IT'S OUT!

Today was the day I'd been looking forward to since December 17: the RPE was removed! To say I was excited would be the understatement of the year.

Obviously the day dragged until 1:45pm when I finally got to leave work and go to my appointment. My excitement was palpable, the assistants seemed amused.

The appliance is removed much more quickly than it goes on. They saw a cut in each of the 4 bands and then gently pull the whole thing out. It was a little uncomfortable getting it removed but I was too excited to care. It was a few minutes before I could finally have my mouth to myself and when I touched my tongue to the roof of my mouth, I immediately exclaimed "Oh my god!" My mouth felt GIGANTIC!

Unfortunately they did have to put the TPA (transpalatal arch) in immediately as per normal procedure. This is a much smaller wire that goes across the roof of my mouth to keep my palate from reverting.

Getting fitted for the bands was a bit painful but the whole thing didn't take very long. Them trying to pry off excess cement was probably the worst part.

The crappy thing with the TPA is that it has brackets on either side. The inside brackets hold the wire in place and the outside brackets are for when I get braces next week. I came home and put some Gishy Goo on the outer brackets as I could feel my cheek was already getting chewed up.

Gotta admit, I'm not thrilled that the TPA will be in there until the end of my treatment but it is much more tolerable and not really in the way. If something has to be in there for the next 2 years, better the TPA than the RPE.

I do need to have an honestly moment here. Every time I'm at a new stage in the process, I can't help feeling somewhat frustrated with all of it. I always look forward so much to the next step and then it happens and it's like, "Oh yeah, this still sucks!" It's obviously worth the trouble but it does get momentarily annoying having to go through everything. It's a lot of adjusting to less than ideal circumstances that you can't escape and that you paid a lot of money to be dealing with. Most of my frustration had settled down because it's been nearly 5 months since anything new happened, but the TPA has reawakened it. I'm sure next week when I get braces, I will be happy and excited to get going, but also frustrated because let's face it, this whole process sucks!

In the meantime, I'm back to soft foods because ouch.

Anyway, here's what a TPA looks like!



Next stop, braces on May 21st!

4 Months Post SARPE Surgery

Wow, those 4 months went by fast!

I just wanted to give an update because I had an orthodontist appointment the other day. Besides usually being the only adult patient in there, the assistants are always interested in how things are going with me. I haven't taken any photos lately but my smile already looks better than it did pre-surgery. I already feel more confident when I smile, it's hard to believe that some day in the not-so-distant future, I'll have even straighter teeth. Amazing! So glad I did this.

My appointment with my orthodontist was to talk about getting the expander removed. WOOOOOOOOO.

I was so excited that it seemed like my orthodontist was talking as slowly as possible. Honestly, he was, because he was reading or writing notes or something while talking.

Dr. M: Okay so it looks like we can...remove the appliance...hmm...let's remove it, let's see...

Me: ?!!?!!?!?!??!?!

Dr: M: In uh...4...

Me: [[FOUR WHAT?!]]

Dr M: ...to 6 weeks.

I was little disappointed I had/have to wait another month, but I knew it was going to be 4-6 months and I've just been telling myself to expect it out as late as June, so I can live with May.

May 13th is the big day. I do have to get the smaller retaining wire thing across the roof of my mouth, but apparently it's nowhere near as annoying as the RPE. I will at least have the roof of my mouth back.

One week later I'll get my braces. That puts us at May 20 but I said no way because that's my birthday! It's also the second soccer game of the season and I don't want to be in pain for that. I want to enjoy my birthday as the last day for awhile when I can eat what I want, so I'm getting my braces first thing on May 21st.

Anyway, if it's of any interest, my front teeth are still tender. I still can't bite into anything except for very soft foods. My upper gums are still mostly numb though I do think a tiny bit of feeling has come back since I last wrote about it in March.

Although this has nothing to do with SARPE, it looks like I may need a root canal next week. I had a cavity filled in one of my molars last week and my tooth has been in agony ever since. I can't function without about 400mg of ibuprofen in me, and it wears off so quickly. I really hope it settles down this weekend but I have a feeling it's not going to. This shit is painful. As painful, if not more painful than the SARPE surgery. Whenever I tell people about SARPE, their first response is to cringe and ask how painful it was. I'd rather get SARPE again than deal with this tooth ache, I'll tell you that much. At least  with surgery, I was justified in staying home from work and whining!

