Pics of Stitches

Here is a pic of my lower and upper stitches. Can you tell I'm totally bored? LOL
 
 

Highlights of a liquid Diet Day

It's funny what we take for granted when it comes to eating. I mean one really doesn't grasp how creative one must become when they can't chew anything for 6 weeks (well 5 now!) It requires a lot of perserverance, and determination to find taste satisfying treats, as well as making sure that one gets enough protein/liquid into them to adequately heal, and not be hungry all the time.

What is so funny is how something so incredibly boring to the rest of the world, can be so incredibly pleasing to the palate when you are so limited in what you can eat. Today I had some smashed organic cottage cheese with pureed orangic baby pears. OMG I thought I had died and gone to heaven! It tasted so yummy! It was a bit tricky to be sure and smash it up enough to make sure the cottage cheese curds went down easily and I didn't choke to death, but definitely worth the effort. I also managed to get down about a 1/4 of a cup of poached halibut (smashed to death again with a fork) That was good too, but wore my poor tongue out trying to maneuever it around so I quit pretty quickly. I think tomorrow I will add it to some soup and eat it.

I drank a bottle of "Naked" fruit juice smoothie, which boasts a pound of fruit in each bottle. Probably won't do that again as it has left me feeling a bit on the gurgly side (if you know what I mean :) Lets see...in addition to that I had a jar of organic savory carrots, rice, and beef baby food (not so great) and a milk, banana, protein powder, apples and sweet pototoes shake. MMMMM....admit it your jealous!
Oh and I had a bowl of egg flower soup, and a cup of flan!

What to eat tomorrow? So many choices, so little time! I was so busy prior to surgery that I didn't have much time to really take in all the stuff I won't have for awhile. Don't do that! If your having surgery, indulge a little. You will spend less time dreaming about food after the surgery is over. Ask me how I know?

One Week Post Op

Today is offically one week post op for me. I feel so excited, and happy that I have made it through the first week doing pretty well. It has actually gone by much faster then I thought it would!
 
Swelling continues to come down, on the outside of my face as well as the inside. My bottom lip is not feeling quite so thick, and my tongue is becoming less numb and tingly. I'm getting about 4-5 hours of good sleep at night now, and think that once the achiness dies down I will be doing much better. I woke up twice last night to take advil, and reheat my rice bags, as the site of my bone graft (where it was taken), where it was implanted, and my chin, where a bit achey. Nothing horrible, but definitely enough to prevent good solid sleep.

Eating is getting a bit more challening just cause I'm bored with milkshakes etc. I'm going to head to the grocery store and see what I can round up in terms of smoothie variety, or easy to eat meals. I have much more energy today and don't feel so run down. Almost feel like my normal self! Woo HOOo!

New X Rays! and Finally some Sleep!

It is so strange to lay down to go to sleep and be able to feel my airways be so open. Definitely worth all of this at this point in the game! I tell you, great sleep is one of those things that you truly can't appreciate, until you have gone a very long long time without it. You don't really realize how much you have been missing until you are able to truly sleep like a baby again. I'm so glad I pursued this surgery!

Here is my bright, smiling face on Day 6 post surgery.
 



I had my 1 week follow up visit with the OS today. He told me that I look absolutely beautiful! LOL. Of course he is very pleased with how things have gone. Says that the contour of my lips is perfect and that he is convinced that the lack of blood loss is why I'm healing so quickly. My full advancement from chin point was 12mm. 3mm for the maxilla, 4mm for the mandible, and 5mm for the chin. Add it together you get 12mm total. I got a copy of my cephlometric X-ray today so I could see all the hardware in my face now. You can see the small screws and plates in the Maxilla, the 3 small screws in each mandible advancement. The genio, plates and screws. On the left of the x-ray you can see where they cut out the bone, and moved it over to in between my molars (it has the two tiny screws in it between my teeth) That will be where he will put the first part of my implant in 4 months. I'm very excited with how my teeth have lined up too. They look so straight! The OS says that my ortho should be very happy with my results. I see him next week for my first follow up.
 

Info the OS shared today was that he thinks that I will eventually get total feeling back, even in my tongue and lips. Said I was doing a good job keeping things clean, and that there was no sign of infection anywhere, Oh, and he measured the distance I can open my mouth, which is currently 23mm's. He said that I'm farther along then most by this time. He said he does not want me to do anything to try and make my mouth open wider that I should just keep doing what I'm doing and eventually it will fix itself. He talked about how much better it is now for patients that he doesn't have to splint, band, or mouth wire them, and that he wouldn't dream of doing it any other way then this now. I of course agreed as I'm thrilled with my results thus far!
Other then that he wants to see me again in 2 weeks.


