What do you mean they are doing an exorcism?!

Things have been continuing to get better every week. Swelling, pain, sleeping, eating, energy levels and activity levels have all been improving as well. Well for the most part…

This last weekend I had to completely stop with any activity that could have increased my blood pressure. Friday night when I was eating my dinner I noticed that I could only taste my food with the very left side of my tongue, and the rest of my tongue felt numb. When I emailed Dr. Gunson’s assistant Renee she called me right away and told me that Dr. Gunson wanted me to stop doing anything that could increase my swelling. Because the nerve that allows you to taste is located in the area where structural changes were made he was worried that it had been damaged during the surgery. (That has never happened to any of his patients before so he was very worried). After spending the entire weekend on the couch some of the taste started to come back. I also had to brush my tongue extra well and start using Listerine mouth wash. At my last appointment Dr. Gunson concluded that the taste loss is due to me biting down on a section of my gums in the back of my mouth. It is something that should resolve itself when the rest of my swelling goes down. Yay, I’ll get to taste again! For now I just try to only have food on the left side of my mouth so I can actually taste it. I have also been dealing with some ear issues because of swelling and changes made to my eustachian tubes during surgery. My left side refuses to pop causing pain and difficulty hearing. The surgical information that I have says that this is normal, so I am hoping it will go away.

The hook underneath my lower teeth started becoming a bit of an issue this week. It had started sticking forward and was causing my lip to get irritated. I had to dig it out of my lip a few times because the tissue had swollen completely around it. It was not comfortable. Dr. Gunson fixed it for meJ He twisted it back into place, but it hurt when he did. It was a hard sensation to describe… so just use your imagination… He twisted a wire that is sticking out of my bone in an area that was already irritated.  I’m really not looking forward to getting the hook taken out in a few months…

So you are probably wondering what the title of this blog is about…

My mom and I drove to Santa Maria for a night so that I could go to the Healing Rooms of Santa Maria. (A Christian church organization where people can meet with pastors to pray for healing of any type of condition. A relative had told us about them and we figured it wouldn't hurt to go.) It is a good thing that we went in with an open mind, and had no real expectations. It started out with a worship session and a quick message. The pastor was a little all over the place and lost me a few times, but the overall message was good. (Ask and you shall receive, just keep faith). After this was all over the few people that had come were individually called back into the prayer rooms to meet with pastors. The two pastors that I met with were a married couple and very sweet.  The talked to me about the various things that I wanted to pray about and then spent time praying over me. Here is where things got interesting… The people in the room next door started yelling and shouting very loudly. The pastors in my room could see that my mom and I were both wondering what the heck was going on in the other room so the husband explained, “Oh they just have a little bit of a demon over there, the woman came in with a possession.” He acted like it was no big deal! I don’t know about any of you but that stuff freaks me out! You can’t just sit there and calmly tell me I am feet away from a demon! The shouting continued for the majority of my prayer session. If that demon stuff wasn't weird enough, the wife (who was the one doing the praying) started praying about problems that I was experiencing that I hadn't even told her… it was so strange. I had told her about the surgery, and the loss of feeling in my lip and chin, but then she started praying about my numbness in my tongue and my ears! This lady wasn't a medical professional or anything like that so I don’t know how she could have known that I was having those problems… Over all I am happy that I went, so for any Christian people who travel to the Santa Maria area you should give them a try. 

The wonderful Dr. Gunson and his assistant Renee. :) Absolutely love these two. 

Weeks 3&4 Finally Seeing My New Skull

This whole "healing process" thing has finally started to speed up a bunch.



The last two appointments have been very similar... Dr. Gunson checks my bite, makes adjustments to my rubber band placements and then adjusts my cheek implant. I'm getting more used to having my cheek worked on but it's still uncomfortable. As the implant starts to harden it feels different when he makes the adjustments... it feels like he pushes a lot harder. Dr. Gunson also made adjustments to my screw so that it sticks out a little further. He literally took a little screwdriver and unscrewed it from my face. But don’t worry, it didn’t hurt. J



I was having trouble attaching a rubber band into my screw and hook. A few of my stitches were getting in the way on my screw so I couldn't attach my rubber band without pulling on the stitches. I even managed to pull one out. After a very frustrating and painful night of attempting to attach the rubber band my mom insisted that I go and have Dr. Gunson fix the stitches. The next morning Dr. Gunson removed a few of the stiches so that I could put the rubber band on without struggling.

