Bitter Sweet

The liquid Tylenol has apparently worn off. Sleep has been elusive this morning. My jaws feel like they've been filled with lead. The splint between my upper and lower teeth is cutting into the side of my tongue whenever I attepmpt to "talk" through clenched teeth. So I don't.

Not sure whether this one's good or bad - but my laugh line (yes, I have only one) has promptly returned after a 10-day hiatus, because the swelling in my face has finally deflated enough to allow it. Life is....bitter sweet, sometimes.

Rambling Thoughts

Pretty tough day today. Maybe it's because I over-extended myself by running around all morning and didn't get home almost 3 pm. Thank goodness Doug drove - in the rain, no less.

I have a follow-up appointment with my OS, Dr. Li, on Monday at 11 am. My burning question? Well, I noticed that my lower jaw appears to be slightly crooked. It's not in perfect parrellel to my upper jaw. Does that make any sense? It's almost as if the lower jaw needs to be slightly rotated, again. I know it was one of the problems my OS and ortho wanted to address via asymmetrical set-back (yes, problems, not issues. George Carlin made a good point: Isn't it strange how no one uses the word "problems" anymore? Instead, we skirt the "issues" and have "concerns". But problems? Nooooooooo.) But, I digress. My lower jaw was slightly "crooked", as you can see from the photo hours before surgery. However, that problem seems to have persisted, though to a lesser degree. I have to ask Dr. Li about this! Please, please, don't let me go back to surgery again. And, IF, in the unfortunate event that I have to, please, please, don't make me wait a long time (I know he's fully booked through the end of March). Sigh. I suppose the fresh x-rays on Monday will tell the story. We shall see.

Since there's nothing I can do between now and then, I'm going to put down the mirror, push this to the back of my mind, and focus on the positive.

• For starters, no more breathing problems! It's SO NICE to not have to HEAR yourself breathe.
• Second, the swelling has gone down quite a bit.
• Third, the pain is still there, but I only need liquid Tylenol about twice a day - once during the day and once before bed. Not bad!

Doug just came in with a bowl of warm Chinese food while I was writing this. String beans and sesame chicken. Yum. I've been craving Indian food (garlic naan, curry chicken, and lamb) and sashimi for the past few days. Sadly, warm, liquified ice cream and blended porridge make poor substitutes. I've lost 13 lbs since the surgery and my jeans are loose. As much as I love food, the effort of working the giant syringe effectively deflates my enthusiasm. Oh well. Until Monday. Wish me luck!

Summer!

Went to see my friend Anna. She and her husband have a 10-month old daughter now, named Summer. She's got such piercing blue eyes! A cute bundle of pink - a joy to behold. :)

Before: Smile and Laugh

Boy, did I show some gum when I smiled. These photos were from about a year ago, when I spent Christmas in Vancouver (December 2005). Two months later, I got braces.

My main objective was the lower jaw set-back. I didn't even think there was anything wrong with my upper jaw. Funny how if it's something you grew up with you learn to accept it. My gummy smile did not bother me at all. When both my ortho and my OS brought it up that they could minimize my gummy smile, they caught me off-guard. Huh? So what if I showed some gum when I laughed (a "dynamic smile" was what they called it, now I see their point)? Long story short, Dr. Li cut off a horizontal slice across my upper jaw, 6 mm, to be exact, to make it shorter. He also brought it forward 1 or 2 mm to work better with my lower jaw. I'm so fascinated with the whole thing! Can't you tell? ;)

Still Round

My friend Anna came to visit and brought some really yummy ramen noodle soup. She also gave me a lentil dal recipe she tried yesterday. Maybe I'll give it a shot too sometime. As far as lunch today, I scooped out the ramen, blended the broth and the seaweeds, fish cakes, and boiled egg, and drank half of the mixture through a giant syringe. That tasted so good! Thanks Anna! :)

Anna's deciding between using Blogger or Vox for her blog. Does anyone have experience with Vox? Is it good/bad/easy to use? I recommended Blogger to her because: 1. it's a breeze 2. it offers mobile blogging and 3. it's popular and versatile.

It's raining hard in San Francisco. Very gloomy day out there. Couch time!

Still haven't taken a single drop of pain killers yet today. Now that's a good sign.

The Super Sticky Gum

Had a dream two nights ago that someone gave me a piece of chewing gum, which was sooooooo unbelievably sticky and strong that it binded my jaws together. I tried and tried but couldn't "chew" it because it simply got stuck between my teeth. I tried to stick my fingers into my mouth to get it out (I know, gross!).... and woke up. Thank God my jaws are already "wired" shut so I couldn't reach into my mouth anyway. But wow, that was surreal.

Good Thing My Birthday's Not Coming Up Anytime Soon

Obviously, there are quite a few things you simply can't do with your jaws wired-shut. Here's a funny one - I lit a scented candle the other day, only to realize later that I couldn't put it out. Had to ask for help with that one. Haha. Also, yawning and coughing are hard to do. I cradle my chin when I do it, which helps.

