NAHKY's Long Bracial Journey - New Pics Pg 16

[MadeIn1984]

Wooohooo! Happy birthday!!!!!!!

[nahky]

So its been another week. Another pointless post from me.

70 more days to go exactly until surgery. 1/5 of the year to go.

Was bored so did some searches on the net. Funny how i popped up when typing my own nickname in google. All my post from archwired popped up. Kinda scary.

Wikipedia is a great website so find anything and everything. Even Archwired.com is on there.

I've managed to find out some stuff that will help with the budget. The surgeon will calculate the cost of the surgery a week after the surgery. Then sends a bill a month afterwards along with the anaesieist fees. This gives me plenty of time. So im happy about that.

Just 70 more days, until my life is altered for the better. Bring on the liquid diet!

Lifes Tough, But im Tougher!

[nahky]

Loved the dancing monkey MadeIn1984!

Well according to my ticker (and i think its right), i only have 2 more months to go before my jaw surgery is underway. Its a milesone for me. May 24th is gunna be great (apart from the horrendous swelling and goriness and all)

I have got a job at a call centre and it pays well. Enjoying the work indeed. Im one of those annoying telemarketers that calls you while you have your dinners asking ridiculous questions. But I try to be polite as possible and dont mind if you hang up in my face

I have been looking into fitness programs, and am strongly considering becoming a personal trainer. I love fitness and doing activities. The courses dont seem too long. I'd love to help people get into shape (e.i biggest loser tv show). I think it'd be great work/fun. The courses start during may this year though, which is a bit inconvenient for me. But i'll definately look into after i've healed.

60 more days to go !!

As for the teeth so far, they are still the same, just in a stable position. I've been so lazy with flossing at times. Its kinda hard when you've crashed at a friends place (either passed out) and havent got any of the equipment i'd normally use (e.i my flossfish and braun electric toothbrush)

[nahky]

Hey Linda21, today was a little rough at work. I can understand why these calls are annoying but dont understand why some poeple go off the deep end and start yelling, it doesnt help. A polite no is appreciated when taking calls all day, so good to know you are able to remain polite

As for the biggest loser, Im quite suprised at how they have put the show together. They havent strayed too far from the original American format. Hats off to them. They've done quite well considering they are showing it everyday, they seem to pack it with some interesting things to watch.

I reckon Wal will looks great after the transformation, hes got a good frame on him. Christie is already look good, especially after that make-over for the photoshoot, she looked the best. As for Fiona, she really needs to shape up, she concentrates on getting immunity more than actually losing weight, what a no-hoper. Shoving those muffins down her big gob, pointless. Shane is looking strange without that beard, i can understand why he grew one. Can't wait to see Ruth's transformation. The weigh-in is tonight, should be good to see who loses what.

[nahky]

Yup, certainly cant wait KK to my S-day

1 month and 3 weeks and 3 days to go. Its going by really quickly now.

Ok, another anecdote from me. Yesterday as i was heading into the city via a train. I sat down. As the train approaches a stop, these two women step in. I assumed they were sisters because they looked very similar. They looked about 22 ish in age. After awhile , i looked at one, something was not quite right about her face. Then i notice her jaw. She had an underbite obviously once i stared long enough to see and analyse. and it looked like her sister had one as well. They just looked awkward. They would have been quite good looking girls if the underbite wasnt there.

Which got me thinking, do they know anything about the surgery? I wonder if they know about underbites and that it can be fixed? That underbite gene in their family must be very dominant.

I have three older sisters and one older brother, and i was the only forunate one to develop one.

I really hope when i have children, their jaws come out growing normally, but at least if it didnt, i would have enough knowledge to guide them through it from my experiences.

I was looking back at my old childhood photos. It looks like this underbite started really young. I can see it in the 2nd grade. I would have been 7?

55 more days to go

[nahky]

Here i am again, another update.