So yesterday evening I was exhausted. Aside from all the drama with my mother yesterday, I have been having really bad muscle achiness/pain in my jaw area. Now mind you this is not like excruciating pain, it is like that constant, throbbing, sort of pain that just sorta really starts to wear on you after awhile, and that is just enough that you can't really sleep with it, or really think about anything else.

So, I went to bed last night after being up all day without a nap, cooking dinner, and doing some laundray. I was wiped, but couldn't sleep due to the pain. So....out comes my handy dandy rice bags. I zapped them in the microwave and slapped one on each side of my aching jaw, oh, and I took 3 advil too! AHhHhHhHh! Within about 5 minutes the muscles began to relax and I drifted off into dreamland. I had to get up a couple times during the night to reheat my bags, but for the most part I got about 12 hours of good sleep. The best part was that I had many little dreams, and awoke feeling very rested. I'm pretty sure at this point that my apnea issues are gone.

Feeling is starting to come back in my chin now and inside my lower teeth. Felt like someone was sitting there stabbing me with a bunch of pins and needles. Sorta like when you have a body part that falls asleep and when you try and wake it up you get that tingly feeling? UGHH!! but at least I know the feeling is coming back, and FAST too! So I'm mot complaining.

New Profile pics

Here is pic of my old profile and my new profile (at 5 days post op)

 
 


I'm too tired to post more today. Spent most of the day with my husband in the emergency room with my mom. She has diverticulitus. I'm wiped out, was a long day for someone so soon out of surgery.

Day 5 Post Op

 
Swelling continues to come down, and aside from the lovely alien green bruising on my lower jaw and chest I think I look almost half human (to those that don't really know me that is)

Last night was rough, lots of muscle pain in my jaw joints, and again not much sleep. Things are fine if I don't talk at all, so I think today is going to be a silent day for me. I need to allow my jaws to rest a bit. With the decrease in swelling things are getting more achey.

Ok, I'm sick of liquid diet now, and although I haven't actually weighed myself, I'm sure I'm down about 8-10 lbs now. Even eating every 2 hours, you just can't get enough in with a liquid diet. Not that I couldn't afford to lose a few pound but I think it is a little extreme if your really looking for a diet. I will post more later. I'm very tired and need to take a nap.

Real Food....so Underated!

Ok, I had the best meal of my life today! After 4 days of liquid I decided to try out the offical, Dr. approved, fork smash diet. I had been holding off as I was not able to feel my tongue well enough to smash anything against my palate with it, but I'm adjusting now and decided I needed a break from liquids. I have been taking in a lot, but you can only drink so much nutrition. Tonight my mom made homemade organic mashed potatoes and gravy, organic carrots, and organic pot roast. I smashed the carrots to death, and blended the pot roast up in the "Magic Bullet" with a little gravy. I grabbed my baby spoon, and it was on! Now eating in and of itself is pretty funny, really like feeding a baby. You put the spoon in the mouth, then use the spoon to wipe off your lips. This would be fine is you could really feel your lip, but since you can't it is quite hilarious to watch. My family was just cracking up, which was making me laugh (not good as it yanks on the stitches) I ate as much as I could before the jaw joints started to rebel at the additional work, and things started to become swollen again! OMG it was so worth it though!
 

Day 4 Post Surgery Progression

Here I am in all my day 4 post surgical glory. My swelling is coming down bit by bit each day, however, today things in my mouth feel very puffy. My bottom lip is burny and feels like it has been inflated with a tire pump. Things are a bit more achey today, and if you look at the Day 4 pic you will see that the lovely green bruising has starting to show up on my lower jaw bones and is swiftly making its way down my chest area. Things today are very prickly. Sorta like little nerve pulses all over my face. Mini electric shocks. Sometimes you go to touch them and where you feel them is not where you actually are feeling them. It's very bizarre. Last night my jaw joints were very tight. I could not close my mouth as it just felt like they were being stretched and pulled. I still can't really close and look at my occulsion very well I'm assuming that is/was from all the swelling in there, it is much better today but still far from perfect. I must admit that I'm feeling rather worn out today. I have not been getting very good sleep. Never more then 1.5 hours at a time without waking, and I think it is starting to wear on me. I have been sleeping upright in our Ekornes recliner chair. Thank god for that chair is all I can say, it is so comfortable and has been a life saver. My nose is still rather stuffy, and even when I get to sleep I end up waking within about an hour, hour and half with a stuffy nose. Things do seem like they are starting to settle down, but I imagine I have a few more sleepless nights ahead of me before it gets better. This whole surgery realy takes a toll on your both mentally and physically, it has not been as bad as I expected though so that is a plus.