The system I've worked out for attaching the rubber band is:

1. Put a large amount Orajel on both the hook and screw areas

2. Let it sit so that both my gums and my lips can get all nice and numb

3. Attach the rubber band (This is the hardest step. I hold up my lip with my middle and pointer fingers, and then I use my ring finger to help push the rubber band against the screw. Then with the other hand I use a mosquito hemostat to place the rubber band.)

At first the area around my screw bled a lot because the rubber band was irritating the gum tissue and rubbing against my stitches. After the first few days of attaching the rubber band the bleeding decreased.

I have also started to randomly bleed from that area. It has happened when I’ve been lying down or sleeping and when I’ve been up walking around so I’m not sure what brings it on. (For any pre surgery patients out there I suggest carrying a few Q-Tips with you at all times… No one wants to get caught walking around with a bloody smile. Another good thing to carry is Kleenex. LOTS of Kleenex. Since you aren’t allowed to blow your nose for a few months post op you kind of have a continuous runny nose.  Ya just gotta get used to dabbing your nose instead. Pretty good reason, if you ask me, to get the surgery in the fall and not the spring if you have allergies.)

Now for the exciting stuff!!! I finally got my post op x-rays!

28 screws and 8 plates later…..

Here is the side view... You can see the smaller of the two breaks in the lower jaw as well as plates, screws and all kinds of fun stuff.

The screw directly above my upper teeth, and the hook directly below my lower teeth are the "screw and hook" I am referring to in the post above. Both stick out of my gums so that I can access them.

Here you can see the difference in the breaks made on the lower jaw. The break on the left side is noticeably larger than on the right side. Bone grafting was needed on the left side in-between the break, as well as behind the molars on the right side. (You can see the grafts if you look carefully, they appear lighter in color to the rest of the bone. They look "misty" to me.)

The small white dots that are along the plates are the screws.

Week 2

      Today I had my 2 week appointment and I was honestly pretty excited about it. At this point I am healed up enough to be taking things a week at a time. (The first week I was just focused on taking things an hour or two at a time… it’s the only way to get through all of this and keep my sanity). Having these weekly appointments kind of serves as my weekly time frame. I just count down the days until my next appointment. It also helps to look forward to the different things that I get to start doing each week.

      This week I was particularly excited because I got to take my rubber bands off for the first time and brush my teeth! Let me tell you, going two weeks without brushing your teeth is really disgusting. For the rest of my life I am going to have the cleanest teeth… Dr. Gunson also checked my incisions and cleared me for a blended diet! Now I won’t starve… as much. I was also cleared to start sleeping lying flat on my back! Thank the Lord now I might get a good night’s sleep! Having to basically sit up (at a 45 degree angle) to sleep is so uncomfortable. I am not a back sleeper, I prefer my side or stomach, but I am so excited to sleep on my back now!

      Now for the not so great part of the appointment…

I was expecting the appointment to be at least a little painful considering my mouth still has a bunch of stitches in it, and going anywhere near my rubber bands means pulling on the stitches. I was also anticipating having my cheek implant molded a little bit as well. Holy crap it was all so much more painful than I was expecting…

      When Dr. Gunson was trying to take the rubber bands off of my braces, and check my incisions I started bleeding a bunch. They said it was because my gums are sensitive from not being brushed for two weeks, but I think it was also partially because to look at the back of my mouth you have to pull on my stitches. Anyone who has had stitches knows that it hurts when they get yanked on. He got the bands off quickly though which was nice. After that I got to do some jaw exercises where I slowly opened my mouth as wide as I could, and then slowly closed back down. I couldn't open my mouth at all! Maybe half an inch was all. The muscles are just very tight from being held together for two weeks. I did the opening and closing exercise for about 10 minutes and then I got to brush my teeth. Yay! I didn't get to do a very good job, just because it is so new and kind of scary. The tooth brush hits my stitches, and I have to lift my lips up with my hand to make room for the tooth brush. I don’t have the mobility in my lips to move them out of the way yet. I also couldn't open my mouth wide enough to get the tooth brush in to brush the tops or back of my teeth. Eventually I’ll be able to.

      After brushing my teeth Dr. Gunson checked on my incisions to see if they were closed. And they were. I did start bleeding quite a bit though. After that he tried to check on the hooks that poke out of my gums on the top and bottom. The lower hook was no problem, it is in good shape. The upper hook however was a pain (literally) to access. It had kind of disappeared into my gum tissue and my upper lip so it had to be dug out. To do that my upper lip had to be lifted up, which of course pulled on my stitch a lot. It started pulling it out actually. The whole thing started to hurt a lot, so the doctor put some numbing medication on the area. By the time he was done I was sweaty and shaking because of the pain.

