I'm back! I'm here! Did you miss me?
Sorry for the hiatus, or maybe you're welcome for the break :) It's been a really busy few months for me, particularly with work as I transitioned to a new location of our company (new building, new environment, team, boss, etc) and it has been busy. So good, but busy. I have been so exhausted at night that I just haven't felt like writing. If I'm honest, it has been kinda tough for me personally to cope with the lack of energy. Great at work, but really tiring.
Where am I with my jaw and teeth? I am scheduled to have my next, and final, wire change on my lower braces only on March 7!! I am so excited!! No more wire changes. It hardly seems real. My teeth are pretty straight now, but the bottom ones have only just started to look that way, so it does seem surreal. Since I had a lower canine removed, my front middle lower teeth are all shifted, and they don't really line up properly with the top ones, but it is something I'll just have to get used to.
That means I'm one (big!) step closer to my Jaw Replacement Surgery. Once this wire change is done, and the teeth settle in about 6 weeks, I can have the big scan done. This scan is crucial - it will be sent to the implant manufacturer and it's what they will use (along with some impressions and a lot of my surgeon's input) to design and build my custom joint implants. Once they receive the scan there's lots of work to be done, consulting with my surgeon and getting these babies just right. It will take about 3 months to make them, and only when they are about 1 month out from completion will the implant company give my doctor the ok to schedule the surgery. So if you add up all that time, I'm looking at roughly August for the whole big deal. Implants. In my face.
So it's basically starting to feel super real to me now. I'm thinking about when I should let my work know, how long I think I might be off for, what I'll need for surgery, how to prepare, all that stuff. Should I take a vacation before I go off? (I'm thinking yes). What will I need to buy? How am I going to feel?
Of course, there's a massively terrifying part of this too. What is the pain going to be like? How long will it take me to feel relatively normal again? I remember how long and how hard healing was when I just broke my face..this has to be just as hard. Most certainly, my face is going to change after this. What is it going to look like? Will I be ok with it? How will my massive scars heal? Will my son be afraid of me? Will I have facial paralysis? Will I be able close my eyes?
On the plus side, I get to get a rad new hairdo for it all. They're going to shave my hair above my ears, and I'm not just going to let the nurses do it. I'm planning to prep...embrace my inner rocker chick...let my freak flag fly! What do you think of this look??
Oh, I feel your pain. When I was younger, I used to do a lot of skateboarding. My career ended early when my face smashed into a curb, destroying my jaw. It took awhile but a great medical team and dentist were looking after me, and now it looks as if my injury never happened! I think that's a great look, by the way.
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