I see the OS Wednesday at 1:00 for my 1 week follow up. I hope that my stitches are on their way out by then.

Here is a picture of my upper stitches.

What to Expect and Tips

So, just an FYI. I have no idea what exactly happened to me once I got into surgery. I mean I walked in the room, climbed on the operating table, the anesthesiologist gave me a bottle of Afrin and told me to put two big squirts in each nostril. I was so completely frightened by this time that I couldn't even talk. The doctor asked me how I was doing, and I know he could tell by the tears in my eyes that I was pretty freaked out. He came over and rubbed my arm, and told me not to worry that they would take good care of me. I used the Afrin and sprayed so much I started to gag. I then layed down on the table and they stuck my head into this piece of like giant foam (to secure me in position.) At that point I think the anesthesiologist said that she was going to give me some stuff to relax me a bit before we get started, it was freezing in the OR and I was shaking pretty violently from nerves. I don't remember anything after that. I don't remember waking up in recovery at all, only being brought back to my private room. I was trying to communicate with my mom, using american sign language. Now this is sorta funny as even though I have had 4 years of the language, my family knows very little, and my husband doesn't know any. My mom knows some of the basics(but she was sick this week also with diverticulitis) and was not reading what I was trying to say. I was trying to sign to my son and husband like they knew exactly what I was talking about. At which point my mom handed me the white board to write on. I vagely remember my husband telling me that things went really great and the surgery took 6 hours. I was surprised as it only felt like I had been asleep for 5 minutes, but I was also, so incredibly happy to be awake, and ok. That was what I was worried most about.
My throat was very sore, that is something for others having this surgery to be prepared for. The anesthesiologist said she used a lot of lubricant spray, and gel, but that there really is just know knowing how it is going to affect you. My throat felt raw like it does when you have strepped throat. It only lasted for about a day though. Your voice will probably be a bit hoarse from the breathing tube itself being down your throat. The effects of the anesthesia can take up to 4 days to get out of your system and you will feel groggy and not yourself, your memory will also not be what it usually is.

Prior to surgery I followed a very strict dietary supplement plan. My doctor said that recovery would be about half the time if I did this program and so far she appears to be correct. Everything about this surgery has been easier and my recovery is going much faster then others I have seen. I was in good physical health too which I'm sure added to things.

Now I can tell you at 3 days post op that prior to surgery you will want to make sure your lips are in good shape. This will help minimize the effects of all the stretching that will be done to them. My lips looked like they had been stretched over my head and back. They had dead peeling skin everywhere. In addition to this all around my mouth and under my nose area is very dry and flakey too. Not sure why, but your lips and skin will definitely take a beating so be prepared. If you are having genio done you may also awake with some numbness in your tongue. Supposedly this is only temporary and will return to normal within a week or two.

Obviously having a great OS is a big plus. Research your doctor and make sure they know what they are doing. A good surgeon can make this whole procedure a lot less aggravating.
I only 3.5 days post op and already I can tell that it will be worth all the discomfort.

Last but not least...Nutrition is everything. If you want to heal good and fast, then you have to eat. Your body needs lots of fluids, and protein. While it is difficult, and laborious to get food into oneself, it is also critical to good healing. If you do not allow yourself to become too dehydrated and eat enough your speed of recovery will be greatly improved.

Not much else to report at his moment, but I will continue with the daily updates until there is nothing more to really report.

Out and About Post Surgery Day 3

Ok, the sitting at home waiting to improve is just not doing it for me. I feel so much better when I'm moving about so I decided to venture out back into the real world today. Well sortof....I'm going for a ride in the car and may go into Walmart. My son says I look better today and that if you didn't know me you wouldn't know I was numb. He thinks that most people would not even notice I looked different, short of the tape on my face that is.