      Right after that Dr. Gunson made some adjustments to my cheek implant. I had to stop him part way through though because it hurt too badly so I was getting very light headed and nauseous  To do the adjustments he had me stand up and he held my head with both hands. He used his thumbs to feel the differences in my cheeks and then he literally adjusted the implant by molding it with his thumb. I could hear it crunch a little and I could feel it moving. It not only felt really weird, but it hurt so badly. Apparently the feeling in my face is coming back faster than normal, so that didn't help at all. About five or so pushes in I had to have him stop, so I get to go back Friday to have him finish. I’m really not looking forward to it. I’ll probably take a little pain medication before the appointment. That should help.

Once I got “calmed down” from the pain I practiced changing my rubber bands, (I have to change them 2-3 times a day and do the jaw exercises). This was kind of tricky just because my lip got in the way, but I got the hang of it after a few minutes. Then I had my post op cone beam scan done at the end of the appointment.

      When my assistant saw how much pain I was in after the appointment she called a refill of my pain medication into the pharmacy so I rushed over there after the appointment. Two pills and about 45 minutes later I was feeling much better.

      Hopefully the three week appointment won’t be such an ordeal… I’m still not looking forward to Friday. 

This is as far as I can open my mouth. The muscles are so tight. 

Week 1

           On August 27^th I had my week one post op appointment. Due to all of the medications I was on at this point I don’t remember much from the appointment. All I remember is that Dr. Gunson checked my bite and incisions. The real excitement from this day was after my appointment.

          Before coming in I had been noticing some pain in my left calf, and it was only getting worse every day. When I told Dr. Gunson about the leg pain he called up the doctor who did my pre surgery physical and the doctor had me go and get an ultra sound of my leg. The ultrasound revealed that I had a blood clot in one of the veins in my left calf. I’m the second patient in Dr. Gunson’s history with this practice which says a lot considering he has had hundreds of patients. Having a blood clot is pretty scary for me because my family knew woman who died from a blood clot, and I also had a friend pass in high school from a blood clot. I was immediately put on a blood thinner that I have to take for the next six months. 

Thursday, August 22, 2013. AKA Surgery Day

SURGERY DAY! Oh my gosh.....



By some miracle I was able to get a good night’s sleep the night before. Everyone was up bright and early, 4:30am, to make sure everything we needed was in order at the house, and everything we needed for the hospital was packed in my huge Victoria’s Secret getaway bag. We had to be at the hospital for check-in at 6:00am, and we were actually on time! This is coming from a family who is always running late….



The hospital desk staff got me all checked in, and I was moved to a patient room to wait for surgery. A nurse came and put my three bands on; name, fall risk, allergy. Then the anesthesiologist came in to start my I.V. This guy was awesome! He gave me a local anesthetic in my hand before the I.V. so I didn’t even feel it! The last time I got an I.V. in my hand it was pretty painful so I was happy to not have to feel it. Then we waited for two bags of fluid to drain into me before the doctors came to start giving me medicine. It took a little extra time because the surgical team had a late surgery the day before, so they slept in an hour. Hey I’d rather wait around and wait an extra hour than have a tired surgical team! Plus it was 6am, and I was lying in a bed… I didn’t mind.



Eventually Dr. Gunson came in a talked to me a bit. He told me that he would come see me in the recovery room, and then again in my hospital room. I also was introduced to the surgical nurse who would be assisting Dr. Gunson. Then someone, I don’t remember who, rolled me out of my room and down the hallway towards the operating room. I wasn’t feeling too nervous or afraid before this… But wow, I got scared! Luckily in the hallway the anesthesiologist put some medicine into my I.V. to relax me not put me to sleep, but just make me feel calm. That stuff worked great because I don’t remember anything after this point. I know they brought me to the operating room, and then put me to sleep, but I remember nothing.



About six hours after that I woke up in the recovery room. The nurse came to check on me and see how I was doing. I of course couldn’t speak, but I made a hand gesture to her that I wanted to write something down. She found me a pen and some scrap paper, and I was able to tell her the two things that I really wanted: My mom and some 7up. Obviously she couldn’t really get those things for me so she just kind of walked away.

I woke up again in my hospital room. My parents were there and so was another nurse. I didn’t have any pain; I was just really sleepy and weak. I insisted that my mom take some pictures on my camera so I could document everything, and I took some pictures on my phone. I checked on my text messages from my friends and let them all know the surgery was over, and that I was okay. (My mom had already called them, she had a list of people to call, but I forgot). Then I checked my social media; facebook, pinterest… and talked to my sister and boyfriend over text. What? I’m 19 of course I was on my phone right after surgery!

Dr. Gunson came in a little later, and told me the surgery went well and that my bite was perfect. He even cut off some of the rubber bands holding my jaw closed.

