-Caboose/Re: Hooks finally out!!

[Guest guest]

Hi !

Yeah, the caboose has finally caught up to the rest of us. Your

teeth look great. Any idea how long until you might get your braces

off? I haven't been back to my ortho yet since I got the hooks off

myself but according to my surgeon, my ortho still has a lot of work

to do.

I haven't been around here in a while. I've been working 60-70 hours

a week and this is my first day off in about 10 days. I've also been

a little distracted by Katrina. My husband and I met and married in

Biloxi and we still have friends and a rental house in Ocean

Springs, MS. Fortunately, our friends made it through safely and

still have a house. Our house is still standing albeit with a lot of

roof and water damage. Now comes the battle with our homeowners

insurance. And I thought health insurance was bad but that's a whole

other story. I'm just grateful the house is still there. I feel

guilty worrying about how we're going to pay for repairs when so

many others don't even have a place to live.

Not much has changed with me, jaw wise. I had an appointment with my

surgeon yesterday. The new joints are fine but my muscles are still

very tight. I can only take muscle relaxants on my days off (which

are very few and far between right now). When I do take them, my

face feels pretty good and I can open easily to about 20 mm. When I

stretch, I can get to 23 mm. The rest of the time, my face feels

like a mask and it hurts when I try to chew. The OS says to just be

patient and it could take up to a year for the muscles to recover

after all I've been through. I was hoping to get botox again because

that's always helped in the past but he says he doesn't want to do

anything interventional until I'm at least a year post-op. He's

satisfied with my opening now and said I might never get past 23 mm.

It works for me.

Otherwise, my bite looks great. Because of the muscle tightness, my

lower jaw tends to pull to the left but when I wear my bands, my

bite is perfect. They still have me wearing one band on each side to

retrain my muscles.

I'm glad to hear you're doing so well.

minirascal

> > > Hi All,

> > >

> > > My bottom hooks have finally been taken off by my OD. It's

hard

> to

> > > believe I have had them on for over 4 months now. The top

hooks

> > were

> > > taken off a few weeks ago. I now only have to wear one band

on

> the

> > > right side. It really feels great to finally have the hooks

> > completely

> > > off. My OS appts. have finally been decreased to once a month

> > versus

> > > every week. So I am beginning to see that light at the end of

> the

> > > tunnel.

> > >

> > > For all heading into surgery and in the early stages of

recovery,

> > the

> > > best advice I can give you is to keep a positive attitude!

> Remember

> > > that this is only a temporary period in your life with rewards

> that

> > > will last a lifetime. I am 100% satisfied with my results and

> can't

> > > wait to be able to bite into a big steak!!

> > >

> > > Best of Luck to you all,

> > > --Caboose

> > > Lefort 3-piece, June 28th