My morning was a bit rough with achy pain that I couldn't get rid off. I have come to the conclusion that eating and keeping hydrated is key. I mean I will be honest that I was hoping to drop a few pounds, but I also know how important to healing food is, so I have not been watching what I eat at all. My only focus has been getting protein, and calories into myself. It seems to be working as my swelling appears to be gradually subsiding, and while I'm feeling sorta puny, I'm not feeling really weak. I actually have a good amount of energy, and while I'm going to be careful not to overdo it today I think its all the food I have been taking in that is really helping me heal. Oh...and I have lost about 5 lbs anyway without even trying in the last 4 days.

I've been using baby tylenol for pain, my husband found a Safeway brand that is cherry flavor but doesn't taste too bad at all. I alternate it with Advil as that just seems to work better for me. My sinuses seem to be leveling out now. I can breathe through both sides and they are not plugged up very much anymore. I've been using Ocean spray to keep them moist though.

I have no idea if my occulusion is correct, I honestly can't really see my teeth, without holding my lips up when I brush, however, if I try to smile then I can feel the tightness of my stiches under my front lip. Given everything that has been done, the pain has not been much worse then my SARPE which has been a plus. I even have the same nagging headache that I did when I was expanding.

Ok...I'm getting tired now. I will gab more later. OH....if you don't have a Magic Bullet blender, I highly recommend it! that has been a life saver for me.

Day 3

Ok, so last night was the worst night so far. Not that It was all that much different from the others, however, I was a bit more achey last night so I decided to take some of the Roxicet my doctor gave me. Honestly it was a total waste of time, it did not make things stop aching and today I feel like I have a drug hangover. I have been taking advil and it seems to work better for the slight headache I have and the jaw achiness as well. I pretty much woke up every hour on the hour last night. So today I'm very tired. Swelling appears to be about the same, and so far (knock on wood) bruising appears to be very minimal.

Last night I got up and drank two big glasses of water, and finished off a blueberry smoothie my mom had made me earlier. This is my recipe for my morning milkshake.

1/2 cup milk
2 scoops vanilla ice Cream
1 scoop protein powder
1/2 a banana
1 heaping Tablespoon Carnation instant breakfast drink (chocolate)
2 multivitamin capsules
1 B12 capsule

It tastes pretty good and I don't taste the vitamins in it so that is a plus. Today I'm feeling a bit weak. I have been taking in a lot of fluids but I still feel pretty puny. I know my body is working hard to repair everything, so I'm trying to give it as much as I can to stay strong. It's hard to stay on top of though.

As far as pain goes I haven't been having too much. A little achey here and there. Mostly I can say it is my tongue that is driving me nuts. The whole left side is very numb, and feels like it is giant in my mouth. I can't really tell if that is improving, but I have to be so careful as not to bite it, as it just feels enormous. It is also sorta burny feeling so I'm hoping that means it is healing, but it is such a pins and needles feeling it is really aggravating. Other then being run down, it has not been too terrible. Not fun, but not horrible.

Here is a pic taken right after I got out of the bath this morning. Warm baths really seem to help me feel better. The steam opens up my sinuses and seems to help with the puffiness. I can't smile right now as things are just too swollen to really move, but I thought I would post the pic anyway. The other pic is my puffy profile.

Even though I'm not sleeping particularly well, my husband says that I'm quiet as a mouse now. No more snoring or gasping for air, in fact he said he can barely hear me breathing at all now. So I'm pretty confident that once the swelling dies down and my sinuses get back into their groove that my apnea will definitely be gone. Wooo hoo
 
 

Mmmm Lunch!

Today is Day 2 post op. Honestly I don't feel too terrible. Not near as bad as I look that is for sure! I think I have been doing a decent job at eating and staying hydrated. Today I had some rice and chicken broth blended, 2 banana, carnation instant breakfast, vanilla ice cream and protein milkshakes, 2 glasses of emergen C, 3 multivitamin, 2 bromelain caps,a jar of organic apples and banana baby food, and a little bit of mashed potatoes. My throat is feeling better today, but my tongue still feels all huge and numb. Honestly that is the part that is probably bothering me the most. I did take a does of Advil alternating with baby Tylenol as my jaw bones were a bit achey, and I had a mild headache.

Today I started applying warm heat. It felt so good. I have been taking a daily warm bath which also seems to help. The warm water on my face feels great and helps open up my sinuses. Which by the way aren't doing to bad. So far I can still breathe out of one of them. I used some ocean spray today, but mostly things seem like they are progressing along as well as can be expected.