My last adjustment was 4 days ago, My ortho wasnt happy with me because i hadnt caught up with the bills yet. At the day, i was owing 1150 for the monthly bills altogther. I figured i wold pay 800 on the day of my adjustment. The card only allowed me pay 500.

I know its my duty to pay my bills but he really made me feel uncomfortable for not paying. Although hes a friendly man, he was very passive agressive that day. Anyways, bigger things to think about. I'll pay some more off today.

The countdown to my Surgery day is really taking off. Only 45 more days to go. 1 month and 2 weeks. Still feels far away, but really close in terms of how long i've waited for this day to come. I have been chatting to people and sometimes they mention they know who has had the surgery and they can only say greats things that have come out of having the surgery.

• Last Consultation with Surgeon for moulds and X-rays : MAY 4th 2pm
  
  Installation of surgery hooks from my Ortho: MAY 19th 8am
  
  Orthognathic Surgery day ( Both Jaws & genio) : MAY 24th 9am

I found a good website to prepare me for surgery
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:pc6 ... clnk&cd=19

[nahky]

Blimey Nahky. It seems like only yesterday you were 83 days to go! Now your only 42 days away from life-changing surgery ! Bring on 24 May!!
Don't worry he still luvs ya, he just luvs ya money more ! As long as you make a commitment to pay the outstanding amount asap and offer your deepest apologies, you have nothing to feel guilty about.
Nahky - bring it on!

Haha Linda21... Money Money Money, yes, he probably does love my money more. I can imagine him in a pool of money doing the backstroke hehe. My bill was quite overdue and im sure he didnt want a runner, so its fair enough, doesnt phase me, i'll pay it. Im going to ahve this surgery soon, so im on a high. Basically a month to go now. Sometimes i cant beleive its going to happen. It has always been awhile away so it was just a thought, Now it shall be a reality, i will look different. I will probably be really scared before the surgery, So i'll make sure to think of others who ahve been through this and have come out great.

Thanks for the support KK, I look forward to passing on advice and experience to others put in my same position.

I have recently joined the yahoo orthognathic group support. Its an eye-opener. The amount of post going through there is overwhelming. over 5200 members throwing out messages right left n centre. It seems all the cases i;ve been reading up on ahve joined this site because their pics are there. They mention the experience of having surgery as like 'the other side'. You have those that are pre-op, and post oppers. I cant help but think of it as passing into another realm (Reminds me of some John Edwards Tv Show) Hard to explain. Well, i cant wait to get to 'the other side'.

41 More sleeps it is!

[nahky]

I had the weirdest dream last night. It was another braces dream. It started with me brush my teeth. I had just eaten tuna, tuna gets everywhere as you would know. When i started spitting the chunks out, huge pieces came out, like cans and cans worth of tuna. By the end of it, the whole sink was filled with tuna, some even unchewed and unseperated chunks of tuna. Was quite grotesque.

Well, 40 more days to go. 40 more sleeps. Feels like a countdown to christmas pressies now, this will be by far the best gift i could even receive.

Have a great Easter break everyone!

[alexa]

Wow. Your dream sounds gross!!

Anyway, your surgery is getting closer, and that's awesome. I'm sure it'll go great...May 24th is a good day...Bob Dylan's birthday, nothing can do wrong on Dylan's birthday!

(sorry, I'm a Dylan-addict!)

All the best!
-alexa

[nahky]

Wow. Your dream sounds gross!!
Anyway, your surgery is getting closer, and that's awesome. I'm sure it'll go great...May 24th is a good day...Bob Dylan's birthday, nothing can do wrong on Dylan's birthday!
(sorry, I'm a Dylan-addict!)
All the best!
-alexa

Thankyou Alexa, Im not quite sure who Bob dylan was/is, sounds like a familiar musician, but if his b'day brings me more fortune, I'll take it!

Well I know my braces story nowadays seems like just a series of post about countdowns, and thats pretty much true. It has been a waiting game for me for ahwile since the teeth were sorted out.

