Yesterday was a BIG day - I had an appointment with Mr T. for the first time in almost 2 years, though walking through his consulting rooms again it felt like we'd only just met last week. Where does the time go?
After getting control of my nerves and jelly legs we got down to business, and he started off with bad news - because of my new teeth position he thought it would be best to move the lower jaw as well as the upper, as too much advancement of the upper jaw would throw out my face alignment. Felt a shiver down my spine as soon as he said this - i'd been hoping I could get away with just an upper and genio, but it seems the only option is the full works. He also told me he was worried that tongue thrust could possibly cause a relapse post-op, and so would make allowances for it during surgery by leaving a posterior open bite (which will compensate for any relapse with some sort of see-saw effect, or could later be closed using braces).
He wasn't pleased to hear about my Crohn's diagnosis 6 months ago and grimaced when I showed him the pills that I have to take every day, he now plans to speak with my specialist asap in order to discuss medications and will let me know the outcome at our next appointment in 3 weeks. All that was left to do afterwards was have a 3D photograph taken, which he will work on and show me next time, and get a few Xrays taken.
All in all a pretty sobering appointment which left me feeling quite down for the rest of the day, but this morning i've perked up. These next few weeks are bound to be a bit of an emotional roller-coaster as the inevitable "what-am-I-doing?" thoughts crop up, but my motivations are still as strong as ever and cancel out the doubts pretty quickly. Hope I can maintain a cool head for as long as possible...
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Friday, 5 February 2010
On Her Majesty's service
Things are finally hotting up around here!I had an adjustment yesterday in advance of the first pre-op meeting with my surgeon (taking place in 3 days time), Dr. H announced that he'd be taking x-rays and final records at our next session in 6 weeks, and would be writing to Mr. T in order to make plans for the surgery itself. Yippee! I'm so pleased that we're finally getting down to business! I also had hooky steel wires inserted on each side top and bottom, to which they attached another lighter wire, which seems to be doing the job I was expecting from elastics (I'll post a pic asap so this makes sense). It's proving tricky to get the floss under both sets of wires so my evening bathroom routine is now clocking in at over 20 minutes!
Whilst Dr. H's assistant was at work on my wires we were chatting (as much as you can when your mouth is full of someone else's fingers) about celebs who'd worn braces, and she mentioned that they sometimes had famous faces come through the door. I asked her to give me some names and she told me they'd done the braces for two of the royal family! My first thought on hearing this was 'no wonder you're so friggin' expensive', but I was still impressed. She also mentioned a rather dishy hollywood actor who brings his kids there - I'd better start hanging around the waiting room a bit more often!
Whilst Dr. H's assistant was at work on my wires we were chatting (as much as you can when your mouth is full of someone else's fingers) about celebs who'd worn braces, and she mentioned that they sometimes had famous faces come through the door. I asked her to give me some names and she told me they'd done the braces for two of the royal family! My first thought on hearing this was 'no wonder you're so friggin' expensive', but I was still impressed. She also mentioned a rather dishy hollywood actor who brings his kids there - I'd better start hanging around the waiting room a bit more often!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
A date decision
Damn these orthodontists! Just when you think you've got everything nicely planned out they go and chuck a huge spanner in the works!
I positively skipped along to my adjustment last month eager for Dr H's decision on the big day - early Feb, I hoped, maybe even late Jan if they get their skates on :) Initial signs looked good with lots of oohing and aahing over my latest set of impressions and statements of "we're really close now!", so when the moment came to ask the BIG question I was positive there would be good news.
It wasn't to be. Dr H had a final fiddle with the moulds and pronounced that I would be ready "in three to four months, probably around easter" EASTER?! WTF? He then proceeded to go over what still needed to be done, but by now I was too numb with shock to register. Three extra months? I'm gutted! I was so ready for the surgery and now this delay is hugely frustrating. It also means that I'll have to do some temping in the meantime rather than sit around twiddling my thumbs and using up my redundancy package, which I need to live off during my surgery convalescence. It would have been such perfect timing in my life to have it now :(
Still, just as I was despairing of ever making any progress, Dr H.s assistant suggested I call up my surgeon's office and give them my timeline, and see when Mr. T would like his his first appointment with me. She didn't have to ask twice! I raced home and got straight on the blower. Mr. T's office suggested that if I wanted the 'pick of the dates' around easter I should come in anytime from 8th feb onwards, so naturally I requested the 8th itself. Hopefully I can impress on Mr.T the urgency of my predicament, so that he could then put the heavies on Dr.H to pronounce me set to go (yes I know surgery really can't be done until the teeth are ready, but perhaps there's some wiggle room in the definition of 'ready'?). Maybe I should take a bribe along - a nice bottle of Port, some chocs, or maybe even a brand new scalpel? :)
I positively skipped along to my adjustment last month eager for Dr H's decision on the big day - early Feb, I hoped, maybe even late Jan if they get their skates on :) Initial signs looked good with lots of oohing and aahing over my latest set of impressions and statements of "we're really close now!", so when the moment came to ask the BIG question I was positive there would be good news.
