WOOOHOOO No more turns!!

That's it! That's as big as it's going to get! No more turns!

15 turns and I am DONE!

WOOHOO No more turns! Turn 15!

11 turns

Turn 11

Saturday 11 turns

Let's try this a second time. I started writing this blog and it erased itself...

So I went to my appointment and Dr. Burton placed a wire in the tiny whole that I used to turn the expander. He twisted it what seemed like at least 20 times and cut it off short. He then put acrylic over the wire. I am DONE expanding!! How exciting! Only 15 turns!

I go back in about a month just for Dr. Burton to check it and make sure all is well and then I go back a month later to get braces put on my bottem teeth. Should be fun!

15 turns in and another appointment!

My cuddlebug... Leonidas

So today is Monday 19APR2010. Almost two weeks since I had the surgery. I have very little bruising left if any. I have turned my little metal friend a total of 15 times, once every morning and once every night since last Monday. I have an appointment today with Dr. Burton, wonder what exciting news I will find out. My stitches are almost all dissolved as well. The are where the stitches were under my lip and on my gum line feels pretty weird, not very smooth. They are probably still a little swollen and puffy. I will ask today if they will go back to being smooth or if they will always be like they are now. I have a tender spot on the right side of my head a little bit higher than the top of my ear, assuming this is from whatever medieval contraption they had my head in during surgery to keep in still. I am still numb in quite a few places, but I expected this because it was one of the first things they warned me about when I started the whole process. It doesn't really bother me though, feels weird that one side of my mouth is normal and the other is still tight with numbness, especially when I try to smile. Not in too much pain though. I can't really feel it when I turn my little device, just a little pressure and then it gone. My lip is probably what bothers me the most now and it isn't excruciating or anything like that. It seems when I do alot during the day or if I talk alot is when it gets aggitated and starts bothering me, it is like my lip starts to feel swollen and the gum underneath it I can start to feel my pulse in it. That is also the only are that I still have stitches so maybe thats why, because it isn't really healed yet. The spot in my throat that the doctors believe was an ulceration feels sooooo much better! They gave me some gross mouth rinse to swallow that would numb it for a little while. I used it the first time and just put the rinse in my mouth and swallowed... that is how I determined that it was disgusting! I spit forever after that! The second time I took the mouth wash I improvised and used a little dropper to put the rinse at the back of my throat instead of all in my mouth. It worked much better this time for me haha. Lidocaine isn't the tastiest no matter what you add to it! I am still on a soft and liquid diet, I am sort of getting tired of ramen though! Believe it or not! My mom left last Thursday to go back to NC... :( Sucks! I wish she was still here, I wish she lived up here! She took great care of me of course! And she planted some flowers for me! She did tons for me while she was here! My little sister Logan took great care of me while she was here too.





Have I mentioned that I have the greatest cuddlebug in the whole wide world? He will lay with me and knock out for hours!

Well I guess I should go get ready for my appointment, I will update later if I find out any interesting news!

One Week Exactly Since Surgery!

So it has been one week today since the surgery! I'm not doing too bad. Today I don't feel as good, my stomach is empty, I feel a little nauseas. There is this spot in my throat that is really hurting. It's like somthing is swollen in there and it hurts to swallow. Maybe it's from being intubated during the surgery.

The bruising is almost gone so that is nice. I still don't have feeling in most of my face, which is pretty nice too because if I had feeling I would probably be hurting more! I went to the Doctor yesterday for my followup. I got my handy dandy pink expanding key. I had two turns done in the doctors office... I think. Dr. Burton taught me how to do it and I got to see Dr. Ercole (the surgeon). He said everything looked really good. I have to turn the expander once in the morning and once at night until next Monday, when I have to go back to see Dr. Burton again. Wonder how big the gap will get with 14 turns!

I will keep you posted!

More Pictures

My handy dandy pink expanding key!



After getting my first turn at the Doctor.



Smiling.

Still swollen. Smiling as much as I can.

Bruise on the left side of my face.

Bruise on the right side of my face.

Hair down... tired!

This wasn't a good day! Got sick ALOT!

Day One Post Surgery

This is me blogging to you now!

I made it through the surgery! Everything actually went really well. We arrived at Bethesday around 0510 checked in to patient admission and then went up to the APU where we waited. Dr. Ercole and Dr. Brooks came to see me there and make sure everything was the same as before that none of my medical history had changed. We were then taken to the Operating Room waiting area where I met my anesthesiologist resident Dr. Tellington, he was super nice too. Thats one thing I have to give to Bethesda, all of the Doctor's I have came in contact with since I started this journey have been amazing! I havn't had an IV since I was about 5 so Dr. Tellington tried to put one in my left hand first, lets just say I have tiny, tiny, tiny veins. It didn't work so he had to remove it and we put it in my right hand with a small needle and it worked perfectly. He didn't really hurt me on either sticks so I was happy! I figured my left hand would be bruised pretty bad today but it isn't at all. After the IV was in I was given some fluids, we waited there for a few more minutes and Dr. Ercole came back to see us before they gave me the good drugs to put me out, he wanted to let me know that it would be himself and Dr. Paulette doing the surgery because Dr. Hines had gotten sick and had to go home. After that I said bye to my mom and Dr. Tellington gave me some Versed which makes you drunk without even having to drink and alcohol! He gave me some extra drugs too because my mom mentioned that she has had a history of being nauseas and vommitting after every time of being put under with anesthesia. I started getting a little woozy not long after he pushed the drugs into the IV. I remember being wheeled into the operating room and moving over from the stretcher to the operating table and that was all she wrote! I was done for! The surgery went well, I vaguely remember waking up in the operating room recovery room with compression stockings on my legs and a nice lady sitting beside me talking to me while I was coming to. Then I was back out again. I remember being wheeled back to the APU on the stretcher where we passed my mom in the waiting room. I tried to give a little smile :). This was about 1100 in the afternoon. My mom came by to hang out with me. They gave me some apple juice to drink, I sipped it a little. My lips feel pretty weird. My left side of my face is numbish all the way up to my eye. I had blood dried to my teeth and on my lips but I wasn't trying to win a beauty contest or anything so I was perfectly fine with it. My nose kept bleeding so thats why I had been wearing the little half mask with gauze in it. We thought they came like that but believe it or not they just take a full mask and cut a little off of each end to make it... great way of using their resources! I had a wonderful corpsman taking care of me in APU recovery. Her name was Monica. Liam and Logan came up maybe an hour before they let me go home. I was out when they got there. I slept quite a bit in that little reclining chair, it was comfy and I wish I had one at home! I havn't been in alot of pain because they moved two nerves in my face during the surgery which desensitized them, so that's also why my face is numbish. It should come back after a while, but it doesn't really bother me. I actually have lips with the little bit of swelling that has gone on, I call them my Angelina Jolie lips ;) hehe. I do have a slight gap between my two front teeth even though the expander has not been activated yet. I go in on Monday to do the first turn. I have to expand my upper jaw to somewhere around 5 or 6 mm.

