T-minus 1 WEEK until SURGERY!! ACK!

Bonjourno.

So today marks 1 week until my jaw surgery. For those of you just joining the conversation (pretty one sided at this point), I am having jaw surgery consisting of Lefort One Osteotomy and Genioplasty at 10 am on Friday, August 20th. OMFG.

These past several weeks I've been doing everything to prepare for the surgery... which means a lot of appointments and a lot of trips to Costco/Walmart/Drugstores, etc.

Here is a list of appointments I had to go to to prepare for my surgery:

• Orthodontist appointment for molds to make the surgical wires (3 weeks pre-surgery)
• Family Doctor appointment to ensure I'm healthy enough for surgery and to take blood tests (3 - 4 weeks pre-surgery)
• Oral Surgeon appointment to take all of the x-rays, molds, measurements and to prepare me for what is to come (3 weeks prior but can be up to 1 week before)
• Dentist appointment to make my teeth so fresh and so clean, clean (1 week before to ensure optimal cleanliness before the surgery)
• Hospital consultation to register me for my overnight stay and to explain the schedule of events and details on medications, etc. (1-2 weeks before)
• ANOTHER Orthodontist appointment to put on the surgical wires - which is happening on Monday

The appointment I enjoyed the least was the one where I had to pay for my Oral Surgery fees (a large lump sum)... that hurt the bank a bit. AND then all the stuff I had to buy to prepare! Who knew surgery (supposedly covered by my government) would cost me so much in the end.

The appointment with my Oral Surgeon, Dr. R, was the most important one for me because him and his team explained everything that I need to know about the surgery. Here are some points of how timelines are supposed to go:

Night before/day of surgery

• I am not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight (min. 8 hours prior to surgery) - you best believe I'm eating a HUGE steak and heaps of desert the night before!!!
• Must shower before the surgery (duh.)
• I am not allowed to wear any make up, nail polish or jewellery for the surgery
• Be at the hospital 2 hours prior to surgery - I'll have to check in by 8 am. Dr. R was kind enough to make my surgery early enough in the morn that I won't be crying of hunger.

Day 1-5

• Surgery on August 20th at 10 am. Should take no longer than 2 hours, with 1 hour in the recovery room and an overnight stay
• Elastics are used to keep my mouth closed and in place during this period of time. The one good thing is that I WILL NOT have a SPLINT! I've heard that many people need this to help keep their bite in place, but apparently I will not)
• CLEAR liquid diet up until Day 5 - which is primarily consists of WATER, broth, juice, ginger ale, Gatorade and anything else I can think of which is clear. This is recommended so that nothing gets stuck in the wounds/brackets and you don't need to brush your teeth - which may cause damage to the said wounds/brackets. I asked Dr. R about hunger during this period and he said your not really that hungry because of all the medications - but I have to ensure I drink LOTS (min. 2 litres) of water a day to stay hydrated.
• Allowed to shower on Day 2 (apparently your too weak to take a shower on the day of the surgery)
• Icing my face to help the swelling until Day 3 or 4, then moving on to warm packs on the face. Apparently the swelling is at it's worst on Day 4 and subsides from there

Day 5-10

• Liquid diet still - but now I'm allowed to drink non-clear items (i.e. boost, strained smoothies, ice cream, strained soup, etc.)
• 1 week post-op is on Friday, August 27th. I go to Dr. R's office and they do a full check up to see how I'm healing!
• Dr. R will remove the elastics from the surgery and I will get new elastics (which I may have to start replacing myself). This means I may be able to take them off when I'm eating/drinking
• I will be allowed to brush my teeth after 1 week! Wahoo!!! A children's toothbrush is recommended because it's soft and small enough to get in your mouth with all the swelling
• Face/jaw exercises to get your jaw back into shape! (I'll probably make a fun video of this to entertain you all)

Day 10-15

• Can start eating soft foods (i.e. baby food, oatmeal, non-strained soups, etc.)... basically anything that doesn't involve chewing
• Most of the swelling should be gone by the end of the 2nd week. There may be 10-20% swelling until up to 2 months post-op
• Jaw goal by the end of 2 weeks is to be able to open your mouth by 2 finger breadths
• 2 week post-op appointment with Dr. R to be scheduled