It wasn't to be. Dr H had a final fiddle with the moulds and pronounced that I would be ready "in three to four months, probably around easter" EASTER?! WTF? He then proceeded to go over what still needed to be done, but by now I was too numb with shock to register. Three extra months? I'm gutted! I was so ready for the surgery and now this delay is hugely frustrating. It also means that I'll have to do some temping in the meantime rather than sit around twiddling my thumbs and using up my redundancy package, which I need to live off during my surgery convalescence. It would have been such perfect timing in my life to have it now :(
Still, just as I was despairing of ever making any progress, Dr H.s assistant suggested I call up my surgeon's office and give them my timeline, and see when Mr. T would like his his first appointment with me. She didn't have to ask twice! I raced home and got straight on the blower. Mr. T's office suggested that if I wanted the 'pick of the dates' around easter I should come in anytime from 8th feb onwards, so naturally I requested the 8th itself. Hopefully I can impress on Mr.T the urgency of my predicament, so that he could then put the heavies on Dr.H to pronounce me set to go (yes I know surgery really can't be done until the teeth are ready, but perhaps there's some wiggle room in the definition of 'ready'?). Maybe I should take a bribe along - a nice bottle of Port, some chocs, or maybe even a brand new scalpel? :)
Thursday, 3 December 2009
“But the tigers come at night…
…with their voices soft as thunder”.
I am starting to experience pre-surgery nerves. During the day I am Miss Positive - totally happy, envisaging a perfect result, a smiling surgeon and a happy ending. Once I lie down to sleep however, my thoughts invariably turn in a darker direction, imagining things going wrong, suffering complications or terrible results, and I can’t seem to stop them.
All the surgery veterans out there would probably say that this is inevitable and not to dwell on the negative, but this new Crohn’s diagnosis has rather knocked my confidence for six. Now i’m having to refocus on my goal and work extra hard to banish those 3am terrors from my mind. It’s probably a good idea to stop reading any negative surgery stories, as they seem to crop up from time to time on archwired.com and terrify the life out of me. Best stick to the blogs of those who have gone before me and have had good results, as nothing is more inspiring that someone at the end of the process saying that all the stress and anguish is worth it. I’ve also started studying meditation techniques which will hopefully help in the build up to the Big Day.
Positive thinking, happy thoughts….
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
A Telling Off!
Uh-oh, i’m in trouble! At my adjustment last week I was told off for having slightly inflamed gums, and a build-up of plaque on some of my teeth. Now between you and me, these endless rounds of brushing, flossing, scraping and everything else are starting to grate a little – who wants to embark on all that work after rolling in from a late night out or a long cinema session? This didn’t stop me from denying all knowledge of any slackness, but the incriminating evidence was presented to me sternly on a hook. Busted! Still, this process will only be harder if my teeth are in poor shape so I suppose a sharp kick up the bum was deserved.
Things got better when Dr H. announced that he would indeed be taking moulds this session. At last! I’ve been promised a surgery date indication at my next adjustment once he’s played around with the teeth, but was a little disheartened to hear him telling his assistant not to worry if the moulds aren’t perfect as ‘they’re not surgical moulds yet’. Bugger! Here was me hoping i’d get the green light next time for surgery, but I guess this confirms that I won’t have to worry about eating my Christmas lunch through a syringe.
In other news, mum has started asking about the surgery date more and more! I think it’s a sign that she’s finally accepted that’s it’s going ahead rather than is happy about it so i'm still going keep quiet around her. I’m pretty sure the end result will speak for itself, and to all the naysayers i'm really looking forward to saying “I told you so!”
Next adjustment and (hopefully) big surgery date decision on Dec 17.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
A Lady of Leisure
A fantastic development to report - I have left my hated job, and received redundancy payments enough to allow me to take the next 6 months off work! This is great news as I will now be able to take a good long time to recover after surgery :) It's such a relief, i'm convinced that the stress of that hateful role had something to do with my recent ill health, and now i've left it hopefully those problems are all behind me - now I can give my full attention to building up to the Big Day!
Speaking of the big day, I have my next adjustment on 12th November and i'm hoping for some further indication of a surgery month. Given I havn't yet had my moulds taken or elastics fitted I think I can safely assume December is out, so i'm going to keep my fingers crossed for early Jan.
Also hoping I can meet with Mr T. again soon, it's been over a year since i've seen him so it would be good to go over the plans again.
Teeth-wise all is pretty boring, the second molars are now tilting upright but everything else is the same. I can't see what else there is to do in there, but hey what would I know about the dark arts of orthodontistry?!
PS - Attention All the Better to Bite you with Kate! Hope you're out there and doing well, really miss reading your blog!
