly in my teeth from the rubber bands. Everything else is just very annoying. I keep feeling warm water dripping on my mouth and chin and of course there is nothing there. Ah! When I see Dr. Simon on Friday, hopefully she can rid me of this splint which makes me hard to understand for others, and it'd be really fun if she didn't make me wear rubber bands anymore. Just those 2 things would make me feel better I think.

Day 29

I don't have much to update. Same old things, swelling is going down very slowly, I have pain in my TMJ area and lower left jaw, my front lower teeth are sore and I have some knots around my nose. My bite is closed which is really weird to me! I can't wait to try out my new bite. Fore now, I can chew a little but I'm not really using my front teeth yet because they're sore. I tend to push the food back to the molars like I always have.

The state of my teeth are really scary. When I finally get my braces off I'm going to have to get a serious cleaning. They are almost brown looking! So gross, I hope they have enough tools to chisel away the gunk!