Not too long ago, the coundown was at

3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days

then it became 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days

now its 1 month, 1 week and 1 day to go. Its great to see the contrast and how soon my surgery is coming. 38 more sleeps

[nahky]

Well lookee that! Its May already

My wait is almost over. 21 days. 3 weeks. thats it. I can feel the impending surgery breathing down my neck. Time to say farewell to my underbite and hello to the brand new better version of my mouth functionally & aesthetically -wise.

***Tomorrow, I will have my last consult with my surgeon to get my X-rays done, Moulds done up, Photos taken and get breifed about what exactly will happen during surgery. Im nervous and excited bout it. Can't believe the day has arrived for these tasks already. It will just make the reality that im having this surgery soon sink in more.

Im so excited and anxious at the same time. I really hope it turns out to be what i expected, but i dont want to raise my hopes up too much, yet at the same time, i know thinking positive is essential to a speedy recovery.
Either way, i know im in great hands and the doctors know what they are doing, and bite will be fixed regardless, thats what i must remember.

[nahky]

Thanks for the moral support guys. I'll tell you how the consult with my surgeon went. Hes a really great guy, im so so glad he is my surgeon. I asked him a heap of questions about the whole process and he happily answered all and went indepth about the precedures and spoke about extra things. The whole consult took about an hour.

***The last few sections of this post is irrelevant, so skip if you wish to ge the main bits

Diagnosis: He said the position of my top jaw and teeth are perfect, so no upper surgery. Just my bottom jaw to fix the assymetry and underbite. And a genioplasty to make things more aesthetically pleasing (to make me look more blokey (in his words))

Tasks performed today were:
The assitant called me in, she made me put on this ridiculous looking thick rubber apron thing and did two x-rays, one of the teeth and one of the skull

When the Doc came in, he spoke to me and took out the jaw model and explained to me indepth about the whole process. He closely examined my mouth and x-rays. Poked and prodded my face and diagnosed what would be ideal. He said upper surgery wasnt really necessary; he said normally my upper jaw would be considered slightly difficient, but because i have a Vietnamese background, its quite normal to ahve a bit of space instead of a more anglo-saxon look. Which is fair enough, id ont wanna come out looking too different, just a better improved better verison of me. Im only unhappy wit my udnerbite and weak chin really, so im happy that he will leave my uppers alone because i like my smile and how it correlates with my nose and eyes (if ya know what i mean)

Then he took out the digital camera and took snaps of me from frontal view and profile view. After that , he put the lip stretchers in my mouth (which he made me hold myself) then he took pics of my teeth.

Then he called a nurse in and she made the stuff for the moulds. It wasnt too bad.
I asked if it would be possible if he could make a computer generated prediction of my profile. He said yes, and that he usually does it and shows his patients before they ahve surgery so they can choose which one they preferered (He would have a couple of results to show). I requested that he do it a week earlier so i can review them a wek before. So i set up another date for the 17th to visit him again and see and choose which prediction i prefer (it is MY face afterall! )

Miscellaneous: I was given a brochure of the hospital. It looks SWANKY hehe. Like a big B & B stay.
That consult costed 600 bucks!!! ouch, i didnt even know it was going to charged, although i did have the question looming in my mind (these x-rays, they cant be for free i thought). They just keep on draining my depleting funds. ITS ALL WORTH IT IN THE END i tell myself.

When he was taking my picture, he said "its going to be a good case because even though you ahve an assyemtric jaw and underbite, you're still a good looking bloke, its gunna be good" I just laughed it off. But it made me feel really good inside. This ma is doing everything he can to make my bite PERFECTLY STRAIGHT and make things look supremo. He says he practices on model moulds of patients' moulds every monday aftrenoon (After a good meal of yum cha he said) to get thigns right before the surgery day.

On the way to the consult: I drove to the train station and took a train to the city. Then a girl i once knew from highschool approached me. I didnt recognise her at first when she walked past. Eventually she walked back to me and strated talking. She was one of the most smartest and prettiest girls from my school last year in senior year. I never really spoke to her in school. We spoke throughout the journey to the city, about 30 mins. She said i looked different because of my braces. I told her where i was going, and we strated talking about my jaw stuff and she even mentioned a story about when she fell over and hurt her jaw and had to go to a jaw specialist as well. I have dreaded seeing people that i wasnt friends with at school, but in this case, i was really glad i ran into her, shes a really nice person. I felt comfortable enough to tell her what i was going to get done to my jaw. She was sympathetic. Its hard to get people to udnerstand why im doing this, because my problem isnt exactly evident to the untrained eye. I guess i wont have to anymore after this is all done with in 3 weeks, yay!

Im really happy with how everything went. Im glad i ahve another pre-consult to the big day incase i have other questions. I have a great feeling inside of me now

To Linda21
Im just telling my own person little journey and really glad it can help others through similar things. I ahve a funny feeling no matter how much research i've done, nohtings gunna prepare me for such a thing to recover from. time will tell (and not much time left either!). But the Excitement is definately there! Its whats been putting a smile on my face lately everytime i think about it.

To KK
Thanks a bunch for the support on this board KK I'm grateful i ahve such an outlet to express my feeling son this topic which has been plaguing my mind for years of my life.

New Dates to look forward to

17th May - Review of My Computer Generated Image Prediction 12pm

19th May - Surgery hooks go on from Ortho to assist with surgery 8am

24th May - Orthoganthic Jaw Surgery day 12:30 pm

19 Sleeps until S-day!

[nahky]

Linda21 wrote:
Did you receive a table of costs from the hospital and your surgeon's office before meeting him? It should have listed all the costs associated with the surgery, including pre and post consultations. You better keep this in mind since you've booked in to see him again prior to your scheduled surgery. Just give his office a call to determine if you're up for an additional cost with your next visit on the 17th.

Firstly thanks for the words of support Linda You were right about me recieving a bill with a table of items assosciated with the surgery. I didnt read it properly, I was expecting these cost from the beginning in my quotes. The 2 and 2 didnt quite click, i thought they would have billed me these cost after surgery. Either way, im relieved its not extra than i thought, it involves the production of the splint which will hold my jaws together.

I'll make a call regarding my next appointment for my review whether i will incur any costs. Thanks for the suggestion. Im having second thoughts about even looking at these pictures.

"Will it be what i expected?"
"Will i like this new look of me?"
"Would it be better to leave it as a suprise as i recover?"
"will it give me false hopes?"

Once again, the important point is my bite will be proper and aligned, and thats the main point i must focus on, No more underbite! the rest is a bonus! as long i dont look to different or weird



10 more sleeps.

[smile]

I can't believe your surgery's in a bit more than a week Jason - wishing you lots of luck and a speedy recovery!

[nahky]

Well tomorror i shall see my OS to view my prediction images for after the surgery. Should be interesting. I'll ask for a copy.
Good tip KK, my brothers and sisters do look fine with their normal aligned bites, its reassuring, good tip.

Smile - Heck, i cant believe its time as well! Just a week to go. thanks for the support, i'll definately give you the 411 on whats happening with my recovery after surgery.

Rage31 - Im glad you find my story inspirational. I smile when i look back on the ups and downs (lots of them), and im glad i've overcome them. This impending surgery is just another one soon coming up.
I see youve recently started your bracial journey, and i wish you all the best and hope you update us all to inspire others aswell.


What to do for my last week of oral freedom?
Sing? Dance? Eat until i hafta unzip my pants?

Im not sure yet, have 2 parties to go to, So i'll make sure to catch up with friends and PIG OUT. Im really on cloud 9 now, as cheesey as that sounds. Its my time, my turn.

8 more sleeps[/b]