Day 16-30

• Allowed to start gentle exercising (I'm not allowed to exert myself yet - so no heading back to the gym). They say walking is great and light weights
• Jaw goal by the end of 3 weeks is to be able to open your jaw 3 finger breadths (which right now I can do 3 1/2 finger breadths - so that's almost fully open)
• 4-week post-op with Dr. R to be scheduled

Day 30-90

• Full exercising is allowed after 1 month - which means I can start going back to the gym!
• 6-week post-op with Dr. R to be scheduled
• After 6 weeks, my Orthodontist is allowed to start working on my teeth again! He said best case scenario my braces can be off 6 months post-op if all goes well!
• All swelling should be gone after 2 months
• Light chewing can commence after about 2 months
• I will be able to make a dentist appointment to get my teeth all cleaned up and back in tip top shape!
• 3 months is the time when everything should be healed and back to normal!

Here are a list of items I've bought so far to prepare:

• Chicken/beef broth
• Gatorade
• Prune juice
• Boost
• Tylenol Extra Strength (I was supposed to buy the children's liquid Tylenol but it would have cost me a fortune with the amount I was supposed to take. I will just be grinding up the capsules and mixing it with my codeine - YUM!)
• Vitamin E capsules (to help with my skin after the surgery - from all the pulling and bruising that is to come)
• Children's sippy cup (to try to stop me from slobbering all over myself - which I'm sure will be a sight to see!)
• Children's spoons (they are soft and small - easier to feed yourself mush)
• Children's tooth brush (actually got this at the dentist for free... schwing - this will help when I'm allowed to start brushing my teeth and my face is still all swollen)
• Saline nasal spray (I heard this will come in very useful after the surgery when my nose is all stuffy and I can't blow it)
• White board (it will save me from having to speak and i can draw fun inappropriate pictures to entertain my best friend Claire who's coming to take care of me for a week)
• Wash clothes & paper towel (to ensure my slobbering only goes as far as my chin)
• Bed Rest Pillow (possibly the ugliest pillow I've ever seen, but so fun at the same time. See below! I need to sleep in an upright position, so I heard that this is a really good way to help with that)
• Baby food (for 10-days post-surgery when I can apparently start eating mush instead of pure liquid)
• Frozen fruit (to make delicious smoothies after 10-days post-op
  Large Zip Lock bags (to help with the feeding process - can squeeze them to push liquid into mouth - aka like when you ice a cake - since I won't be able to use a straw)

Items I still need to purchase:

• Gravol (the kind that dissolves in your mouth)
• Salt (to mix with water and use as a mouth wash several times a day - they gave me the medical mouth wash, but they advised to use the salt/water mix often to help keep the bacteria at bay)
• Medicated lip balm (to ensure my lips don't get all chapped and gross-a-tating)
• Ginger ale (a clear liquid I'm allowed to drink for the 1st 5 days)
• MAGAZINES!!!!
• lots of other stuff I can't think of right now

Well kiddies, that is all the goods I can think of right now - it's late and way too hot in my apartment to have a laptop on me any longer.

I must bid you adieu. I can promise that you will have A LOT more reading material from my blog in next few weeks because I will be posting almost everyday post-op. I will also post pre-op photos and a video once I get the surgical wires on on Monday!

Ask any questions you may have and thank you so very much for taking the time to read my blog :)

Alexis

Kanye West - Through The Wire

Inspirational song for having your mouth wired shut - thanks Kanye!

P.s. T-minus 27 days until surgery!

Yo G they can't stop me from rapping can they?
Can they, huh?

