So, today I had an appointment with my regular (and the most wonderful in all the world) dentist, Dr Brian just so they could check on how the 'flipper' fits and see how I'm doing.
He said that the doctor who performed the surgery on me last week called him right after my surgery to tell him exactly what he had done and how it had gone. He explained that he was really shocked at the size of the void up in my face that had bone loss, and that amazingly there was an area between my nose and mouth that had 'absorbed' through which basically meant my nose and mouth were interconnected. They shouldn't be. That's wrong, it's bad, it's weird and it's a pain in the neck to fix - literally!
So, he explained that the area where he packed the bone into went down past the second knuckle on his pointer finger. He had only expected it to go as far as the first knuckle. He also said that he'd taken some pictures and x-rays of me while I was 'open', so I'm kind of interested to see those. He said there was 'light' through there when you look up into the skull of my face... there shouldn't be light!
So basically, I did end up having plastic surgery / a face lift - it's the same procedure of having a 'nose job' except that they went in through my mouth instead of cutting the skin outside my mouth...
ewwwww. I prefer to call it maxillofacial surgery, I'm not really ready to join the face lift brigade just yet! ;)
YIKES!!!!
I am glad for a few things.
1 - I am glad that this surgery is behind me, and hopefully it is successfull & the bone heals awesomely and I can continue with the rest of my treatment plan.
2 - I am glad I didn't know exactly what the surgery would involve beforehand. I think I would have completely freaked out if I would have known I was having my face peeled open that far.
3 - I am so very glad that I have an awesome team of dental professionals looking after me. I couldn't find a better group. They are wonderful!
4 - I am thankful for my wonderful husband, Cory who has taken great care of me and supported me through all of this - I LOVE YOU!
Showing posts with label dental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dental. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Friday, 5 February 2010
Why the surgery?
A couple of you have wondered and asked "why" I had this surgery and I guess I haven't really explained it too well to some of you before now. I'll quickly try to explain the general gist.It isn't related to the Graves Disease that we have been dealing with - thankfully. It is a completely separate issue. The graves disease finally "tested" in the required range the last blood test I had about two or three weeks ago. The Doctor dealing with that side of my health said it shows that my thyroid was completely obliterated by the radiation instead of the desired 1/4 of it being destroyed. He suggests on that side of things I should start getting to feeling better in the summer or late spring now... We are sure hoping he's right!
The surgery and all the dental stuff was only affected by the graves disease in the sense that the local anesthesia wouldn't work while I was hyperthyroid because I had the metabolism of a hummingbird, so I could feel all the procedures we did in the earlier stages. The other problem was that I wasn't physically healthy enough to withstand the surgery they needed to do for a while, so we had to wait a little longer than would have been ideal.
The cracked roots to three of my upper frontal teeth actually happened last summer, completely by accident. I was playing with our niece and she headbutted me full on in the face. It's not her fault at all, it could have been anyone... Anyway, long story short - it caused the roots of those teeth to completely shatter (Fast's have hard heads apparently and I'd definitely have to agree). There was a huge CRACK noise and it hurt like I can't explain but the teeth didn't fall out so we didn't realise the extent of the problem. A few weeks later when it still hurt and a bump was forming over the teeth I went to the dentist to have it checked, and with the x-ray he could see a little of what we were facing.
After several opinions from and visits to different specialists we came up with a plan that would be a long term solution which we have been working on now for a few months, little steps (and sometimes bigger steps) at a time.
Anyway, I hope that helps explain it a little better.... And no, I didn't have a face lift or a nose job (although if you saw me today, you'd probably have to wonder) and since it wasn't a side effect on the Graves Disease we don't have to worry about it causing further random problems to my body. The GD is getting under control and yesterday we have taken a very large step in getting on track with the dental/facial situation too!
Thanks to all of you for your friendship, support and prayers, it means a lot to both of us!
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Is it a bird? A plane? A face lift?
Well, the time came for my maxillofacial surgery... I am now so glad that Cory and I had a wonderful time in Hawaii before my surgery. We had originally planned to have the surgery 4 days before we travelled. I would have been miserable.
Hawaii was exactly what we needed. Some time to relax & recuperate and to just get away from everything. The warm weather felt great too!
So, my surgery was scheduled for Monday morning (passed). I felt just a little nervous on Sunday evening as I went to bed, but I hardly slept. My mind was spinning. On Monday morning I woke feeling quite scared. Deep down I knew everything would be OK, and had a lot of confidence in the surgeon, but it was such a big step for me and it represented something so huge it was honestly quite daunting. I knew there was a lot of people out there thinking and praying for me, so that gave me real comfort as I got ready to face the day.
I took my prophylactic antibiotics (4 of them and they were huge) an hour before surgery and just tried to keep busy so I wouldn't be thinking and mulling everything over in my mind. Cory took me to the appointment and he was so good at keeping me from turning into a complete mess.
