Orthodontic Visit

The visit to my orthodontist went alright this morning. He double checked to make sure that there was no more infection going on and confirmed that everything looks healthy. I explained to him everything I have been through and he said he was sorry that it has been so painful and that he understands because there is so much pressure in my cheeks/jaw right now. I am supposed to call the surgeon back to get him to do an x-ray if I get anymore sever cheek pain.

He was happy with the expansion but said I still need to turn it once a week from now on until he tells me other wise. I am still scheduled to get braces put on Feb.11 however he wont start bringing my front teeth back together for 8 weeks after the last expansion. So it is still going to be a few months before they will start to bring it back into place. He figured that I would have to wear the braces for about 18 months - 2 years. I am going to ball park 2 years and anything sooner will be a treat.

My goal now is to keep plugging away, one day at a time. Today marks 41 days post SARPE surgery. I've been through a lot and made it so I will stay strong, and get through the next couple years! 

Update before Orthodontic visit - 32 turns

I have been slacking on my blog the last few days. Sorry about that! So here's the scoop. Five days ago I went back to see the surgeon because I was in so much pain and he had told me that there must be something wrong when I talked to him the day before. Well when I go to the appointment it went completely opposite then I thought it was going to go. He told me that there was no infection and that the click/pop noise and extreme shooting pain was my bones moving and that there is absolutely nothing he can do for me at this point. He pretty much just washed his hands of me and said it's now up to the orthodontist for the next step. He said that my expansion looks like it is pretty much at it's max and that the orthodontist will probably say that's good enough. I have been having a hard time controlling the pain and with work and home life, it has been extremely challenging. My boss and team at work have been a HUGE support and I am able to alter my duties to be able to work mornings in the office and then come home to work from home in the afternoons. This allows for me to limit my talking at work (that sounds bad) but also to let me rest when I need to and then log on from home to keep working away the rest of the day.

I have been having a lot of pain/aching off and on but the most of it the last couple days has been in the front between my two front teeth. It is like pins and needles constantly stabbing my gums and not backing off. Part of it is probably all the severed nerves healing and also the expansion process. I get scared when I think of how much the braces are going to hurt once they start to bring everything into place. I am ready to get this over with and I know I need to do it in order to move on so in a way I am looking forward to it as well. I see the orthodontist tomorrow so I will be sure to update what the thinks. I am very much hoping that I no longer have to expand.  Here is an updated pick of what my teeth look like today:

Jan.21 with 32 expansions

Nightmare!

I am starting to feel like this nightmare is never going to end. I had my first full day back at work on Monday and it went pretty good, I was tired and a little sore from smiling by the end of the day but overall good day. Then yesterday (Tuesday) I woke up with a headache that refused to go away all day. I tried Advil which didn't touch it at all and then moved up to the Motrin that the Doc had prescribed to me at the beginning of January. That barely helped so I went to lay down in our wellness room at work for half an hour. Still nothing had changed so at that point it was 3 pm and I left a little early. My gums had started to get the burning and tingling sensation again and the weirdest part was my right ear went really red. The swelling had also started back up a bit. Then last night around 9:00 I was just sitting doing absolutely nothing, no eating no drinking no talking and all of a sudden I heard a click/pop sound on my left upper side of my mouth followed by excruciating pain radiating up into my left cheek. The sound was so loud that my husband heard it across our living room. It instantly brought tears to my eyes and lasted for a little while and then went away but left an ache for in my left jaw joint/cheek area under my eye from then on. I also had a little bit of twitching under my eye. So weird.

I went to bed to try and sleep it off until I could talk to the surgeon this morning. I had a very hard time getting out of bed, I was completely exhausted but I got up and showered and then had to lay back down for 20 minutes and force myself to get back up because I knew I had to try and get to the city to see the surgeon. So I finally got up to work and had to wait for the docs office to open. When I got through they said that he was actually doing surgeries today and not in his office so I still had his cell phone number and so I opted to text him my situation and for him to call me back. Not even 5 minutes after I texted him, he called me back. I explained the situation and that this morning my top lip is now swollen again , my gums are burning, my cheek is radiating pain, headache and the weird incident the night before. He said at this point I should not be feeling any pain or get any re swelling so something is going on and he can't see me til tomorrow morning. But he said for now to turn the expander back 1 (again) and to take the pain meds he had prescribed me earlier this month to try and dull the pain. He figured that the sound we heard was the bones shifting.

I left work shortly after my conversation with the surgeon and tried so hard to fight back the tears. As soon as I got home I took my Motrin and t3 and laid down to rest. My work sick leave program called and told me not to bother going in tomorrow and just to let them know what the surgeon says. I can not wait to get this nightmare behind me and that there isn't something more serious going on in my face somewhere. I really do not want to have to deal with another surgery at this point. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow. I'm going back to bed now.

