Re: Counting my blessings...

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Well, after getting on these boards and complaining about how crappy it

is to be swollen and hungry, I have come face-to-face with a much worse

predicament. A new employee began work at the office where I

occasionally freelance. She had been using my computer before I got

there and so I went to find her before I shut down her programs.

Anyway, she was a young girl- 24- and she saw all my rubber bands and

stuff and told me she had just had jaw surgery as well! (this is the

first real live person I've met!) She said she just got the hardware

out and is on a soft food diet and is having a little bit of a hard

time adjusting and it still hurts to chew sometimes. She told me that

she had a slight underbite and got terrible headaches so they cut her

jaw and moved it a little back... the same as me but in the other

direction! (they moved mine forward) I was looking at her and thought

something looked odd though because her bite was right but her teeth

were a bit crooked... that's when it occurred to me... she wasn't

wearing braces! I think Cammie had mentioned once that on a rare

occasion, they will do the surgery without braces by using screws in

your gums... That is what this poor girl had done and I could not

believe it. She said that she was under for the surgery and they

screwed 8 screws into her gums- top and bottom- and the wires and

rubber bands were anchored to those instead of the orthodontic hooks.

She was totally wired shut for 8 weeks & Her gums started to heal OVER

the screws and bands... you could not see them and they had to " dig "

them out at the end. She said she was in INTENSE pain for the first

week-at least- constantly on drugs and barely awake most of the time

and unable to do anything for herself for at least two weeks...

completely bed-ridden... I shudder just thinking about it...

Seriously, talking to her made me feel like my ordeal is a walk in the

park on a lovely autumn day. I guess it's all a matter of

perspective...

Tova

[Guest guest]

I can't even imagine having screws in my gums and having my skin

grow over them!! That poor girl! I'm still pre-op but at least I

won't have to worry about anything like that with bands.