Super Bummed...

I just found out that there are no open spots to get back into the nursing program for spring. I went through 6 weeks of remediation, got 100% on my final ~ all the while under the impression that there were 4 open spots. So I have to wait until
fall and hope that there will be a spot then. Blah. I am so bummed out. I am trying to stay positive and tell myself that at least now I can schedule my surgery for something sooner than July. I'm going to call tomorrow and see how soon I can get in. I should have gone ahead and booked it for April, but I was oh so sure that I would be starting school again. I could cry. But I won't. :)

UPDATE: I had to go to the ortho today to get a bracket put back on. He decided to change my upper wire to a heavier one and also put on some power chains. Whatever they are. So I called the surgeon's office and the girl told me that he is booked until July. Argh. I am having the worst luck lately. So I asked her to put me on the cancellation list for whatever comes up first ~ I'll take it. I hope someone cancels soon!

I'm here to complain...

I can't help it. I have to. My teeth hurt so darn bad!! I had an adjustment today. The girl said they were putting on "tandem wires." She said there are two wires hooked together on the one wire. I tried googling it, but couldn't find anything. Anyway, they are killing me. I think this is the worst my teeth have ever hurt, for sure. Maybe I am just forgetting how bad other adjustments have hurt, but this does seem to be the worst . Every tooth hurts except for my molars. Seems like the molars aren't involved this time. Apparently these wires will help with the crowding that I have on my bottom teeth. They are already working because there's a little gap between two of the teeth.
He said I don't need to come back until 8 weeks from now. These are "long-term" wires. I haven't been thinking much about my surgery because it seems so far away in JULY, but I am so ready to have it!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everybody! I really hope that 2009 is a much better year than 2008 was. 2008 was a really crappy year for me and my family. I'm looking forward to a clean slate in 2009 and hope it will be a happy, healthy, productive, and prosperous New Year! By this time next year I should be done with my surgery and have my braces off. Speaking of braces, I had an adjustment the other day. The ortho repositioned 3 brackets and put on lighter wires. I didn't have much pain until today. He said that since my surgery is so far away in July, he will do as much as he can to my teeth before surgery so that I can get my braces off as soon as possible after surgery. The surgeon's office called me last week and asked me if I could have the surgery on February 7th. I wish I could, but I can't. School. Happy New Year!

Christmas in braces, Part Deux

Happy Holidays! I thought I'd put up some recent pictures that my friend Stephanie took. I chose a picture with my mouth closed for our Christmas picture. Next year I'll be able to smile ~ with no braces on!!

A Totally Unexciting Post

I went to the ortho today and got the upper front bracket put back on. The tech was supposed to change my bottom wire, but as he was taking it off, he popped off a bracket on my back molar. I guess he didn't want to irritate the doctor, so he said we would put it on at my next appointment in 4 weeks. They leave at 12:30 on Fridays, so everyone was in a tizzy to get out of there and start their weekend.
I talked to the surgery coordinator and told her the details of my appointment with the surgeon. She said if it were her, she would rather have the surgery in April instead of going back to school. I've decided it would be a waste of time not to finish a semester of school and will go ahead and plan to have the surgery in July.

Decisions, decisions...

I had an appointment with my surgeon yesterday. It was rather awkward.
I'm wondering how the doctor would have reacted if I had arrived for my appointment an hour late. I'm sure he would have said that I need to reschedule, right? Well, I waited for him for over an hour because he was behind schedule. I am always on time for any appointments I have, so this really rubs me the wrong way. So after having to wait an extra hour, I was stuck in work traffic -- an hour and fifteen minutes to get home. I wasn't in the best mood.
So when I was finally called in to see the doctor, we exchanged the "Hi, how are you's?" "Fine." "Good." I gave him my molds that my orthodontist had given me and he proceeded to scrape away at them and try to get them to fit together in the way a normal bite would fit together. I sat there thinking he might explain what he was doing. But no, he continued picking away and marking on the molds with his marker. He then asked me to show him my bite as he looked at me from both sides and examined my profile. He was talking aloud to himself, saying that maybe my top jaw didn't need to be operated on. (We already went through this before when I saw him the first time and then he decided to do both jaws) So here we were doing this again. I was getting irritated. I know that my top jaw is too far back and bringing it forward would look better. Though I was thinking this, I didn't say anything. He then says to himself, "Well, the top jaw is deficient." Um, okay. So he walks out of the room, comes back and puts my molds and a letter in a box to give back to my orthodontist. He says, "Okay, you can go to the front and schedule a surgery date." So I ask him if he is going to be doing both jaws. He says "Oh yes, didn't I say that? I guess I should have thought that out loud." That's it. That's all the information I got from him. No specifics. No nothing.
I go to the front desk and tell the girl that I need to schedule a surgery date. He's booked until April. Well, I should be starting back to school in February, so I have to make a decision.Do I go back to school in February, finish my semester and then have the surgery on July 15th (his soonest "summer" appointment). Or do I have the surgery in April, waste months May, June, July and August and go back to school in the fall? Any advice? I'm not good at making decisions. If I go to school in February, that would be one more semester of nursing school under my belt. I am dying to have the surgery asap, but I feel like it's wasted time to have it in April. If my orthodontist had PLANNED accordingly, I could have had it this month. He knew that patients were booking months and months in advance. Ugh.
I'm waiting to hear back from my school to see if they can tell me with any certainty that I will be invited back for spring semester or if I will have to wait until fall. That will change everything. Then, of course, I will schedule the surgery for April. I also asked the girl to put me on the wait list in case someone cancels. Fat chance. There are 30 people ahead of me.
I took some pictures of myself yesterday. They are a bit grainy ~ taken from the camera thing on my computer. Nothing exciting, but you can see what I look like "before" in different angles. I really should have my friend Steph retouch them :) but here they are. Some are frightening.

P.S. The bracket on my front left tooth came off, so I'll be going to the orthodontist on Friday. I'll get it put back on and give him the molds and letter from the surgeon. I'm wondering if the marks he made on the molds are tweaks that need to be done to my teeth. Probably.





I really don't like this angle. At all.

I'm Here to Report...

That there's really nothing to report. I had another adjustment yesterday. While the girl was taking off my upper wire to put on a new wire, two of my brackets popped off. So I had to go through the joy of the lip stretcher, the grinding off of the glue, and the toxic smelling liquid put on my teeth. Fun times. The new wire brought new pain to my upper teeth. I've been living off soup for two days and am starving and cranky.
I noticed today that my bite is really screwed now. It's crazy how much it changed overnight. When I bite down, I can totally stick my tongue through the huge gap between the upper and lower teeth. It's really beautiful. I should take a picture and post it, but I'm lazy. I guess the braces are doing their job. I want to have the surgery already. I go to see the surgeon on December 1. The ortho said that if the surgeon thinks my teeth are "good enough" (position-wise) to have the surgery now, then the ortho can do whatever changes to my teeth after the surgery. The only problem is, I will have to be put on a cancellation list and be called in at the last minute ~ which is fine with me. Otherwise, I will have to have the surgery in the summer (ugh!) because I will be starting back to school in February. I hope it works out and I have the surgery in December. Keep you fingers crossed for me! Congratulations to all of you who have had surgery recently!