25 Expansions with Comparisons

So far so good today. Nothing too new to report from two days ago but I did take some pictures of how much my upper jaw has expanded and want to show the difference so far. I was supposed to go in to see the surgeon this afternoon but they are calling for a terrible blizzard again so I didn't want to risk the drive especially with my boys. I rescheduled to see him tomorrow afternoon instead so he can check to make sure all is still going well for healing.

One thing I have noticed in the last week is that my teeth have gone more yellow and it's all because of the peridex rinse that I have to use three times a day. Even thought I brush about 15 times a day (literally) I am told this is to be expected and that the dentist will be able to get it all cleaned off when I am able to go for a cleaning. Another wonderful "perk" of this process.

Check out these pictures though, it's pretty crazy to see the difference so far:

First day expander went in

24 turns (You can see how much the middle of the expander has spread apart)

Here are the pics of my bite before expansion and the bite I have currently:

Bite before this all started

Bite with 24 expansions (almost all the way on top of the bottom teeth now.

Infection - Surgeon Checkup

I had an appointment with the surgeon this morning to check on my infection situation. I woke up with my upper lip a little more swollen then the last two days were. When I got to my appointment he had to lift my upper lip to check the sutures and it hurt like hell when he did that. He said that because of all the scar tissue and nerves being cut everyone has that reaction when he has to check it at this point. He said that the gums are looking healthy and that everything is starting to heal properly. There were no puss pockets that he had to worry about going in and draining (thank goodness), and I have to go back on Thursday to double check that things are continuing to get better.

Apparently they used to use stitches that had to be removed but because they were causing a lot of infections, they now use the dissolvable one. However he said that they can still sometimes not dissolve fully and create an infection. Also sometimes these infections are caused by bone shavings getting inside there so he is monitoring my situation closely. For now I am OK and have to expand once a day rather then the 1, 2, 1 schedule. All the oozing and redness has gone away so I hope that this little bit of swelling is just the natural reaction to expansion again. Little by little, day by day I will pull through.

Here are some pics I took last night before my lip re-swelled:

Front teeth had closed the gap a little while I was not able to expand last week.

The redness is pretty well gone right beside my the gap of my two front teeth where it was oozing

You can tell that there is a lot of expansion already in the shape of my face and how many teeth are showing.

Finally Home

Today I was finally able to come home after 6 days of being away from my house because my family was sick with a horrible stomach flu. It was a really hard time emotionally and physically with my infection that occurred at the same time. The antibiotics that I have been on seem to be working and I get to go see the surgeon on Tuesday morning for a checkup and xray to see my progress. I was able to do one expansion turn yesterday and one today as well. Tomorrow I will only do one again and then we will see what he says on Tuesday if I should go back to the alternating 2 then 1 then 2 turn schedule. I hope this passed week has not set me back too much, but for now I am just so happy to be home.

HUGE thanks for my in laws and my parents for all their support lately. Can't say how much we appreciate everything they've done for us. Pics to follow tomorrow, going to cuddle my kids now.

Infection update

A couple days have passed since I have been on my antibiotics and not a whole lot has changed. My upper lip and cheek swelling has come down a little since yesterday but the oozing between my front teeth is still there and my gum throbbing pain is still noticeable throughout the day. I have had to quarantine myself to my parents place as my family has fallen sick with the flu. It has been a very physically and emotionally miserable week to say the least.

I spoke to my surgeon this morning and he told me not to expand today but if I feel better tomorrow I should do one turn in the afternoon. If I am not feeling better then I have to call him back in the morning and he will be changing my antibiotics to something different. He said that they will be doing an xray next week to see how the healing process is going and if there is anything else going on with my front teeth. For now I have to keep up with my meds and keep trucking. Other then that everything else has been roughly the same. At times I feel like I'm stuck in a nightmare and then I just try to tel myself that this is not forever and it will be better soon. So for now I live day by day and try not to think too much about anything else.

Big setback - Infection

One of my worst fears has come into play, a big setback for my progress. Yes, a dreaded infection. I have been fighting with swelling off and on as well as pains for quite a few days now but yesterday set the bar of reality that I definitely have an infection. Swelling is back up in my cheeks and top lip and my gums are throbbing. I now have some yellowish ooze between my two front teeth. I was in tears almost all night and got about 4 hours of sleep. The first thing I did this am was call my surgeon. Because it is New Years day I had to call him directly. He said I had to turn my expander back one turn and and don't do any tomorrow . I am to call him again on Thursday and turn it once that day. He also put me on antibiotic 4 times a day and I am to use the peridex mouthwash 3  times a day now. He said I will start to feel better 24 - 48 hours and that I am to go see him on Tuesday next week.

This whole process has been a nightmare and I just cant wait to feel "normal" again. To top it all off my boys have been exposed to the flu that his cousins got so I will be quarantining myself away from them. The last thing I need to catch right now is the flu.  Our family and work has been extremely supportive and helpful and I cant thank them enough for that.

Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow and healthy 2013.

Swelling back up in my top lip and cheeks (more so on my right side)

Side view of cheek swelling and upper lip swelling.