THE BEST NEWS EVER

(I didn't post this right away for who knows why but I'm here now)

SEPTEMBER 1ST I GET MY BRACES OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAN YOU TELL I'M EXCITED?????

My last appointment was a few weeks ago and my ortho said everything is looking pretty near perfect! I've been VERY diligent with elastics lately because I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. Guess it worked out!! He just said "I think we're gonna go ahead and find a date to get these things off of you, how does that sound?" and I had to hold back a scream. "That sounds AMAZING"

SO I have another checkup appointment on August 19th, and then braces off September 1 with a check up on the 3rd. Then I leave for school on the 5th!!!! EVERYTHING IS CHANGING.
The problem with the date, though, is that now I'm wishing summer away!! But I also don't really want summer to end!!

Anyway, I'm SO happy that I'll have them off for school. I had to take my student card picture with them on, but it's all good....I'll have a new one in a year, anyway.

I also FINALLY got my full G license today!! I asked about getting a new picture because the one I have on my license AND health card are both pre surgery!!! No one has asked about it yet when I show them ID, but I DO look pretty different so I'm always nervous. It's $25 for a new drivers picture, and I have to wait until 2017 for the health card. I think I can live with it...for now.

ANYWAYS, just thought I'd share the news!!! See you in September with some brace free pictures!!!!


x ellen

Three and a half years......and counting

SOS THE BRACES ARE STILL ON

I had my ortho appointment about a week ago but failed to actually post about it. Anyway, I'm here now if any one still cares to hear about my jaw related woes.
The woman taking my wires off was talking to me about where I'm going to school and then came to the realization that I have FOUR MONTHS before I leave (what!! Too soon! I'm not ready to adult yet!!!) Anyway, she slipped the information to my orthodontist who promptly replied with something along the lines of "Well then, I guess we'd better see what we can do about getting them off" (internal cheering)

I've been wearing elastics to fix my crossbite and so far so good it seems!! My orthodontist thinks so, which matters more than what I can actually tell but I personally say it's peachy. Anyway, I'm down to one elastic now to close some gaps that I can't actually see myself but that seem to be there regardless, and my next appointment was booked for May 20 (which is 5 weeks from my last appointment instead of like...two or three months!)

IF I DON'T HAVE THESE THINGS OFF BEFORE I START UNIVERSITY I SWEAR tO GOD. THAT WILL BE FOUR YEARS.

I can't even remember what it feels like to NOT have a mouth full of metal. A coworker of mine just got his braces on and was so excited about them and I had to laugh. I remember when I got my braces on..the excitement, the future of straight teeth that lay ahead. Alas, the feelings are fleeting. Now, I want to rip them out. This feeling is mixed with the "Yes, buttttttttt I also want straight teeth". Sigh.

Anyway, that is my current situation. Tomorrow I' m going to a luncheon for the top students accepted into my program (art) so everyone will meet me with braces on which I guess isn't a huge deal, but I mean...it would be nice to start this new chapter completely NEW. Leave the braces in the past with high school.

Oh! In unrelated news I have dreadlocks now! My friend put three in my hair back in October but I never got around to finishing them until the end of January. So the majority are only about 3 months old and look awful (baby dreads suck) but hey, it's a new look and I'm excited for them to mature!!

Well, until May 20 arrives I have no other important news to share!!  Hope all is well, and thank you to anyone who reads my blog at all, making this typing worthwhile for me and, hopefully, you or your child.

xx

ellen

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I'm not going to go into detail again about my year because I already did that, but I hope anyone reading this had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or (insert whatever holiday you celebrate here)!!! I personally had a wonderful time and I'm looking forward to 2015!! As of now I'm planning to make some big changes to my life!!

Anyway, I recreated a picture I took last year (back when I was only 2 months post op) and put them side by side. I never realized just how swollen I was!!!

Hope everyone has a great (and safe!) New Years Eve, and here's hoping my braces come off soon!!!

xxx

Postponed...again

Not that I was at all surprised, but I had another orthodontist appointment and yet again am without a date. It's kind of funny because the young boy next to me mentioned his two year mark would be in May...his dad says "Yep, it's been a long time!" and I was sitting in my chair wanting to say "If you thought THAT was long, try three years (and three months!!)". And THEN he proceeded to book an appointment in April....to get them off!!! Oh the cruel cruel world.

I have a crossbite now, I guess. I noticed it of course, I think I mentioned it my last post. On the right side either my front teeth moved back or my bottom teeth moved forward I can't tell but it's annoying and now I have "buttons" on the backs of two of my top teeth (I was imagining actual buttons being on my teeth while they glued them on) and now I'm wearing an elastic on the right side, and if this doesn't fix it them I'm tempted to just say screw it!! Rip them off right now I'm sick of this!! (I probably won't do that)

Anyway, that's me and my issue plagued jaw for you. It's never going to come easy for me, is it?? Anyway, here are some pictures I took before my work Christmas party. Hopefully when you next hear from me it will be because I'm really excited about having a date to get this damned metal out of my mouth!!!

 

One Year!!!!!!!!

