To my splint: farewell, au revoir, sayonara, auf wiedersehen, adios, arrivederci.....

Today was the day I got my gigantic splint taken out of my mouth. And ya know what? It didn't actually suck like I thought it would. In fact, I had a wonderful day. I've been dreading this day for the past few weeks because I was warned about how much it would hurt. The splint is this honkin' piece of plastic that my upper teeth sat in like a retainer, and it had all these little wires wrapped around my braces to keep it in place. For some reason I had it in my mind that all the little wires had to be unraveled, but of course it just all got clipped. I had planned to start untwisting all the wires myself to minimize the time with hands all up in my grill, but my wise mother talked me out of it. Good thing I didn't start that or I think my surgeon and nurses would probably have started questioning my intelligence, or at least my sanity.

I decided to prepare by taking the dose of pain meds I was on a few weeks ago, aka quadruple what I'm taking right now. I took half on the way over, and when I got there they said I probably had about another 30 min to wait so I took the other half. Within maybe 2 minutes it was my turn, and nothing had kicked in. Luckily I didn't need it, but needless to say it was a sleeeeeepy afternoon. I was incredibly nervous because I knew it went so far back in my mouth, and it's still all so sensitive. So anyway, I lie down in my little chair and he comes in to get this speech-impediment-maker/food-holder/incision-healer out of my mouth after all these weeks. I imagine it's a similar feeling to childbirth: you have absolutely zero desire to go through it, but it's not like the thing can stay in there forever. Although in my case, my reward was a nasty little piece of plastic, not a loving bundle of joy. I also can only assume this was a more pleasant experience. Whatever, it's the best analogy I can come up with. 

As soon as I cranked my jaw open and saw him honing in on the target with wire clippers I immediately tensed up- back arched, and very nearly punctured holes in the armrests with my fingernails. This led to him asking me if I trusted him. I couldn't help but burst into laughter- if I didn't trust him, then I've certainly gone too far and maybe should've thought of that before I let him slice my face for 10 hrs. We all had a giggle. And then, all of a sudden, it was over. Sure, the wire clipping seemed to go on for awhile because there's so much of it, but as soon as that thing was out and I could clamp my teeth together, there was a little fireworks display in my head. I would estimate it's been about 6 years since my teeth have touched in all those places. It was magical. I then got to go brush my teeth (glorious- even though this "adult brush" was a bit bigger than the little kiddy Dora toothbrush I've been using). Not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit in the bathroom. I expected to cry today, but more because of the pain than the emotions. Yeah, yeah, it's lame, but it was a pretty sweet moment. I haven't been able to appreciate the pain-free fake joints yet because of, well, the pain, and I haven't been able to fully appreciate the aesthetics yet because of the swelling, but all of a sudden I could fully appreciate the new bite. It immediately validated the 2 years of appointments, the year of braces, the week in the hospital, the 7 weeks in bed, and the months of recovery to come. In that moment I knew that never again would I bite into a sandwich and only pull off the bread, leaving all the delicious filling exposed and un-devoured because I couldn't bite all the way through. It should be noted that I ate a grilled cheese- successfully- as soon as I got home. Ohhhh yeah. My mom and I high-fived.

With this splint out, I can instantly speak more clearly and I think my upper lip falls flatter. Maybe not to anyone else but in my eyes it does. It's also no longer poking through my lips. Exhibit A: 

Splint free!! Day 48.

Tomorrow I'm going to see my orthodontist and I'm very excited to see her reaction. She will definitely appreciate the change I think! The rest of the week will be spent trying to get my act together for school. As if summer is over- wowza. I'll probably be moving back on Monday or Tuesday to get settled in, then I have tour guide training Tuesday and Wednesday night, an appointment with my surgeon Wednesday morning, and classes start on Thursday. Yay! Back to school! :|

Anyway, here is my first side-by-side front view comparison. The "after" shot is taken on my less-than-stellar cell phone camera, but I am wearing the same dress at least! I am still quite swollen but I think you can see that it's gone down a bit since last time. As long as it keeps going down, I'll be happy!

Before and after as of day 46.

All in all, it's been a long but rewarding day. If anyone has had braces, imagine the feeling of getting your braces off but times 10...except that I still have braces. Haha.

I can't even begin to fathom how lucky I am. I was reading this online article profiling my surgeon and his colleague (read it here) and it only reaffirmed that. Most people endure 10-20 surgeries before they bring in the big guns, and I got it right off the bat. Their's is the largest clinic in Canada (there's also a small one in Alberta), and they're only funded to do about 20 a year. When I think about all the people that can't have this done for whatever reason, be it financial, distance, wait-list, whatever, it makes me really sad but it makes me appreciate this whole thing even more. Quite the adventure. And today is the first day I've felt closer to being recovered than to having had surgery. It's a great feeling. Ok, now time to go tear open plastic bags with my under-worked canines. (Just kidding...but the urge is strong).

A :)

ps. I changed my Fantasy Football team name to The Goaldiggers. Our logo is a picture of the Disney Princesses all clad in gold. I thought it was particularly more girly and less frightening than Skull Crushers, and I love it. Our draft is Saturday- time to start my research!