Speaking of the big day, I have my next adjustment on 12th November and i'm hoping for some further indication of a surgery month. Given I havn't yet had my moulds taken or elastics fitted I think I can safely assume December is out, so i'm going to keep my fingers crossed for early Jan.
Also hoping I can meet with Mr T. again soon, it's been over a year since i've seen him so it would be good to go over the plans again.
Teeth-wise all is pretty boring, the second molars are now tilting upright but everything else is the same. I can't see what else there is to do in there, but hey what would I know about the dark arts of orthodontistry?!
PS - Attention All the Better to Bite you with Kate! Hope you're out there and doing well, really miss reading your blog!
Monday, 21 September 2009
Well THAT was unexpected!
I’m back! It’s been an absolute age since my last update, but I can assure you that the delay was for very good reasons…
As you may recall from my previous posts, I was going through an incredibly stressful time at work and was struggling to deal with it emotionally. Well, this anxiety had a heavy price to pay as I became very ill and landed myself in hospital. To cut a long story short I ended up spending 10 nights there and came out with a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease! This was devastating news and has taken me quite some time to come to terms with it, but now I’m on the road to recovery and am once again able to turn my attention back to my favourite subject :)
“So what’s this got to do with your teeth?” I hear you ask. Well, for a start I found out that Crohn’s causes mouth ulcers, which explains why i've been suffering from the pesky devils these past few years and why all my previous dentists' attempts at cures have failed (SLS free toothpaste, special mouthwashes, dietary changes, you name it I tried it), so anyone else out there who is suffering inexplicable canker sores may want to get themselves checked out. Also, my first concerns on hearing the diagnosis were the implications for my jaw surgery; what if Mr T. won’t operate because of it?! Surely I won’t have to give up after coming all this way?! With these alarming thoughts in mind I rushed along on Monday to my appointment with Dr H. and hesitantly broke the news. Luckily it’s nothing to worry about, Dr H assured me he’s had several patients with Crohn’s who have gone through with surgery and all have been ok. PHEW!!!
As for my progress update here’s the latest: Dr H extended my lower archwire so it now connects up to the 2nd molars on each side which are still tilted slightly downwards. My rotated lateral incisor has rotated back in to place nicely in the last 2 months and now only slightly overlaps the teeth on either side – this was the tooth that Dr H was planning to shave down, but the overlap is so small I’m not sure he’ll even bother. No sign of the dreaded elastics yet but with my teeth being more or less in place I’m sure they’re not far away.
I also asked about our original timeline for a December ‘ready’ date and he announced that he’d take moulds at our next appt in 6 weeks and would give me an answer once he’d looked at them. I’ve still got my fingers crossed for a Dec/Jan surgery date so will be keeping up the pressure to finish me off quickly. The thought of finally getting my teeth fixed was something that kept me going through the dark times in hospital, so it can’t come soon enough!
As you may recall from my previous posts, I was going through an incredibly stressful time at work and was struggling to deal with it emotionally. Well, this anxiety had a heavy price to pay as I became very ill and landed myself in hospital. To cut a long story short I ended up spending 10 nights there and came out with a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease! This was devastating news and has taken me quite some time to come to terms with it, but now I’m on the road to recovery and am once again able to turn my attention back to my favourite subject :)
“So what’s this got to do with your teeth?” I hear you ask. Well, for a start I found out that Crohn’s causes mouth ulcers, which explains why i've been suffering from the pesky devils these past few years and why all my previous dentists' attempts at cures have failed (SLS free toothpaste, special mouthwashes, dietary changes, you name it I tried it), so anyone else out there who is suffering inexplicable canker sores may want to get themselves checked out. Also, my first concerns on hearing the diagnosis were the implications for my jaw surgery; what if Mr T. won’t operate because of it?! Surely I won’t have to give up after coming all this way?! With these alarming thoughts in mind I rushed along on Monday to my appointment with Dr H. and hesitantly broke the news. Luckily it’s nothing to worry about, Dr H assured me he’s had several patients with Crohn’s who have gone through with surgery and all have been ok. PHEW!!!
As for my progress update here’s the latest: Dr H extended my lower archwire so it now connects up to the 2nd molars on each side which are still tilted slightly downwards. My rotated lateral incisor has rotated back in to place nicely in the last 2 months and now only slightly overlaps the teeth on either side – this was the tooth that Dr H was planning to shave down, but the overlap is so small I’m not sure he’ll even bother. No sign of the dreaded elastics yet but with my teeth being more or less in place I’m sure they’re not far away.
I also asked about our original timeline for a December ‘ready’ date and he announced that he’d take moulds at our next appt in 6 weeks and would give me an answer once he’d looked at them. I’ve still got my fingers crossed for a Dec/Jan surgery date so will be keeping up the pressure to finish me off quickly. The thought of finally getting my teeth fixed was something that kept me going through the dark times in hospital, so it can’t come soon enough!
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