[Chorus:]
Through the fire, to the limit, to the wall
For a chance to be with you, I'd gladly risk it all
Through the fire, through whatever come what may
For a chance at loving you, I'd take it all away
Right down through the wire, even through the fire

I spit it through the wire man
To much stuff on my heart right now man
I'll gladly risk it all right now
It's a life or death situation man
Y'all don't really understand how I feel right now man
It's your boy Kanye to the....
Chi-Town what's going on man

[Verse 1:]
I drink a boost for breakfast, and ensure for desert
Somebody ordered pancakes I just sip the sizzurp
That right there could drive a sane man bizzerk
Not to worry y'll Mr. H 2 the Izzo's back to wizzerk
How do you console my mom or give her light support
When you telling her your sons' on life support
And just imagine how my girl feel
On the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emmett Till
She was with me before the deal she been trying to be mine
She a delta so she been throwing them Dynasty signs
No use me tryin' to be lyin'
I been trying to signed
Trying to be a millionaire
How I use two lifelines
In the same hospital where Big and 2pac died
The doctor said I had blood clots
But I ain't Jamaican man
Story on MTV and I ain't trying to make the band
I swear this right here is history in the making man

[Chorus]

I really apologize how I sound right now man
If it's unclear at all, man
They got my mouth wired shut for like I don't know the doctor said for like six weeks
You know we had reconstru....
I had reconstructive surgery on my jaw
Looked in the mirror half my jaw was in the back of my mouth man
I couldn't believe it
But I'm still here for you all right now yo
This is what I gotta say yo
Yeah, turn me up yeah

[Verse 2:]
What if somebody from the Chi that was ill got a deal on the hottest rap label around
But he wasn't talking bout coke and birds it was more like spoken word
Except he really putting it down
And he explained the story about how blacks came from glory
And what we need to do in the game
Good dude, Bad night, Right place, Wrong time
In the blink of an eye his whole life changed
If you could feel how my face felt you would know how Mace felt
Thank God I ain't to cool for the safe belt
I swear to God drive two on the sue
I got lawyer for the case to keep whats in my safe; safe
My dawgs couldn't tell if I
I look Tom Cruise on Vanilla Sky, it was televised
All they heard was that I was in an accident like GEICO
They thought I was burnt up like Pepsi did Michael
I must gotta angel
Cause look how death missed his ass
Unbreakable, would you thought they called me Mr. Glass
Look back on my life like the ghost of Christmas past
Toys R Us where I used to spend that Christmas cash
And I still wont grow up, I'm a grown ass kid
Swear I should be locked up for stupid shit that I did
But I'm a champion, so I turned tragedy to triumph
Make music that's fire, spit my soul through the wire

[Chorus]

Know what I'm saying
When the doctor told me I had a um.. I was going to have a plate on my chin
I said dawg don't you realize I'll never make it on the plane now
Its bad enough I got all this jewelry on
Can't be serious man

[Chorus repeats till fade]

Photo Montage of My Braces Progress April 2009 - June 2010

48 Days Until Surgery

IT'S NEXT MONTH - HOLY SHIT!!!!

July is here and the closeness of my surgery date is finally setting in. I've started to have dreams and nightmares about all the things that could go right or wrong with it. I really hope this is only a brief phase and it doesn't continue for the next month and a half.

I had an orthodontist appointment this week. It involved some fine tuning and moving of a few brackets on my lower left teeth. I forgot to ask why he was doing this, but I presume it's making them straighter - as that is the job of the braces.

He then scheduled me in for 2 more appointments before my surgery date: July 29 to take molds of my teeth for the surgical wires they must place on; and August 16 (same week as the surgery) to put the surgical wires in. In the next month and half, I also have a dentist appointment (to make sure my teeth are uber clean pre-surgery) and then the oral surgery appointment on August 3 (my pre-op). Lots of appointments to make sure I'm not late for (hoping the transit system is on my side).

Although there has not been major movement in my teeth, I'm posting a recent photo anyways! Week 63 (15 months) vs. before braces:

I forgot to mention that the last ortho appointment I had, my ortho shaved the tops of a few of my front bottom teeth to make them more even! YEY! As you can see in the "before" photo they had little ridges on the top of them - this was because of the open bite and my inability to grind the tops of them against other teeth.

