Hey there all!
Today is the day I get to remove my braces! Finally!
I get now why everyone get so impatient to remove haha. Well, saying goodbye to speech lisp rubber bands and rice-and-vege stuck in teeth ( I mean braces).
Oh! My name's called! Going in now! Will report to you later!
Thursday 12 February 2015
Thursday 25 December 2014
6 months: Going Strong!
Warm greetings and blessed Christmas to one and all!
Last Saturday, I popped by the clinic for my 6 months post-op review with the two funny surgeons. So far so good - swellings down, bones strong - and my jaw is as good as new! Thank God for seeing me through this entire ordeal - especially with the food. Since the surgery, I've shared with the people around me how much of a blessing it is to have good appetite, or even be able to swallow for that matter. They are smallest things we take for granted, but the most significant when you lose them, aren't they?
There's still quite a bit of asymmetry left in my jaws, but if you compared how I was then and now, that asymmetry is really almost nothing. During the last visit at 3 months post-op, one of the surgeons briefly proposed a second surgery to correct the asymmetry. I wasn't too keen on it then. When it was brought up formally during this review, I think I was even more disinterested in this follow up surgery.
Honestly speaking, I can only say that I'm about 90 percent satisfied with how everything turned out (on a general basis); the last 10 percent due to the asymmetry. Being an artist myself, I feel rather peeved when I see imperfections. That being said, I'm not seeking the symmetrical perfections generated by machine, but symmetrical perfections generated by visual compositions - you know what I mean? It's definitely weird to have your face perfectly symmetrical (alien to say the least!). Seeing and knowing that it would be entirely for aesthetic's sake, coupled with the surgery cost and recovery period (your gums are going to get sliced again after all), I was reaaaaaaaallly not keen at all. (although, I MAY CONSIDER if only the cost is not from our pockets haha, but fat hope, girl). Whatever it is, after giving it serious thought, I'm not going to do the second surgery.
On a side note, has anyone been amazed at how their post-op bite is? It's so amazing it's almost magical! I can't help wonder in shock when I nibble on a biscuit or bite through bread, and the line is clean and cut off in one bite! Even now! *O* So proud of my decision to do the surgery *pat pat* :DD
Saturday 27 September 2014
Day 95: 3 Months & 3 Days
Hey there friends!
As you might have read, I'm now into my 3 months post op! O' how sweet it sounds! For those who are still in the early stages of recovery, don't worry mate, you'll get here eventually. Just remember at your stage now, nutrition, nutrition, nutrition!
Okay, I'm feeling a little sheepish at the word nutrition to be honest. I've not exactly been feeding myself healthily since I started work. Initially, I excused myself from the healthier foods because they somehow tend to be harder to chew and I couldn't open my mouth more than two fingers at that point. But now, I really have no excuse at all but I'm still missing my veggies and proteins from my meals...well, mostly the veggies. Hmm...
On an excitable note, I cannot express how amazed I am at being able to bite foods with my front teeth!! The result: a clean break line on the remaining food in your hand/utensil. Sandwiches, noodles, pork, or even just a digestive biscuit - OHHHHHHH I tell you guys, those of you who have perfect teeth will never understand the frustrations and difficulties that we with misaligned teeth/jaw experience.
I always had this habit of eating an entire strand of noodles at one go, instead of biting them off. Hence I feel peeved whenever someone picks up a few strands of noodles from my bowl, put it in their mouth, and bite the noodles, leaving the ends tainted with their saliva to drop back into the bowl. Worse still, if it was soup. Urghhh all that saliva contaminating my noodle soup. I don't know if this came about because I found it easier to just slurp up the entire strand of noodle at one go because it was too much trouble to try biting them - they would just go through the gaps between my teeth/jaw and not break at all. But for the sake of testing out these not-so-shiny pair of choppers, I did it once and I absolutely loved the feeling of that noodle being cut with one bite. My amazement is beyond words, I tell you. And I hope that those pulling through recovery will be able to cling on to this hope of biting well for once and forever more (until expiry, that is).
I'm just feeling really happy with the way things are now, and hope that they will continue to get better. Dr Wee did ask me if I wanted to do a minor surgery to correct the physical asymmetry on my jaws... Not sure about that, need to consider. Honestly, I look at myself and I think it's fine. But in pictures and from others' lenses, it seems like it's a different story haha.
Just quickly before I end this post, when I saw Dr Wee couple of weeks back, I told him of the weird sensations I've been feeling on the right side of my lip. Whenever my lips brush against it, it sends bolts around the area. Much like touching your legs when it is still in the midst of recovering from a pins-and-needles episode. Also, I feel coldness in a small area around my right jaw whenever I drink cold beverages. His conclusion was that the nerves are trying to reconnect, which is a good thing. So sometimes, they are a bit confused and are sending some sort of wrong signals haha.
Sorry this isn't much of a recovery update. It's just that there's really nothing much major going on now. I still haven't compiled pictures from the earlier week of my recovery. Sigh. Soon, soon.
As you might have read, I'm now into my 3 months post op! O' how sweet it sounds! For those who are still in the early stages of recovery, don't worry mate, you'll get here eventually. Just remember at your stage now, nutrition, nutrition, nutrition!
Okay, I'm feeling a little sheepish at the word nutrition to be honest. I've not exactly been feeding myself healthily since I started work. Initially, I excused myself from the healthier foods because they somehow tend to be harder to chew and I couldn't open my mouth more than two fingers at that point. But now, I really have no excuse at all but I'm still missing my veggies and proteins from my meals...well, mostly the veggies. Hmm...
On an excitable note, I cannot express how amazed I am at being able to bite foods with my front teeth!! The result: a clean break line on the remaining food in your hand/utensil. Sandwiches, noodles, pork, or even just a digestive biscuit - OHHHHHHH I tell you guys, those of you who have perfect teeth will never understand the frustrations and difficulties that we with misaligned teeth/jaw experience.
I always had this habit of eating an entire strand of noodles at one go, instead of biting them off. Hence I feel peeved whenever someone picks up a few strands of noodles from my bowl, put it in their mouth, and bite the noodles, leaving the ends tainted with their saliva to drop back into the bowl. Worse still, if it was soup. Urghhh all that saliva contaminating my noodle soup. I don't know if this came about because I found it easier to just slurp up the entire strand of noodle at one go because it was too much trouble to try biting them - they would just go through the gaps between my teeth/jaw and not break at all. But for the sake of testing out these not-so-shiny pair of choppers, I did it once and I absolutely loved the feeling of that noodle being cut with one bite. My amazement is beyond words, I tell you. And I hope that those pulling through recovery will be able to cling on to this hope of biting well for once and forever more (until expiry, that is).
I'm just feeling really happy with the way things are now, and hope that they will continue to get better. Dr Wee did ask me if I wanted to do a minor surgery to correct the physical asymmetry on my jaws... Not sure about that, need to consider. Honestly, I look at myself and I think it's fine. But in pictures and from others' lenses, it seems like it's a different story haha.
Just quickly before I end this post, when I saw Dr Wee couple of weeks back, I told him of the weird sensations I've been feeling on the right side of my lip. Whenever my lips brush against it, it sends bolts around the area. Much like touching your legs when it is still in the midst of recovering from a pins-and-needles episode. Also, I feel coldness in a small area around my right jaw whenever I drink cold beverages. His conclusion was that the nerves are trying to reconnect, which is a good thing. So sometimes, they are a bit confused and are sending some sort of wrong signals haha.
Sorry this isn't much of a recovery update. It's just that there's really nothing much major going on now. I still haven't compiled pictures from the earlier week of my recovery. Sigh. Soon, soon.
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