Hey Bloggers,
As the days get shorter, so does my ability to control my anxiety. The BIG day I have been waiting for, the moment that will change me forever, the thing I have wanted most...But why am I so scared?!?
My emotions have been up and down, I sometimes find myself second guessing this surgery was the right decision!! I'm sure many Jaw surgery patients all get this moment.
But then I read all of the wonderful blogs posted on how Jaw surgery has changed there life, and I think...this could be me to! I'm sick of this bite, I'm sick of this smile, I'm sick of living my life like this for so long, I'm sick of the lack of confidence I gave up, and all the missed opportunities .
And I get stronger!
It's amazing how we let something as simple as our bite/teeth control our emotions. For so long I lived as a shy person. Why? Because society judged me by my appearance, people assumed I wasn't confident, which in turn made me the way I am (or was)
Since braces, my life has changed. My teeth are now straight. People look at me differently, as a confident person. I've changed. I'm out going, confident, I feel attractive, I've received opportunities.
The way I look at is... Jaw surgery is the finale step to complete my transformation, to welcome the new me. I embrace this change with open arms. This is what I wanted. An then things get easier. I remember how strong I am to conquer this small hurdle in my life.
I'm grateful of all the open blogs,YouTube and active websites for support. It's nice to talk to people going through the same life changing events as yourself. As much as your family and friends offer support, they still don't fully understand why we do this. Always so many questions, why would you do that to yourself? Isn't that cosmetic surgery? There's nothing wrong with your teeth!!! And it goes on and on.
That being said, I thank all the individuals who have been there to offer support, even though we have never physically meet, I feel as if we have been friends for ever. And anyone else looking for support advice. Just holler :)
Till my next blog.. I leave you with a smile.
Yay Eric, Wishing you all the best for your upcoming surgery. So much of what you've written here I can relate to. I am 18 days post-op and I had the same anxiety approaching surgery as you describe. And yes, so many people in your life don't understand...I had those questions and more..."why did you do this? Your teeth were fine!" I get so sick of explaining about my open bite etc etc. Hopefully soon there will come a day when we don't need to explain anymore!
ReplyDeleteHi Maree,
DeleteCongrats on your surgery, and thank you for your kind words. I'm definitely struggling with the anxiety of the surgery, but this will be a thing of the past :)
I'm now 3 days away, and boy oh boy I already have the butterflies in my stomach. Sleeping is next to impossible, but I'm sure after surgery I will have plenty of rest time.
I'm very fortunate to have an Aunt who had had a similar surgery and has recovered amazingly. She sends me word of encouragement, which defiantly helps. Plus having this blog helps :)
So you have made it 18 days!! How are you feeling? What did you have done? Any trouble breathing, did you have a breathing tube in your nose when you woke? And how was that?
Sorry for all the questions, I just like hearing how other people handled their situation, in hopes I can take some of what they got from the whole experience :)
Thanks for the reply
Eric
Not long to go now Eric!! I empathise with your anxiety. I was wanting to eat up big on all of my favourite foods in the days before surgery, and on the night before surgery I had to fast from midnight, so I tried to eat a really nice meal...alas my anxiety caused my stomach to tie up in knows so I couldn't really manage it. What yummy food are you going to eat before being doomed to weeks on end of boring liquids?? I'm going ok, tomorrow it's 3 weeks since I had my upper jaw moved forward and expanded. I'm wearing a splint on the roof of my mouth which is screwed in and will stay in place for six weeks. I saw my surgeon today and got x-rays. He showed me the before and after profile x-ray and I was really impressed, a clear difference could be seen. Wearing the elastics is a pain but I can remove them for eating and cleaning, but it is so uncomfortable that I try to do this only once a day, as I'm only eating one meal of soft food a day and the rest of the time it's protein milkshakes or soup. I had trouble breathing for the first week. I had heaps of nose bleeds too which are very common. I didn't have a tube in my nose when I woke but I could tell they had shoved one up there for surgery as my nose seemed really knocked about and very sore. It also seemed like my nose was crooked when I woke up and looked at myself in the mirror. I really tried to avoid mirrors in that first, dreadful week. Enough of the doom and gloom though, I can honestly say get through the first week and then things quickly turn around.
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