My chin feels so weird, I'm not used to having one and it just feels odd to feel it moving around when I move my lower jaw at all. One thing I must say I'm glad about is not having a splint. I don't think with all the swelling I have been having that I would've been able to deal with it. I'm hoping that the swelling really starts to go down tomorrow, especially the swelling in my mouth and my tongue. I do know that it has gone down some though as yesterday I couldn't close my mouth or feel my teeth at all and today I can. my lips are pretty beat up, and I have been using lots of vaseline trying to get them back in shape. One thing that I have noticed too is that I don't seem to have much bruising. Nothing to speak of yet, so that is a plus. I really do think that all my vitamin supplementation has paid off. This surgery actually seems to be progressing as well as my SARPE or better, and considering that this was much more involved then SARPE I think I'm doing pretty well.

 

Swelling now settling In

So I will tell you that the swelling has increased two fold now. My nose is really stuffed up and I'm feeling pretty crappy! My tongue is so swollen and my throat really hurts. If I could get over these two things I would be feeling just fine. I did have a bit of achiness so I took some baby tylenol liquid. It seems to work pretty well, but man does it taste gross. My stomach is still very queasy. I've been working om trying to get fluids into me but man everything sorta tastes gross, so I'm really having to force myself to do it. Did any of you have trouble with your Tongue being swollen?  

11 hours post op

So it is almost Midnightt and I'm awake and posting from my hospital bed. The Surgery went fine, other then not being able to get my IV in the rest went as well as can be expected. I was pretty scared in the beginning, had to do alot of self talking to get through it, as I was really fighting back the tears. I will post the full story once I get home. Things are going well, I have lots of feeling in my face, actually I have hardly any numbness. My lower lip is numb in the middle, and my chin is numb right on the genio portion but I can feel everything else. Even my palate and a few of my upper teeth. So far the worst part has been the nausea, and the sore throat, and tongue swelling. Everything else is totally manageable.

ok... Im going to take nap. Gab with you all tomorrow later.

Day 1 Post op

Ok.here is the scoop on the pictures. The one that says 11.5 hours post op was posted by me. I went off of the time my surgery was complete (which was at 1:30 pm) the other pics and updates were posted by my husband who went off the time the surgery started at 7:30am. My surgery was 6 hours long, with no complications. Doctor said I only lost 3/4 of a pint of blood which is really good and that should speed up my recovery a lot. These pictures where taken this morning just out of recovery

My tongue is really swollen and numb right now. Feels like when you go to the dentist and he give you a novacaine shot. My throat is also sore from the breathing tube. Swelling has increased some and my lips look like I got collagen injections. The Afrin is starting to wear off and my nose is getting pretty stuffed up. Other than that I'm holding my own. I did not take any pain meds at all ony the initial dose of morphine that they gave me in recovery. I had some baby tylenol early this morning for my sore throat but thats it. Doctor aid that he never touched any of my nerves and he expects me to get full feeling back everywhere (which I almost have right now)
When he came to see me this morning he said that I looked amazing. Now I'm not so sure about that, and thing are certainly not really enjoyable right now. But Im doing fine with it all nonetheless. He took out my drainage tubes which felt a bit freaky, and said I could check out of the hopital Whenever I wanted...so I did.

So I'm offically back home right now. Eating is hard but i managed to get a smoothie in a zip and squeeze down, so leat my tummy is feeling a bit better. I was so nauseas from the morphine,and of course all the blood that you end up swalling. They had to kep pumping me full of anti nausea medicine so I wouldn't throw up. I'm very weak and run down and must nap frequently. I suppose that is all part of the healing process.

D-Day 1700
Sleeping like a baby






D-day 1730
Ice pack being refilled. Need two packs available to avoid waiting for refills.






D-day 1740
Words of wisdom. (Brandy didn't like this nurse, can you tell?)






D-day 1923
11.5 hours after surgery. Items to note. Chapstick would help with the dry lips and thankfully my wonderful hubby had some. Ice works to repair the dry mouth and throat from the air tube placed through my nose during surgery. Problem is, just enough blood drains down your throat and tends to make you to nauseated even for the ice. Raise your bed higher as soon as possible and use the suction tube adjacent to the bed to reduce the drainage/dribble that's bound to happen. This is not the same suction tubes positioned inside my mouth during surgery....they're still installed and will not come out till tomorrow. More to follow D day + 1 tomorrow.

D-Day 1323
Michael heading down the corridor of pain in search of mom.
D-Day 1325 - almost there.
D-day 1327.
Ice pack is a must. Not necessarily this style. Can already say that my own ice pack works much better. Hubby heading home to get it for me. Morphine works but the ice pack is vital to numbing the pain not just reducing the swelling.

D-day 1400.
I can feel my face!!! So far the tip of my tongue is tingly along with the outter most part of the left and right side of my lower lip. My top lip, remainder of my lower lip, and around the curviture of my cheeks all feel OK. Awesome!

Surgery blog pt 2

D-Day 0720
One last smile prior to being wisked away for my date with destiny. The nice gray bag on the left houses my designer jeans and t-shirt (not). Soon, they'll be tucked away to a top secret location awaiting my post ops recovery. Got to keep things lively here, way to early in the morning.


D-Day 0723
Last profile. Just after this photo, I was swooshed (rolled gently) down the long corridor to bright lights and lot's of folks fussing over me...which is a good thing. Soon its lights out and 6 hours later, recovery.

It's now exactly 1323, 6 hours later and I'm in recovery. No photo ops yet, but per the Doc, things went well. Usual blood loss is 800 cc, mine was 400 to 450 which bodes well for an early departure and hopefully less of the swelling that follows. Doc noted no nerves were cut, bone graft went nicely, upper and lower genio went well. Oral fistula question concerning a possible sinus issue was negative. Probably still in la la land but soon my family will be able to see me and photos to follow.

Providence Hospital

D-DAY 0600, May 24, 2007

View from day surgery parking lot. Bright eyed and bushy tailed...I don't think so. Nervous - yes. Ready for surgery to start...yes and no...soon there's no turning back.

D-Day 0603

Day surgery entrance. On arrival, security had a man pinned to the ground. Probably knew Brandy was coming and was just clearing the vacinity for her arrival. Nice thought but probably not the case.

D-Day 0605

Welcome to Providence day surgery reception. All smiles for Brandy's new smile. See, told you, bright eyed not so much, bushy tailed...close.



D-Day 0615

Nothing but the finest duds for those about to suffer a travesty of pain. Ms. Lee is her nurse, and the anesthesiologist is Dr TBD. This was spa like treatment. They put hot towels over my legs, and eventually 4 additional towels were used to combat the retreating veins in her forearms. It took three tries to get her IV started...ouch. Twice in the left arm/hand and finally victory in the right. Eventually the 2nd nurse, Ms. TBD finally won the battle. IV is flowing, and her nerves are starting to kick in. Two types of nausey meds were discussed. One is included in her sedation medication so you receive it by default. But the second is the common motion sickness patch which goes behind your ear. I got the additional patch just in case, supposedly lasts for 7 hours. We'll see if it helps.

Well............This is It!

The day I have been waiting for, for almost a year now! Funny, it seemed so much more exciting 6 months ago!

I was able to get about 4.5 hours of good solid sleep last night, and at this point have manage to stave of the fear pretty well I think. On a scale of 1-10, I would say I'm at about a 6 or 7 and considering that I'm about to have my face totally reconstructed I think I'm doing quite well! :)

Tony or my son will be posting later today for me. I'm guessing I will be on the other side around 3:00pm Alaska time, provided everything goes as planned. So....I guess I will see you then!

My Last Supper

So I had my last real meal tonight. We went to La-mex and I had chips and salsa and a burrito. I know, not really exciting but it was good and what I wanted for my "Last Supper"

During the day today I felt a little bit nervous...really sick to my stomach if I let myself think about it. At the moment I'm feeling ok, still not really letting myself go there as I'm just not ready yet.
I know things will be fine, I have had a lot of people call, or send me email wishing me well today. So many more then I ever anticipated. I had people from the Metal Mouth board, people I have been corresponding with, my friends, family, and of course all of my blog buddies. It was pretty cool to see just how many people are rooting for me and I'm convinced that with all that positive energy flowing, from all over the U.S tomorrow that things will go well.

I'm going to try and enjoy my last few hours and get the stuff I need for the hospital together. I will do a quick check in before I head out in the morning!

Profile Pics

Here are some profile pics for those of you that asked for them. I thought I posted these but here are my original dental pics (before SARPE)on the bottom. The top two is a profile shot taken yesterday(smiling) and today (not smiling), the third one is another profile shot from the other side. You can really see how flat my profile is in this pic. It's so funny as I'm not one of those folks (like some of you others) who ever really noticed my profile before. Now, however, I absolutely hate it and can't wait to see how it changes. I'm glad I never worried about it, but at the same time I feel somewhat grossed out knowing that this is what people have been looking at for the last 40 something years! YUCK!