Happy Thanksgiving! I am actually at home with Camille because she came down sick with a fever this morning. I'm working on the computer while watching The Goofy Movie (this can't capture my full attention). You'll have to wait for the current picture without my braces. I'll have to get Matt to take one.
I thought it would be interesting to see a compilation of pictures following my progression during 15 month process of braces, jaw surgery and recovery.
Look at these pictures from the bottom up.
I did get my braces off recently and now I'm adjusting to having impaired speech again because of the retainers I have to wear all the time for 3-6 months. After that I can wear them at night only. I'm happy to no longer have rough brackets making sores in my cheeks.
The first picture was taken 11/8/08 before my braces came off. My face is still slightly strange in sensation, but my surgeon says it should all recover within a year. If not, it's certainly bearable.
5/15/08--
When this picture was taken I was feeling much better but I was still quite numb in the face and learning to smile was a real process. Matt took a bazillion pictures as I looked in the mirror and tried to make a natural-looking smile.
5/3/08--In this pictures my muscles still wouldn't work for much of a smile, so I didn't try. The nose splint was removed but I had to keep the tape on my nose dry because it was keeping my nose in place. That makes for a dirty face under the tape! I fought acne for months after the surgery which the doctor said was also my body's reaction to the surgery. I also had to avoid me or any children from bumping my nose.
This was when I was getting ready to leave the hospital the night of 4/25/08 after surgery all day on 4/22/08. Hindsight, we should have just stayed in the hospital Friday night because it took several hours to get discharge paperwork and then wheelchair transportation down to the car. After driving all the way back to Rowlett we had to find an 24-hour pharmacy to fill my prescriptions. After that night of setting Matt's cell phone alarm clock for every 3 hours so Matt could get up to refresh my ice packs and crush up my pain medications in syringes with chasers of Boost, we had to go back downtown on Saturday morning for a followup in the doctor's office. All that riding in the car wasn't fun either. We wondered what the people in Walgreens thought when they saw me all swollen up with ice packs wrapped around my head. Matt thinks they probably just thought I had cosmetic plastic surgery, since it's so common these days.
This was taken in April 2008 before my surgery. The orthodontic work before surgery actually made my bite worse while they prepared me for surgery. That was my real bite.
We took this picture 8/30/07 right before I got my braces on.
When 2009 started I let Camille buy a new calendar for herself. She wanted to mark important dates on the calendar. She asked when Kady the cat's birthday is. I told her I didn't know and so she designated Jan 22nd as Kady's birthday. Camille has been counting down the days. Camille was very excited about Kady's birthday finally arriving. The night before Kady's birthday the girls made string and bead toys for Kady. Camille decided that Kady would like her gifts in a Clifford bag (which is amusing to me because Kady would hate nothing more than a dog!). They were so excited on Kady's birthday they had to give her the birthday presents in the morning. Kady does like the toys, especially the one with the beads. (In fact, Kady's playing with it right now tied to a door handle.) 
That evening we had a little party for Kady. I found a single steak on discount at Walmart and we 3 girls shared it, sharing a little bit with Kady. (Matt was out of town so he didn't get any steak.) I also bought a slice of cake for us to split. I let the girls individually sing happy birthday to Kady and blow out her own candle. They loved it so much they did it multiple times. Lily was excited to dig into the cake. Camille was also very enthusiastic!