Oh my GOD!!!! I can NOT believe it's been an entire year since I had my surgery!! On this day last year I made my nervous drive to Kingston and had a nervous wait in the hospital and sat nervously in my nice hospital gown and got wheeled away from my mother and grandpa and underwent a surgery that was going to completely change my life!!!! A year ago at this time I can recall waking up briefly in the recovery room, painfully throwing up blood, and then once again while I was wheeled to my room. Back then, I could barely even see past a few days let alone an entire year! It's just so unreal to me that I spent SO long waiting and fretting about having the surgery, and now it's already a year past. That's not to say my journey is over, though. I still have these damn braces!! But at my last ortho appointment, my doctor said he wanted to have them off ASAP. The only real issue is that the teeth on the bottom right side have shifted forward slightly so that now my eye teeth (I believe that's what they are...I'm not fluent in tooth jargon) are touching and it's not TOO bad, but I notice it obviously and we're trying to get that fixed up so hopefully all goes well! My next appointment is in Decemeber

Anyway, an entire year has obviously brought with it many changes. I look different, for one. Sometimes I'll look at my self and think the change really wasn't that big, but then I look at pictures of me from before and I am still completely blown away!! I'm still on the course of accepting and loving myself, but I am so much further in that journey since I've had my surgery. I am far more confident now, knowing that the people I interact with or even just pass by, aren't just looking at my jaw the whole time (or at least, that's what my constant fear was). I don't need to cover my face with my hands, or hate myself when I smiled or laugh. I can actually eat sandwiches!!!!! And I don't pull all of the filling out!!!

I still have numbness in the same areas I've mentioned below (lower right lip and chin, as well as gums) but it's bearable at this point. I've come to the conclusion that I will more than likely be living like this for the rest of my life, and it's really not that bad. I can still tell, for the most part, if I have anything on my face. My real problem is that the numb side is also a tad bit more swollen, it seems. It's just kind of bigger and...I don't want to say droopy, but it's not quite as tight as the left side (my good side ;D) But no matter.

I've come really far as a person since my confidence has grown, and I am comfortable now with being myself. I no longer care as much for what people think of me. I accept what I like and I don't try to change or hide my interests to fit what other people want or like. I've cut the bad people from my life, for the most part. I'm in my gap year, and next year I hopefully will  be living in Toronto, so I'm not making a huge deal out of making better friends really. I'm meeting some nice people ,and I work with great people, but right now my focus is on furthering my art and getting into OCAD University, as well as working enough to save more for school. I don't need any of the distractions that having many friends brings right now, as I simply do not have the time. I have one great, best friend and it's awesome. I've never been a person who needs more than five friends, anyway, so it's alright.

I'm about to start my second NaNoWriMo novel, another great way to celebrate, as I started my first one last year during my recovery week! I have high hopes for this one!

I'm really beginning to learn about myself and who I am, and what I want to do with my life. I'm looking forward to travelling and meeting new people, and I want to do things that change the world for the better. I don't want to just sit around forever, I want to experience life and I want to make life better for those who don't have the luxuries that I do living in Canada. This year has really brought to light who I am, which is a person I never imagined I would be a few years ago.

I had a rough four years in high school, I'll be honest. I'm still struggling with the insecurities and self doubt that the time there garnered in me and I imagine I have some time left before I can truly keep it at bay. But right now, I am content with life and that's ok with me.

I am beyond happy with my surgery, and I can't wait to share when I finally get my braces removed!!!

Ten months and an ortho appointment!

Today sucked. It was an absolutely awful day.
For some reason my June self decided it was perfectly acceptable to make an appointment for 9:40 in the summer, meaning I had to wake up at 8:45am...........this is a girl who sleeps in until 11-12 every day after going to bed at 2 am. Then I had to go into work for 1 after a glorious 4 days spent down at my cottage, and while backing out of my driveway, trying carefully to maneuver my car between the telephone pole located dangerously close to the driveways edge, and the van belonging to a woman who was meeting my mom (my mom is going to watch her son before and after school, so they were  just meeting) anyway, I turned to sharply and hit the van, putting a pretty sizeable dent in the sliding door, so I'll be paying for that repair out of pocket. If I go through insurance, I'll have to pay an extra $65 a month and that isn't happening so.  She got an estimate today and said it was pretty pricey, but she's shopping around. My mom's guessing anywhere from $500 to $1000 though, so that should be just awesome.
I'm a person who really really hates spending money, I save save save, and I stress over the smallest decrease in my account. I've FINALLY reached a goal of $10,000 saved (mainly for university) and I'm currently looking to buy a new laptop. So now, rather than shelling out about $800, I'll be spending even more. I just can't believe it happened ,and I've been playing it over in my head all day just thinking of what ifs and could haves. Luckily the woman was nice about it, but still. It just really really sucks.
Anyway, then I was ten minutes late to work (partly because of the whole van debacle) but also because I was stuck in construction traffic on the way....so yeah, fun fun day for Ellen (not).

Incidentally, my teeth are KILLING me right now after having my braces tightened, getting c chains on once again, and having a new placement for my elastics. Apparently my bottom jaw has started coming forward again (awesome! ha ha...ha. .....ha) so I guess the elastics are going to push it back, but damn they hurt. I feel like I want to rip all of my teeth right out of my skull.
Anyway, no word on the braces removal, but my next appointment isn't until October (a few weeks after my three years of braces mark, and about 20 days shy of my one year since surgery date)
I'm not sure how the next month and a bit will change things, but you know. I've really given up hope and now I'm just resigning myself to the braces and playing it by year.

So I'm really not sure what the time frame looks like right now, but I'm pretty stressed and emotionally drained right now so I'm trying not to think about it right now honestly.

Well, that's really all I've got to say for now. Have a gander at some post surgery pictures of my face.

Thanks for reading (:

xx

Prom and Graduation!

Unfortunately I didn't get to have my braces off for prom or graduation, but my smile is still so much better and for that I am very thankful!! I thought I would post some pictures of the two events for fun, and I even have a picture of me from my grade eight graduation to put up next to grade 12...absolutely AMAZING.

I've said it a hundred times before, and I won't stop saying it, but WOW this surgery is incredible.

Prom: (my hair definitely did not turn out well, but whatever I had fun)

 




Grad: