First Bag of Blood..... Cleared.

Hello my fellow jaw patients/earthlings.

I just spent my whole morning in Singapore General Hospital. To summarize, needles, needles and more needles. T_T

On my right arm: I've drawn 2 small tubes of blood for some testing which I am unsure of what they wna test. After which, I went for a Chest Xray. I couldn't figure the link between chest and jaw surgery though, oh well. Just do it.
On my Left arm: Local Anastasia, 4 tubes of blood for some testing as well and a bag of blood.

Xray Gown: Makes me look like a maternity lady

 I then went to donate blood for myself in case anything bad crops up during surgery. *touch wood* I had a local anesthesia before the nurses went on with a huge ass needle. Yes, I am afraid of needles, can you imagine I am actually going under a knife in about 2 weeks. Oh my god.

*Ouch* 'em needles..... T_T

My blood was pretty thick due to the fact that I haven't been drinking enough water. So the nurses had to move the needles around to find the perfect "position" so the blood could flow out at a much faster pace. Not much pain, but just a little discomfort as I could feel the needle in me when she was pushing it up/down/left/right to find the perfect spot.

Opposite my bed was another jaw patient. I was so happy to see her, her surgery is next Wednesday. Exactly a week before mine. I wanted to exchange contact details so we could be recovery buddies but I couldn't move much. Oh well. If anyone of you out there is having your surgery soon, do contact me ok! I'd love to know you.

The nurses there were really nice and funny. They gave me several mini-heart attacks. Omgee. So the Nurse who was attending to me, let's call her Nurse A was shouting, ok not shouting but talking loudly across the room to Nurse B and said something like "Where is the vein that you examined, I couldn't find it". Ok mini heart attack here. The needle is huge, if anything goes wrong, I'll be in great pain. I told Nurse A "Are you sure you can't find it? Should you tightened the strap so you can find it?" "haha I'm just joking around with Nurse B, don't worry" said Nurse A. Hahahah, I heaved a sigh of relieve. I wouldn't want her to "trail and error" her way as I've tried it which a much smaller needle and I can say it's no fun. At all.

After she managed to find my vein, she then said to Nurse C, the one attending to the jaw patient opposite my bed, "I can finish everything faster than you". My eyes literally went from o.o to O.O and I immediately told her there's no hurry in this and she could take her time. "I was just joking around, talking rubbish. Don't panic" says Nurse A.  hahahaha. I'm really timid I know but I don't want unnecessary pain y'know?

My bag of blood: sorry I had to blur most of the information. Nurse B said it's all confidential. I don't wna risk. 

After Nurse A removed the needles and cleaned me up she asked when I would I like to come back for the other bag of blood. My jaw literally dropped. All along I thought I was going to do this only once but it seems like I'm going back next week to repeat the whole process. Minus the Xray. *frowns*

How I feel after everything is over. Left & Right arm poked.

On a side note, my left arm feels swollen and I can feel a slight pain/numb. It almost feels like a muscle ache after you've exercised. However, it's 100% bearable. Just hope it'll heal in time for round 2 on next Thursday.

Why the Surgery?

This is the  number 1 question that people would ask me. I doubt people would even understand unless they are facing this problem themselves.

I've been called "plastic" by one of my close friends already and the thing is, I haven't even gone for my surgery. "I'll call you plastic from now on" wow. that hurts man. I was really mad at first, then sad. I tried to explain but I am not sure if she gets it. Which I highly doubt because she has been blessed with a perfect bite all her life and it's hard for her to understand. 

It's funny how most of the jaw surgery blogs that I visit always have this post/section which states "reasons/why surgery". I FEEL ALL OF YOU. The need to explain, the need for people to understand us. Which they never would. 

Biting

Biting has always been a chore to me. The fact that my teeth don't meet when my mouth is closed means that I can never bite/tear/separate foods with my teeth alone. Not sure whether to blame my upper or lower jaw. Maybe both. 

Imagine: If I can fit a part of my tongue out of my mouth when it's closed, how can I ever possibly bite food off like most of you out there do. T_T

Thankfully, after 20 years of experience in eating I found a way to do it, with the aid of my tongue. I would push my tongue towards my upper teeth in order to bite/tear foods. This method only works on softer foods like noodles, fish, etc. You get what I mean right? This means that I have a higher risk of biting into my tongue which I always do. So what happens after you accidentally bite your tongue? Bleeding occurs, then ulcers. yay.

I tend to avoid tougher foods such as chicken cutlets, steaks, vegetables with stems, etc UNLESS restaurants provide knife for me to cut them into smaller pieces and by knife, I mean good knife unlike what long john silver provides; a plastic knife which I can never cut through its chicken. This leads on to my next point.

Premature Wear

I have always relied on the first pair of molars that meet in my mouth. Speaking of this, I am really sad because after getting my braces on, my teeth started to shift and this pair of molars don't meet anymore. Which means I can no longer rely on them.

The constant pressure & friction causes my tooth to chip

Right now, I am running the risk of chipping my 3rd molar from the back of my upper jaw. I only have 5 pairs of teeth that meet. Picture above was taken when my mouth is closed.

Speech

Like other jaw patients, I'm unable to pronounce sibilants; words that have a hissing sound to it. It's frustrating how people would jokingly correct/correct my mistakes. I guess too much air escapes when I talk. In addition, because of the gap in my mouth, I tend to accidentally spit/drool saliva whenever I'm talking.

Breathing

Not sure whether my small nasal airway is actually linked to this, but I guess it is since the surgery will increase the size of the nasal airway. I've had sinus since I was a young girl, sleeping through the night would be counted as a blessing for me. Most of the nights, I'll wake up wheezing. On average I will use around 10-20 tissues per night just to blow out the mucus in my nasal passage. Thankfully, it's either I have a really bad night or a good night, nothing in between. So on some days, I get to enjoy really good sleep like most of you out there. ^^

Because of my congested nose, I've been using my mouth to breathe which causes me to wake up with a really dry/painful throat. I guess some of you would experience this when you're down with a bad flu. Just that this flu of mine will never recover. 

Bonus: Appearance

Just like people with braces, I just want a nicer smile. For me, it just requires another step for me to have this perfect smile, which is surgery. I've never smiled with teeth in my whole life, and I don't know how to. I have a rather low self-esteem, I tend to not talk to people (a lot) when I've just met them. I'm just afraid people would judge me. If this surgery can fix the problems stated above, and it also comes with aesthetic benefits, why not? It's my life and I live it the way I want to. I'm not here to please anyone of you even if it affects me, somehow. 
It's easier said than done though, of not giving a shit about what others think of me.