I am doing fine. My mom is here, my little sister Logan, and Liam is here. I have great caretakers! Especially my little sister Logan. She wants to be a teacher but I think she would make a great nurse! She made me an amazing peach milkshake last night! I am on a liquid diet. I can't chew anything. That may change when I go to the Doctor on Monday but I doubt it. The only other thing that has gone on since I got back home is that my AC in my house isn't working right. It was 88 degrees last night. We called them around 7 or so and they said they would try to send someone out today. No word as of yet though.

I will keep everyone posted!

Pictures from Surgery today... Maybe I will blog later!

Pictures as promised!

Just a few pictures as promised! It's late and I have yet to get any sleep so I look a little rough right about now...





The above picture is of the saliva generator :).



Side profile...



Front profile...

Side profile not smiling...

Self front profile...

Hah WAY TOO CLOSE but look at my two front teeth, those handy dandy blue pain in the butt spacers have made one of my front teeth start coming in front of the other!



The bottem on is Liam and I eating lunch with my parents in Baltimore.

Saliva Generator is IN

That is the expander's new name ;). I had it put in this morning at Bethesda. Kicker was that it didn't fit to start with... just my luck! Dr. Burton tried to get it to work the first time and it just wasn't working. I could'nt believe how much force he had to put behind it. I was pretty much coming out of the chair! My eyes even watered quite a bit! I thought it was going to be easy peasy! I can definitley say that going through my mind was the question "What in the WORLD did I get myself into?". After leaving Bethesda once the contraption was put in I tried drinking water, not a smart idea. When I drank the water I swallowed the first little bit and thought is was all gone, nope, there was more in my mouth still and I choke on it! It was a learning experience though. Eating is an adventure all in itself too! I pretty much have to take a bite and chew it and then drink somthing to get it to go down my throat since I can't use my tounge that much because the expander won't let it go anywhere near the roof of my mouth. It's an interesting feeling that is for sure! My jaw feels a little tired too since I got it put in. It's as if because my tounge is fighting for space in my mouth so my mouth feels like it wants to be open all the time which I assume in turn makes my jaws tired.

The surgery is tomorrow, I can't believe it is already here! No turning back now! Mom is on her way to DC now with Timmay and Logan. We are all going to go and have a Last Supper before midnight. We have to be at the hospital and checked into patient admin by 0530 in the morning. I assume I will be pretty out of it tomorrow but as soon as I can I will blog again and I will get some pictures posted too!

One Week Until RPE

So there is exactly one week until I get the rapid palatal expander put in my mouth. One week and one day until I have the surgery. I went to Bethesda today to get the spacers put in, I will wear these little blue pain in the butt rubber bands shoved in between four of my teeth for seven days, so until next Monday. I prepared this morning on the way to Bethesda for the pressure by taking two tylenol rapid release gel caps. When I got to work though I started to feel the pressure which led to a headache. After taking four more rapid release's today plus a nap, I still have the headache!

I was going to make dinner but decided that instead we should order chinese tonight. Maybe after eating a little the headache will ease off. I have to find my digital camera charger so I can charge my camera and take before pictures to post. It's about time for that chinese to be arriving so enjoy your evening!

First Post

Hello All!!

With my upcoming oral surgeries, I decided that I would create a blog to keep my friends and family who won't be able to be here with me updated on what's going on.

I am scheduled on 06APR2010 to have the Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expander procedure. I am pretty excited about it! I am growing more nervous by the day though, especially seeing the pictures of blogs of people who have had the procedure. I guess I didn't really think of what I would look like after the surgery but now I have ideas and I guess that is what is making me nervous. Probably the thought of having to answer millions of questions when people see me after the 21 days of convalescent leave.

I am in the United States Coast Guard stationed in Washington, DC. Thankfully the Coast Guard is paying for all of the procedures that I am going to endure on this journey . After the SARPE, I will wear braces for somewhere between 9 and 12 months. Then I am scheduled to have my lower jaw broken in three places and moved forward.

I am a Class 3 dental case. I have a open bite. I think my biggest complaint as I am now is that I can't bite things off with my teeth. When eating a sandwich I pull peices off and then put them in my mouth.

Thanks for joining me as I start this exciting yet bumpy journey!!

Ashleigh