Explanation and relapse.

Ok, sorry everyone that I took my blog down for a bit.  I was getting some viewer traffic that I didn't appreciate, and I've been a bit down with how things have turned out.

So, a bit of history: I had my double jaw surgery on May 30.  I was wired shut (completely and with wires, not elastics).  After the wires were cut, I was banded shut and had the surgical splint for five more weeks.  That's right--I had the surgical splint in for eleven weeks total.  I've lost 20 pounds that I have not gained back, which I am ok with, but I can't really afford to lose any more.

The day the splint came out, I was so happy.  I had to see my ortho right away since my upper archwire had been cut during surgery and so needed to be replaced the day the splint came out.  My midlines were quite a bit off, but I was told this could be fixed with orthodontics.  I got one elastic to wear (Korea strength).  All seemed well, but one day later, things were not looking good at all.

My bite began to shift in the direction opposite of where the elastic should have been pulling it (back to where it had been before surgery).  I went back to my ortho on day three.  He gave me a slightly different configuration for the elastic.  But it didn't help.  My jaw was pulling so hard in the opposite direction and I started to have very painful muscle spasms and jaw pain, headaches, etc.

I saw my OS a few days after.  I said I thought my bite was shifting.  He agreed.  He wanted to give me some more time in the new elastic configuration because technically, it should have been helping.  I saw him a week later: it wasn't.  He said right away that I would need a second surgery.  By that point, I really wasn't surprised, I knew it wasn't right and I was actually relieved that he saw it, admitted it, and was going to fix it without any question.

My second surgery is a week from tomorrow, October 3.  As it stands, he thinks he will only need to do the upper jaw, but that may change.  I have 6mm of overjet (that's post-surgery--but with the splint in, I had no overjet) and a cross-bite.  The bite is not as open as it was pre-surgery, but it's a bit open.  My OS thinks the relapse occurred because of the arthritic condition of my left joint which is very deteriorated and small, which gave it space to seat farther back in the socket once the splint was no longer holding me in place.  I don't believe it was surgeon error at all.  My case was very complex and at risk for this type of relapse (that's why I was in the splint for so long).

I will post some pictures tomorrow when I've had a chance to get them off my phone.

Aesthetically, I am mostly pleased with how things look on the outside, or at least, used to it now.  I'm not looking forward to any other changes unless they are for the better.  I'm a bit worried that he's not taking that into concern and only wanting to correct the bite, which I want him to do, but I want my face to look all right too!

So, good luck to all of you who just had surgery (S N!) and those about to (Terra and Amanda!).  Who knew I'd be joining in the next round of jaw surgeries?

Thanks everyone, for all your support.