Most of my hospital stay is a blur from there. I know I stayed two nights; they kept me an extra night. I remember telling my aide that I hated emptying catheter bags, and that I was sorry they had to do mine, but my mouth was rubber banded closed so I don’t know if they understood me. Oh, I also remember that I really wanted some 7up and no one would give me any! I was just so thirsty! I’m pretty sure I cried because I was so frustrated that I couldn’t have it. Needless to say eventually I got some, but I don’t know if it was day one or two.

 

Waiting for the anesthesiologist. 

I.V and a little bit of blood. Thank goodness for the local anesthetic. 

They made me take my bun out to put it in the hair net. Almost ready to go! 

Surgery is all done. 

Not looking so great. I was coughing up a lot of blood. 

 Starting to get swollen

Some more post op:

Mom and dad. My mom stayed at the hospital with me for the two nights that I was there. 

Talking to my friends, boyfriend and family. Letting them all know I was okay. 

Using the suction to get the blood out of my mouth.

Love you all! 

 I coughed up a lot of blood. It got all over my stuff. (This was after being cleaned down two times prior... ) LOTS OF BLOOD! 

Tuesdy and Wednesday

I’m finally feeling alright enough to post again!

I have a whole week to cover, and let me tell you, it was an eventful week.

TUESDAY

               Tuesday I had my physical with and my pre-admit at the hospital. The physical was just your everyday physical examination, nothing special. They took my vitals, listened to my heart, bowels and my breathing, palpated my abdomen and checked for swelling in my glands. All the usual checks to make sure I was healthy for surgery. It was an all-around fast and easy appointment.

               After the physical was over my parents and I walked over to Goleta Cottage Hospital. There we met with a case manager to do the pre-admit paper work, and paid for the hospital bill in advance. Then we were taken to the post-operative area of the hospital. One of my nurses met with me to go over more paper work. (I am a Nurse Assistant so I am used to all of the medical paperwork, and how long it can take to admit someone). Eventually two separate people from the lab came to do two individual blood draws to run multiple tests. I also had to give a urine sample.  After the blood draws were done, money paid, and all of the paper work was filled out we left the hospital.

               Later we went and walked down the mall at the end of State St. (I got a big sun hat for after surgery since I have to stay in the shade), and went out for a tasty lunch at Jane.

WEDNESDAY

               Wednesday was my free day! Knowing that it would be a while until the next time I’d be able to go out and have some fun we tried to make the most of the day. We set up a super comfy recliner for me to sleep in that my dad bought in the living room by the TV. We also ran a bunch of errands to make sure we had everything we would need for a few days at the house so that no one would have to leave me at home. Stocking up on plenty of coconut water, Gatorade, 7Up, grape juice, rice milk, broth and other “strained” soups.

               I insisted on have a really good dinner for my last solid meal. We all got dressed up in “smart casual” (whatever the heck that means) clothes and drove to Goleta to have a “steak dinner”. I ended up getting a steak stroganoff (I love me some stroganoff) and my parents both got steaks, and we got cheesy potato skins and snap peas for sides. It was an awesome last meal.

               After dinner we drove to one of the state park beaches so that I could walk and collect a few more sea shells. (I have a ton, now I just need to figure out what to do with them). We got to see a beautiful sunset and a huge harvest moon. I took it as a good sign for my surgery the next day.

Why I Even Needed Surgery...

So I thought I should probably explain why I needed to get jaw surgery in the first place...

          There are multiple problems that cause my need for surgery. I have Demporomandibular Disorder (TMD), a disorder characterized by; pain in the muscles of the jaw, neck and shoulders, (the pain I experienced was so severe that I took pain medications daily and slept with ice packs on my face), dislocated or displaced disk,( my disk was pinched) and degenerative joint disease. People who have TMD do not always have all the symptoms associated with TMD, however I did. Lucky me. I also had a large open bite, with only one contact spot on the second molar on one side. Stunted growth as a result of the joint disease also caused problems. I also had a slightly compressed airway because of the receded location of my lower jaw.

My teeth are closed... that's as far as they will shut

         

   

 With the use of splint therapy my joints were able to reach a point where they were stable, and no longer degenerating. The splint therapy also helped move the disk that had previously been pinched to a comfortable area. The second time I had braces, with my new Orthodontist, Dr. Way, my open bite was adjusted so that it appeared to be less open, however the contact points did not increase. Because my orthodontist and my surgeon worked closely together they were able to position my teeth so that they would fit together perfectly after surgery.

Hopefully this gives a decent explanation about why I needed to surgery.   :)