A genius (if I do say so myself) decision I made was to start stocking up on nutritional necessities for post-surgery life. For now I went to Costco and loaded up on frozen fruits (strawberries, mangos and blueberries) and then went to Walmart to stock up on baby food (major sale prices! woop woop!). I have never tasted baby food since I was a baby, so I'm not sure how they will taste. I stayed away from the gross sounding ones (peas, beans, etc.) and kept to the yummy ones (berries, bananas, pear, squash, sweet potato). I will definitely keep you in the loop as to how these taste. I bought about 32 jars for $20...not too shabby!! I'm still on the lookout for broth sales and I'm reading up on nutritious powders I can add to smoothies. I am going to try my best to stay away from sodium filled soups and make everything from scratch!

Until next time!

Alexis :)

New Xrays!

NEW Surgery Date!

This'll be short and sweet.

NEW SURGERY DATE BOOKED - AUGUST 20!

Still on the waiting list to get a date in June or July.

Wish me luck :)

JAW SURGERY - SEPTEMBER 23

Happy Spring!

This month I am celebrating my ONE YEAR BRACES ANNIVERSARY! Holy crap! I seriously cannot believe that it's been one entire year (as of April 21) that I've had these suckers on. Sometimes it feels like I've had them on my entire life and other times it feels like it's only been a few months!

So... on to the big news that's bringing in my one-year anniversary - my jaw surgery is officially booked for SEPTEMBER 23, 2010. That's only 144 days until my new and improved face is here!!! (that's actually a saying I've never understood - how can something be NEW and be IMPROVED? You can't improve something that is brand new...anyways... tangent).

I guess finally booking my surgery date is a good thing, but I am NOT happy that it's in fricken September...GRRRRRR. I am actually ready to go in for surgery as of MAY, but my Oral Surgeon does not have any surgery dates open before the September one. UUUGGGGGGHHHH. I don't know anything more annoying for one of the MOST IMPATIENT PEOPLE IN THIS UNIVERSE (moi). So, to make things a little bit better, I am on a waiting list to get an earlier surgery date (everyone cross their fingers for me that someone cancels and they can schedule me for June or July!!!).

To help myself vent, I've put together a list of pros and cons as to having the surgery in effin September. Here we go:

Pros:
- My face won't be messed up for my birthday in June
- My work will be very busy in June, so I won't feel like I'm leaving them hanging
- It's probably less hot in my apartment at the end of Sept than the summer
(I can seriously only think of 3)

Cons (here we go...):
- I have to wait 4 months in limbo. I asked my Ortho if he could do anything to better my teeth while waiting those 4 extra months and he didn't sound very convincing. He said something along the lines of "refining" my teeth...yeah ok. He's just trying to make me feel better. However, he did say that he would give my OS a call and see if he can work some magic to get me a closer date. 4 months in limbo also potentially means 4 extra months of braces at the end of it all.
- I am now on a waiting list which means that they could call me one week before an available surgery date and I would have to drop all my plans for the next month and ask my work to do me a huge favor and let me take 2-3 weeks off unplanned
- My best friend, who is in medical school, offered to come up and take care of me in June for a few weeks... and now she probably won't be able to (but there is a small chance she can come in Sept if I don't get a date closer)
- I have to keep all this cashmoney in my bank account for the surgery pre-assessment work that I CANNOT SPEND! Do you know how HARD that is?!!! haha
- As I mentioned before, I am very very very impatient and making me wait 4 extra months will probably make me anxious and over think everything. We shall see..
- Did I mention I hate WAITING??? uggghh.

OK that's enough of me being a Debbie Downer... I'm usually extremely optimistic about crappy situations... but sometimes venting for a few hours or a day can help a ton! (My bf already got an earful of it the day I had my surgery assessment - I felt for him).

So I'm looking out to you guys, my lovely fans, to give me some optimistic points to help me get through this long-ass wait.

On a side note - I learned that if you have to wear the white power chain across your front teeth, don't eat a large amount of curry/tomato paste... it will stain the white elastic a gross yellow color. So sexy.

Hopefully there will be some good news soon! I'll post as soon as I hear anything and about my adventures on getting ready for the surgery.

Alexis

P.s. I got those "buttons" off the insides of my upper right teeth! Wahoo!