Alright, so expect another mouth update on May 13th or 14th! 25 more days with the expander until I'm freeeeeeeee!

14 Weeks Post SARPE Surgery

I thought I'd give an update since I see a lot of my blog hits come from people looking for information about SARPE!

My case is different from ALL the blogs I've read, because my orthodontist doesn't want to put braces on until the RPE comes out. In literally every other blog, they have braces by now.

The gap: I mentioned this in a post earlier this month, but the gap closed on March 4, which was 75 days after surgery, and 55 days from the last turn of the key. Not gonna lie, I was pretty happy about it.

I could see and feel that it was closing a bit everyday. My front teeth are on a slight angle, which my orthodontist told me is normal. He said any time there is a space between teeth, they will tip inward to fill the space. So there is a little gap at the top of my front teeth, which has not closed at all since my teeth finally met. It is barely noticeable, though.

The facial numbness/swelling: that all disappeared quite awhile ago, with the feeling in and around my right nostril being the last to return to normal.

Gum numbness: my upper gums are still mostly numb, I'd say 95% numb. The last time I saw my orthodontist, he kind of evaded my question when I asked if that's normal. So I called the oral surgeon's office and their answer was, "Well, you knew ahead of time that might happen." They did say to give it 6 months, but if at 3+ I'm still 95% numb, I honestly don't hold out hope. This is disappointing and upsetting and makes me really worried about the second surgery, since I'm getting triple jaw surgery (upper, lower, and genioplasty).

The numbness doesn't bother me that much except that I'm constantly aware of my upper gums because there is no mutual sensation between my gum feeling my lip and lip feeling my gum. It's just my lip feeling my gums, so it feels like there's something wedged in there.

Biting/chewing: My upper teeth are still not stable enough to bite into anything, but it has gotten a lot better since the gap closed. I can bite into something very soft like a fresh donut but anything more than that, I have to stick it under my molars to bite off a chunk. I'm quite lovely and graceful to watch eat! The appliance still tends to push food out of my mouth, so sometimes food falls out of my mouth when I'm eating.

Also, I still can't chew hard or excessively chewy thinks like almonds, pumpkin seeds, steak (wah!), raw carrots, etc. I am addicted to Quest bars which are hard and chewy. I have to cut them up into bite-size pieces and my jaw still aches after having one. I made the mistake of eating two in a day last week and my jaw let me know what it thought of that.

The appliance: I barely think about it anymore. I've gotten so used to it, sometimes I forget it's there. I am looking forward to getting it out, though. I have another orthodontist appointment on April 14, which my ortho says is when we will discuss removing it. I hope to god that means shortly thereafter and not like, June.

Other: In January, if I bit down normally, I could stick my tongue out the space between my upper and lower teeth. I could also stick my baby finger all the way in my mouth. Gradually, the relationship between my upper and lower teeth has changed. Now if I bite down normally, I can barely fit the tip of my pinky finger in the space! The other day at the gym, my upper and lower front teeth knocked together. It took me a second to realize what was going on because it felt so strange. I have NEVER been able to get those teeth to touch, and now I can stick my lower jaw out so my lower teeth are in FRONT of my upper teeth. Holy smokes, you guys. I'm amazed that SARPE has made that much of a difference to the shape of my upper jaw. These are things I'd probably never know if I got braces put on right after surgery like everybody else.

Sadly, I fried my MacBook Air in an unfortunate inept-yoga-meets-large-glass-of-water-meets-MacBook incident, so I have to make do with what I have on this laptop, which is my old 2007 MacBook that contains only old photos.

December 2009 vs March 2014, smile already looking better...hair is not

Low Carb Nut Butter Bread + Keto Cinnamon Spread

If you read my previous entry, you'll know I've been craving cinnamon and sugar lately. When it comes to special diets, cravings are the mother of invention. Until I found this bread and this cinnamon spread recipe, I was buttering saltine crackers and sprinkling cinnamon + Truvia on them, and sticking them under the broiler for a few minutes. Not bad, but this is so much better (and keto friendly).

Low Carb Nut Butter Bread - Adapted from this recipe.
If you take a look at the original recipe, you'll see it's twice the size and uses only almond butter. It apparently makes for good sandwich bread, but I balked at the idea of dropping a $13 jar of almond butter into a recipe I wasn't sure I would like or that would work. If you've made bread before, you know it can be a finicky process. I also wanted my bread to be a bit sweeter, hence the cinnamon and sugar additions.

