15 turns of the key and taking care of myself!

I didn't realize how tough it would be being back at work this week. Things went well on Monday, but by yesterday at 4:30 PM I was not well. I went home and rested, but couldn't sleep at night. My jaw was aching and woke me up at 4:00 AM this morning. I thought turning the key 2x's a day would be no problem, but it still is a bit tough on the system. I came into work today because we had a recognition luncheon honoring all those that contributed to a $60m deal that we recently closed. Our admin was kind enough to organize a meal for me at the restaurant that was all pureed. The meal was actually really good and the chef even came out to see what I thought! In the middle of the luncheon, my nose started running constantly. I'm not supposed to blow my nose for 10 days after surgery, but I had to today. Considering we're at day 9, I figured it wasn't the end of the world.

At work, I've felt like I am wearing a mask. I am covering up the gap with wax and all my bruises with make-up. Even after 9+ days I still have a bunch of bruising on either side of my chin. Although I felt like I need to portay an image of being OK, I decided that it's alright to take care of myself. I am taking off Thursday and Friday to recover further. I already have a sore throat and I'm concerned if I don't rest, it'll just get worse. I think I will feel much better once I am back on solid foods come Monday. Here's hoping that I don't have to keep expanding past 24 turns! I think my jaw (and my body) need a rest.

Attached is a pic showing 15 turns of the key.

Back at work and 11 turns of the key!

Last night I made mac 'n cheese and used my blender to grind it up. The blender didn't like that too much and started smoking. For future, I will grind up the noodles first before adding the velveta cheese. Apparently velveta cheese is like metal as far as my poor blender is concerned. It did seem to work OK this morning though it took a little longer than usually to blend up my banana.

Before work I went and saw my orthodontist. The oral surgeon told the orthodontist that he did 4 turns during surgery (two more than I thought he had done). So combined with the turns I did over the weekend and today, I am now at 11 turns. I didn't feel too confidant in my turns of the key until last night though. To make sure you're doing it correctly, the key has to be pushed into the device like a key into a lock. Once it clicks, you move the key towards the back of your throat until it can't go anymore.

After the orthodonist looked at my mouth, he thought we already had a lot of space so he just wants me to turn 13 more times. Yay! In a week's time I could be done with both expanding AND the liquid diet!! w00t w00t I have an appointment to see the ortho on July 6th and I will stop turning the morning of July 5th. The ortho assistant said I could skip turns if it was hurting, but I'm just going to press on. The sooner I start, the sooner I finish. I don't think the expanding hurts that much, it just feels like some pressure, but it's not painful.

The first day back at work wasn't too bad. It was busy, but no one seemed to notice my new appearance. I used the wax to cover the gap and I think that seemed to help. The ortho assistant at my doctor's office gave me a ton of wax and said that it was pretty common among the adults to cover up the gap that way. She said she had one patient that covered it up so well she couldn't even tell!

Day 6 - Hide the gap!

After have surgery just over 5 days ago, I decided to go to a party tonight. I still have a bunch of bruising on my cheeks, but it is pretty easily hidden with make-up. I also decided to hide the gap by sticking some dental wax between it. No one seemed to notice it and I didn't receive any comments until I explained to an acquaintance that I hadn't been able to get lunch this week because I had just had jaw surgery. He said, "Oh so that's the reason for the thing between your teeth?" I'm thinking camouflaging the gap is probably better than totally rocking it, but I guess we'll see. I thinking I'll use wax for work and see how it goes. From a distance it seems to make it a lot less noticeable.

So I turned the key by myself twice today. I wasn't sure if I did it correctly in the morning and had to go for an 8 AM run to Rite Aid to get a dental mirror. Between the full length mirror in my room, a headlamp and my new no-fog dental mirror I was able to see the key OK. I also watched a video on YouTube to help. I will try again tomorrow and hopefully I did it right today.

Above is a picture of me covering the bruises with make-up and the gap with dental wax. Not too bad, right?

Post-op visit

Today, I went to see the oral surgeon for my post-op. I learned that he actually turned the key only twice during the surgery. He said that the gap was a result of opening up my jaw. It makes me a bit nervous though. Does that mean the gap is going to be huge??

