Well, Here I Am

Not too bad hunh? Pretty amazing stuff. One thing I noticed going into this is no matter what, nobody comes out looking worse than they did before. Definitely different, but always better. There are still details about my smile that I don't like but will probably not be fixed at this point, but frankly, I'm sure no one else sees them but me. That's what happens when you obsess over a part of yourself for three years. But for now, no more exciting appointments until after the New Year.

Until then, from the most sincere part of me, relax, be safe, enjoy the company of those you love, and have a wonderful holiday season. Love to all.

Daily Reading

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/17brod.html

Might be particularly interesting for the older crowd with bridges.

Implantified

Yesterday went really well. As well as I could have ever hoped. When I was 16 sitting in the waiting room to have what was left of my #30 tooth removed I remember looking through the pamphlet of what implants entailed and had a bit of a panic attack. I didn't have much time to think about the whole process as it was kind of an emergency extraction and seeing little illustrated pictures of metal posts sticking out of people's gums made me queasy. Maybe I've just gotten used to dental surgery. I went in, tried to relax a bit, and once The Chainsaw showed up they put a little nitrous oxide over my nose and a tiny needle in my arm and before you could say blueberry pie I was back to and texting my friends and family. Looking back through my Sent Messages apparently I REALLY liked the feeling of the nitrous. Who could blame me? It's fun! I did pass out in the wheelchair on the way to the car, I think it was a combination of the nitrous and thinking I could talk and stand up and everything way before I should. Definitely need a driver if you're having this done! But once I was able to nap it off and drink some soup I felt like I was good to go around 2pm. I got a little healing cap over it so they didn't put the flap of gum back over the implant like I thought they would.

It's not so bad, just a little more hardware :)

Won't Be a Pearly White Christmas

So I got the Super-dee-duper green light about the space for the implant yesterday along with a new rubberband orientation. My bite gets closer and closer with every change so that's nice to see. I'm on for the implantation Thursday morning, got my ride all sorted, but The Chainsaw never mentioned anything about pain killers for afterwards. I think I'm gonna call and check on that today. My next ortho appointment is scheduled for (unfortunately) after the new year. So no debracing for Christmas. *shrug* I wasn't really expecting it to happen. I'm hoping I'll be able to take the day off work Thursday (the procedure is at 9am), rest up, and get back to work on Friday.

Anyone think I'm crazy?

Worst Blogger Ever

Anyone else notice how after people have their surgery they kind of fall off the face of the planet? Yeah, it's weird. So much has happened, but not really. I guess everything has just gotten back to normal, and that's why it seems so un-noteworthy. Let's see, it's been about 3.5 months since the date. I'm eating completely normally. No more physical therapy (25+ sticks.) wearing "tweaking" rubberbands that I can still talk normally with. Even playing hockey again (I didn't tell The Chainsaw yet, shhhhh.) I haven't weighed myself since the surgery because I haven't gotten myself back to the gym yet, work is my excuse right now but that will change in a couple weeks. Oh and I have a date for my implant to be, well, implanted. November 12th. It would have been four months to the day after the surgery but I have a game that night so I pushed it back one :) I do have new pics to show. Crap. Old pics to show from post-op too! They're on my laptop and I blah blah blah lame lame lame. Anyway, I've gotten the obligatory "I didn't recognize you"s and the "you look way better"s and everything. And I'm happy too. Chewing into food for real is definitely something I will never take for granted. Oh, another tiny little victory I savor is being able to tear tape with my teeth at work. Always envied that. So I see my ortho on the 9th to double-triple-check the space for the implant is perfect (it's been a disconcerting nightmare getting my ortho, dentist, and OS on the same page about this for some reason) and then if I've been good there's a glimmer of a chance I might get the braces off before Christmas...



...which is ortho speak for St.Paddy's Day. So we'll see ;)

PT Checkup

Went in yesterday and The Chainsaw seemed impressed. Two weeks ago I left his office maxing out at 17 tongue depressors and now I'm up to 21. There are only 25 in the stack he gave me. That equals about 40mm which is supposedly an average opening for an adult. He asked if I wanted his help getting the last four out of the way and naturally I respectfully declined. I like the pace I'm going at on my own thank you very much. I go back in in four weeks and should have the whole stack taken care of without a doubt. By then the bone graft should be pretty well healed and we'll discuss getting the implant, well, implanted. So it was a good day. I'm starting to feel recovered. Eating is pretty much normal now and I'm giddy when I can cut through food with my front teeth. Swelling I think is all gone, still a little numbness but nothing distracting. And if I wasn't so involved with my car right now (stripping/rebuilding engine/restoring my '66 mustang) I'd be back to playing hockey. Still no pictures posted though because I'm a little lazy, and I need a haircut terribly.

Short Lived

Well it didn't last long but this is what the Wiki said,

"Zip-N-Squeeze is a company that makes bags for drinking food post jaw surgery. Despite being well known, they are a fraudulent company and should not be supported."