Watch Surgey On A Skeletal Model

I'm sorry I saw this video, but I'm happy that I saw it AFTER the surgery, not before. Is this what my OS did to my face? (Gasping for air.) Ignorance IS bliss sometimes.

Ideal Facial Proportions

Interesting! Ideal facial proportions. 1/3, 1/5, lines here, there, and everywhere.

Class III Malocclusion

Found a case study on Class III Malocclusion. It says Class III represents a very small portion of the total malocclusion, and it's most prevalent in Asian populations. Its etiology is generall believed to be genetic. Hmm, interesting. Both of my parents have perfect teeth and jaws. But, according to my mom, one of her brothers does have a bite problem. I barely ever see him so I don't know for sure.

Food Cravings

Daniel (a fellow blogger from the Yahoo Support Group) asked me what I craved when I was at the hospital, enjoying the fine cuisine of clear broths and juices. The truth is - nothing. My throat hurt each time I swallowed. Because of all the meds and the breathing difficulties, food was the last thing on my mind. In fact, I still don't have muh of an appetite. Ate a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup for lunch (pureed), and found it WAY too salty. Warmed up some French vanilla ice cream and mixed it with whole milk (I know, it sounds disgusting) - but my appetite disappeared while I waited for it to cool off. Then late in the afternoon I blended an apple with some cranberry juice - and just ended up dumping it.

If you went through the surgery as well, what did YOU crave during your recovery? Got any interesting recipes to share? I'd love to hear from you and get some ideas. :)

Wanted: Pain Killers!

I've been weaning myself off of the prescription pain killer Dr. Li gave me. It's hycet, 10 to 15 ml every four hours. As soon as I checked out of the hospital and came home on Saturday, I decided to take it only as needed. Doug bought some liquid extra strength Tylenol for me as a substitute. For the past two or three days I've only taken Tylenol once during the day and hycet right before bed time. So far it's been working fine, except the little moments in the late afternoons where I got these dull, heavy headaches/jaw aches, and I just have to calm down with some hycet. But by then it's almost time for bed anyway. :)

Ha, "Chunky" No More!

Before, and after, of the pureed Campbell's Classic Chicken Noodle Soup. Mmmmmmmmm!

Soup Galore

I bought a bunch of canned soups this morning. Enough of the clear broths and juices. I w a n t m e a t !

Feeling Much Better

Still looking chubby, with lots of light green colored bruises in my cheeks, but I feel so much better today, folks! :)

Swelling Be Gone

Someone from the Yahoo support group shared this tip with me - Bromelain can help with the swelling. I'll let you guys know how well it works. Someone else told me yesterday that after the first few days, warm packs work better than ice packs - and she is right! Applied warm packs to my cheeks overnight, and I do look less puffy this morning. Thanks for the info!

Brace Face!

I love this Paul Frank brace face t-shirt so much I have it in both pink and red. Funny thing is, I bought the pink one two years before I even had braces. Pure coincidence.

Google "Paul Frank brace face t-shirt" if you want to get one, too. Heck, why not? I wore mine to my first ortho appointment to get the braces on. That added some chuckles to an otherwise humorless day. ;)

One Week AND One Year

A week post op. Doug took this photo tonight with my BlackBerry Pearl while we were in the living room downstairs (yep we have our matching Pearls, haha). I'd decided to get out of the bathrobe and dress somewhat normally. I'm sick of being a patient! Two nights ago I woke up crying at 3 am. It also happened to be time to take the pain killers again - so there I was, tears streaming down my face, with a giant syringe in hand, squeezing the medication into the back of my mouth. Pretty pathetic.... felt like a big baby. Poor Doug. He had no idea how to console me. The crying wasn't from the pain, really. I think I was really emotionally exhausted, and had to just let it out. It's not cancer, of course, and I'm very grateful for that. But it's been just emotionally and physically draining. The bright side is - it's getting better everyday, slowly, but surely.

Spent some time tonight looking over the profile photos and paperwork my ortho gave me right when the braces started. That's when I realized that the braces went on exactly one year ago, on February 7, 2006. In fact, I got the upper half done on the 7th and had to go back for the lower half on the 14th, Valentine's Day, because I was late for my first appointment and they ran out of time. So, newly crowned Miss Metal Mouth, on the night of Valentine's Day 2006, I went out for drinks with two girlfriends to commemorate the event (see the photo to the right). Gosh I was so bummed out thinking the braces would effectively end my dating life - and that couldn't be good for any single woman, let alone a single woman of age 29 (I'm 30 now, and heck, 30 feels great!). But, as it turned out, that wasn't the case. ;)

A Week Ago Right Now

.... I was on the operating table under the knife.  YIKES!  NOW I'm freaked out.  Thank God it's over.

Chin Chin Chin :P

See how my chin stood out in this picture (dated July 2006 in Hawaii)? It made my neck disappear. Sigh.