The nurses were great - they could tell I was nervous (my guess was by the involuntarily stream of tears running down my face that I couldn't get to stop) and they made arrangements that the doctor would put the IV in himself! The IV was a big concern to me after the last experience I had getting blood drawn for my routine thyroid test - the Dr couldn't get any blood.
Thankfully, I have to tell you that he was great. Yes, getting the IV in still hurt, but he was in the vein with no problem and he drew the 6 vials of blood without jiggling it around too much. I remember saying to him as he taped it down to my arm "humm, I'll have to come here for all the IV's I ever need in the future". (Yes, I have a warped sense of humour!)
After a little more prep work and after I'd asked him to promise he'd be able to wake me up after (again, weird humour) and after kissing Cory bye they put the anesthesia through my IV (which I don't even remember) and got to work. The next thing I remember I was waking up and Cory was there to take me home. Someone had put an ice pack on my face and I was completely busting for the 'loo'. So after some bizarre sign language to Cory (since I was so swollen I couldn't talk) he finally realised what I wanted and asked the nurse if it would be OK.
Cory had also talked to Dr Johnson before I came round. He told Cory that they had extracted the two final teeth (I had already had two taken out a few weeks ago) but also that the amount of the bone loss in the area was significantly more than they had expected. It was to the full extent of what "bottle bone" could do, and they would have probably taken a graft from my leg if they'd have known, but since they'd planned and prepared the bottle bone with my blood they went ahead.
I slept for an hour or so at home after the surgery and had a fairly relaxed afternoon and evening. I even managed to eat a little soup and Jell-O last night, so we're getting there.
There is quite a fair bit of swelling and bruising which we hadn't anticipated. I thought I'd have a little swelling around the mouth area for an hour or so, but instead my whole face is yucky - It looks like I had a face lift or went a round or two with Mike Tyson!
They didn't do the soft bone graft because the procedure was already extensive enough. They did have to put in a titanium membrane to hold the bone in place and protect it if I accidentally rubbed my nose/face a little too hard so the bone has time to settle. This will be removed in 4 weeks.
Hawaii was exactly what we needed. Some time to relax & recuperate and to just get away from everything. The warm weather felt great too!
So, my surgery was scheduled for Monday morning (passed). I felt just a little nervous on Sunday evening as I went to bed, but I hardly slept. My mind was spinning. On Monday morning I woke feeling quite scared. Deep down I knew everything would be OK, and had a lot of confidence in the surgeon, but it was such a big step for me and it represented something so huge it was honestly quite daunting. I knew there was a lot of people out there thinking and praying for me, so that gave me real comfort as I got ready to face the day.
I took my prophylactic antibiotics (4 of them and they were huge) an hour before surgery and just tried to keep busy so I wouldn't be thinking and mulling everything over in my mind. Cory took me to the appointment and he was so good at keeping me from turning into a complete mess.
The nurses were great - they could tell I was nervous (my guess was by the involuntarily stream of tears running down my face that I couldn't get to stop) and they made arrangements that the doctor would put the IV in himself! The IV was a big concern to me after the last experience I had getting blood drawn for my routine thyroid test - the Dr couldn't get any blood.
Thankfully, I have to tell you that he was great. Yes, getting the IV in still hurt, but he was in the vein with no problem and he drew the 6 vials of blood without jiggling it around too much. I remember saying to him as he taped it down to my arm "humm, I'll have to come here for all the IV's I ever need in the future". (Yes, I have a warped sense of humour!)
After a little more prep work and after I'd asked him to promise he'd be able to wake me up after (again, weird humour) and after kissing Cory bye they put the anesthesia through my IV (which I don't even remember) and got to work. The next thing I remember I was waking up and Cory was there to take me home. Someone had put an ice pack on my face and I was completely busting for the 'loo'. So after some bizarre sign language to Cory (since I was so swollen I couldn't talk) he finally realised what I wanted and asked the nurse if it would be OK.
Cory had also talked to Dr Johnson before I came round. He told Cory that they had extracted the two final teeth (I had already had two taken out a few weeks ago) but also that the amount of the bone loss in the area was significantly more than they had expected. It was to the full extent of what "bottle bone" could do, and they would have probably taken a graft from my leg if they'd have known, but since they'd planned and prepared the bottle bone with my blood they went ahead.
I slept for an hour or so at home after the surgery and had a fairly relaxed afternoon and evening. I even managed to eat a little soup and Jell-O last night, so we're getting there.
There is quite a fair bit of swelling and bruising which we hadn't anticipated. I thought I'd have a little swelling around the mouth area for an hour or so, but instead my whole face is yucky - It looks like I had a face lift or went a round or two with Mike Tyson!
They didn't do the soft bone graft because the procedure was already extensive enough. They did have to put in a titanium membrane to hold the bone in place and protect it if I accidentally rubbed my nose/face a little too hard so the bone has time to settle. This will be removed in 4 weeks.
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