welly welly welly..

Met with Dr.Fatimah. She was pleased with the effects of the elastic bands. She did some scaling on the back of the front lower teeth..after I complained that I have noticed the gums' receding..my teeth look a bit longer than how they looked ( i was comparing pictures that i took while in the early process of braces).
So, i'm going to have a joint-clinic with my OS next month at Queen ELizabeth Hospital. Dr. Fatimah said to lay off using the elastics..just to see if the teeth have stabilized their positions. After the joint-clinic, then she'll see me for the last time before de-banding.Hopefully.
Gosh..it has been more than 4 years! 4 long years.. and in a few more months, I'll be trading in these braces for retainers.
sigh.. i also requested for a copy of my before and after pics that the hosp is keeping. The doc said she'll look into it.

January 2009
January 2010 (8 months after surgery)

eye-sore

Some remnants of cough is still around..
Been having this cough for about one month now..
Have seen the physiotherapist again..
gone on infra-red treatment..
asked to do the soft-tissue massage thingy..
i'm getting the hang of the news... bell's palsy
my left eye n eyebrow are the two things most evidently different..
i yawn.. my left eye closes..
i raised my eyebrows.. the left one does not rise as much
i tightly close my mouth..the left eye close in unison...
sigh...
more than 8 months have passed..

silver lining?

Had an appointment with the physiotherapist this afternoon. I have Bell's palsy. I am shaken.

The only thing happening now is me continuing with the use of the elastics to close down the ever-slowly moving bite. My ortho had said that the de-bracing might happen early next year. She didn't give an exact date though...next year is next month (time really flies). The next appointment with her will only be in the middle of next month. She commented that the bite is really closing much better.
On the other hand, I finally had her refer me to a physiotherapist for this quasi(quasi?) paralysed left side of my face. The paralysis doesn't show unless I do some movement that will show that the size of closure of the left eye doesn't correspond with the right. For example, if I raise my eyebrows, the right would go up, while the left wouldn't..as high..making me have this sceptical look, you know? ANd the left cheek still twitch up along with theleft. If i purse my lips, say drinking a straw, the left eye would close slightly too. I'm not sure what the physiotherapist would do with this condition, but i hope he/she can offer some explanations.
Sensation is still at a minimum on the lower left lip as well as the lower left chin. I'd be having a drink or meal and i'd be constantly on guard to feel whether something is going down my chin and wiping it off. Hmm... so, a tissue or wipe is always in hand.
It has been 31 weeks since the surgery. Nearly 8 months.

crreeaaakkk...

Was eating Assam Laksa just now at Old Town, was chewing the white noodle..the noodle weren't that stringy/ chewy.. but I felt and heart this snap from my lower right jaw and a sudden but slight pain was felt. I suspect the bracket of the molar has snapped open. I can feel some discomfort on that area whenever I bit down. Didn't finish my assan laksa then.. but the french toast ordered was heaven... so i slowly chewed the bread using the right side of the jaw..
sigh..
my next visit to the ortho is on the 19th... i think i'll call them tomorrow to ask whether I can go earlier..before my gums suffer more.

points to ponder

I ran into a former colleague a few weeks ago. I haven't met her for a quite some time..eversince she stopped working- to take care of her two children. So, suffice to say she wasn't around when I first started my braces treatment and certainly wasn't around to see the slow changes that were happening to me and my mug. Anyways...we chit-chatted for a while when the inevitable questions popped out. When I told her that I had had a jaw surgery, she looked surprised, saying that she never noticed that there was anything wrong with my teeth.. however, when I said that I went through the surgery to correct my bite, she mimed this look of over-extending her lower jaw and... i just ho-hmm-ed my confirmation. She DID remember how I looked but just didn't think the condition needed any correction.
There was another thing she said that sort of got me thinking about what aesthetics mean to some people. I had talked briefly about the surgery, some of the effects... and I had started saying something like..."I went through the surgery...All in the name of..." I was going to say..All in the name of beauty or something about a good smile/ bite...etc. She finished off my sentence with.."vanity". I was about to correct her when something held me back.
It was most certainly not vanity. I realised it was quite fruitless expaining to her why I did it. :)... so, I turned the conversation somewhere else and that was that.
Vanity... desire for admiration because of one's personal attainments or attractions. Nope. Definitely not that.