So, I am starting this blog for several reasons. The main reason is that
I'm approaching jaw surgery, and I've been doing a lot of research on
what to expect. This process has shown me that the best source of
information is from other blogs like this. So, I feel like it's only
right that I should try to contribute to the cause a little, and
hopefully my experiences will help other people who are having to go
through this process. The second reason I'm starting this blog is
because I'm anticipating possibly 5 weeks of intense recovery, and I'm
hoping doing daily posts on here will help to keep me sane. The last
reason is just that I'd like a definitive outlet for keeping up with my
progress.
Here's a little basic information about me. I'm a 23 year old graduate
student living in Tennessee. This entire process started years ago (as
I'm sure is the case for most people), but I've had my braces on for
almost a year. I've always known that the feature I dislike most about
myself is my jaw line or I guess more specifically my weak chin. My
family couldn't afford braces when I was a kid, but as I got older and
my bite kept getting worse I felt like it was something I just had to
do. They told me at my first braces consultation that I would need jaw
surgery, but I didn't get the gory details until pretty recently. I'm
fairly shocked at how complex this process has become. Right now, I'm
feeling like if I had known how much it would take to fix my jaw I might
not have bothered. Unfortunately, the reality is that my bite would
have only continued to get worse and worse until I would have had to
have surgery on my jaw joints if nothing else. So, it is pretty
necessary but if it was just a cosmetic thing I probably would have
backed out already.
Anyway, currently my surgery is tentatively
scheduled for December 31st. I have a severe overjet and an open bite.
In order to correct this my surgeon is going to do a 3 piece Lefort on
my upper jaw, an IVRO on my lower jaw, and a genioplasty. They will be
widening my upper jaw, moving my lower jaw forward so my teeth meet the
way they should, and they'll be moving my chin forward so that it is
where it should be. This is a pretty complicated surgery. The fact that
I'm having surgery on both my upper and lower jaw means that my recovery
time will be much longer than if I just had my lower jaw done. I met
with Dr. K (orthodontist)
and Dr. L (surgeon) yesterday and they gave me the rundown of how
things are going to go. The surgery will be about 5 hours, and I'll
probably spend 2 days in the hospital. After the surgery I'll be wearing
a surgical splint (which is basically a retainer that you have to wear
all the time at first) and rubber bands to hold my bite in place. Dr. L
says that I'll be getting the splint and bands off after 5 weeks, and
that is sounding like the biggest part of my recovery.
Thus far,
that is all that I really know. From reading other blogs I have a decent
idea of the kind of swelling and pain I should expect, but it seems
like everyone has a variety of random complications that vary a lot from
person to person. I'm currently trying to compile a list of the things
that I'm going to need post-surgery to make life easier/bearable. If
you're reading this and have already been through this process then
suggestions would be very appreciated. Before surgery I'll be sure to
post plenty of pre-surgery photos,
and after surgery I plan on posting daily pictures so everyone can see
my progress. This is the first time I've done a blog like this, but
hopefully it'll serve it's purpose and be helpful to people.
No comments:
Post a Comment