The oral surgeon turned the key once this morning during the appointment. Starting tomorrow I will turn the key 2x's per day for 2-3 weeks. I will alternate weekly seeing the oral surgeon and the ortho. I will see the ortho for my next appointment on Monday.

Above is a picture with no make-up. You can see I'm still a bit swollen, but the bruising is now yellow. Here's hoping it clears up before I go to work on Monday!!

Expander in, SARPE completed!

The expander went in on the 6/18 and I had my surgery on 6/21. The first day with the expander was a little tough. I was making a lot of saliva (since my body thought this new device was food) and was having a hard time pronouncing some words. The worst being any words with "ee" in it like neat, feet, meat, etc. S and N were tough at first too, but by the end of the weekend it wasn't too bad. I would also say the extra spit stopped by day 2.

My first meal with the expander was interesting. I decided to go for Indian food and got a whole bunch of rice stuck in it. I couldn't really finish my meal and drank tons of water to clear the expander.

By the time I had dinner, it was much better. I was able to eat regular foods that weren't too hard. I had fish, cheese, calamari (not the crispy kind) and mashed potatos. Delic! By Sunday, I was talking even better and really only noticed a change in voice when I said those "ee" words. I did hurt my cheeks chewing during that second meal. The brackets they use for the expander have sharp edges. I used wax all day Saturday and even attempted to eat with wax in my mouth. By Sunday my cheeks were a lot better and I just used some orajel swaps to keep the discomfort in check.

Monday morning was my SARPE. My oral surgeon had me take some Valium and Vitamin K (to prevent bleeding) an hour before. By the time I got to the oral surgeon's office, I felt good and was even more relaxed once they started the laughing gas. The whole surgery took about an hour. My mom was with me the whole time and drove me home afterward. Once I got out of the car at my apartment, my nose started bleeding a lot, but I made it into the house OK. I was pretty out of it as the anesthesia wore off, but by 2 PM I was answering the phone. The main thing that first day was making sure I iced my face and had all my meds which includes 800 mg of ibuprofen 3x's per day and an antibiotic 3x's per day. I also have liquid vicodin.

I already have a 3 mm gap in between my teeth which was apparent immediately following surgery. I knew the oral surgeon was going to turn the key to test it, but it seems like he must have done it a bunch of times. I will find out more when I see him on Friday. The main thing that hurt was pressure under my nose and cheekbones. I believe that was from the expanding. The oral surgeon wants me to expand much faster than the ortho said originally. He said it would be 2-3 times per day. Ortho thought it shouldn't be more than 2 x's per day. I'm glad they want to do it faster though because that means expansion should be complete in as few as two weeks instead of six.

The pics above are 2 1/2 days post SARPE. It looks like my upper jaw is already wider.

RPE fitting

This morning I went to the orthodontist to have my fitting for my RPE (rapid palatal expander). I will get this put in on Friday, June 18th in preparation for my SARPE (surgically assistaed rapid palatal expansion) on June 21st. After reading so many ortho blogs, I had a TON of questions for my orthodonist today! I learned that after I have SARPE, I will start turining 4-7 days afterwards. The oral surgeon will turn the key following surgery, but only to test the device. Once I start turning, I will turn 42 times at a rate of one turn per day. The goal is 10mm of expansion. Although I will get a gap in between my front teeth, the ortho said the 10mm would be the amount that the jaw would expand, not the space between the front teeth. Fingers crossed that I only get a baby gap!! After six weeks of turning, I will stop expanding for another six weeks and then get braces. So we're looking at the following:

June 18th - RPE in
June 21st - SARPE
June 25th (?) - begin expansions; 1 turn per day
August 6th (?) - stop turning
September 17th - braces on

I also asked the ortho about needing a "fake tooth" to be put in with my braces and he said that won't be necessary. Once I stop turning, the gap will start to close up and he will use a powerchain on the braces to pull the teeth together to get rid of the remaining gap.

Once I get closer to the surgery, I will take more pictures!!