3 eggs
112g almond butter (or 250g almond butter and no peanut butter, as per the original)
112g peanut butter (or any combination of almond butter and peanut butter that equal 225g)
(optional)1tsp sweetener (I use Truvia)
1tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
1tsp cinnamon
1/4 warm water

Mix everything together in a bowl and bake in a small, greased loaf pan at 325F until the crust is firm. In my oven, it was 34min.

My own tips: I try to use room temperature eggs whenever I'm baking. I also use fresh ingredients for things like baking soda, baking powder, etc. Also, it doesn't matter if you use crunchy or smooth almond/PB butter. I used crunchy almond butter and smooth peanut butter. The almond bits add some texture to the bread.

I've only done this once and I was bracing myself as I took the loaf out of the pan. To my pleasant surprise, it came out perfectly.



Now that you have your nut butter bread, time to toast it and add keto cinnamon spread!

Keto Cinnamon Spread - from this Reddit post.
This is double the recipe in the post...it doesn't make a gigantic batch by any means.


2 tbsp salted butter, soft
2 tbsp coconut oil
Your preferred sweetener, to taste
4 tsp of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients well and store in an air tight container at room temperature.

I don't have a photo of it but honestly, it doesn't look that appetizing anyway. It sure is delicious, though. It's delicious dipped or spread onto celery, crackers and would probably taste great on your favorite low carb pancakes.

Know of a low carb or paleo recipe you want me to try? I'd love to...leave me a comment and as long as it's not something I know I'd hate, I'll give it a shot.

Super Easy 4 Ingredient Spinach Dip

I've been curling now for four years, three at my current club. By far, the thing I like most about curling is the camaraderie. It's a very polite sport with lots of inter-team encouragement and a refreshing lack of aggressive competitiveness. The club I curl at is in a small town north of Sarnia, where everyone has known each other their entire lives, it seems. One of the best things about our club is that 3 times per curling season, we bring food! The ladies I curl with seem to love dip and crackers, so I found a quick and easy spinach dip recipe I can throw together in 5 minutes to please the masses.

Sorry for the lack of photo, but if you click the link above, you'll see a photo. We all know what spinach dip looks like anyway, right?!

Ingredients:

1 9oz box of chopped, frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 Knorr vegetable dry soup mix

8-16 oz (250-500mL) sour cream (seems to taste better when you use less sour cream)

1 cup mayo 

1. Mix all ingredients and stir well

2. Let chill in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving

3. Serve cold.

There you have it! By far the biggest pain is thawing and squeezing dry the spinach. That stuff's a sponge. I don't know if there's a better way, but I microwave-thawed mine (to save time), then I dumped it in a large strainer and squeezed out the water by hand over the sink.

Mini Weight Loss Progress (5+ months) and Mouth Update (8 weeks)

Hello! It seems I get a lot of questions (IRL) about my mouth and my weight loss. It's super sweet, it's really flattering knowing people are interested in how you're doing. I don't have a whole lot to say on either front so I'm combining the two.

Weight Loss

Much to my surprise, I've maintained the weight loss from after surgery. Also to my surprise, when I came back to work and curling in January, THAT'S when "everybody" finally seemed to notice I'd lost weight. People pointed out I was noticeably thinner since surgery which seemed crazy to me. Overall, I've lost 8lbs since my last weigh-in in December. My measurements are down about 1-1.5" from each area, but I'll leave it to March to do an actual update with all that. I didn't really start back into the low carb and exercise until about 2 weeks ago, so it seems dumb to celebrate "progress" made due to surgery.

As far as an exercise goal, I've been feeling a little lost and confused. I'm not sure what I want to focus on or how I want to go about it. I like the idea of lifting weights but I absolutely hate lifting weights when the gym is busy, and I don't know if waking up early to go is feasible when I have so much other stuff going on that sometimes doesn't end until late.

Ever since 2003, I've wanted to become a runner. I've run on and off since then, never improving very much. Now that my asthma is under control, it's become a lot easier and I would love to do a 10k and/or a half marathon this year. I can already run a 10k in a little over an hour. I feel like running and other various cardio is easier to incorporate into my low carb lifestyle, since building muscle requires carbs and I don't feel "done" with the low carb thing yet.

In March I'll post a new before and after. I found an even older, fatter photo of myself from last year and I was stunned when I realized how terrible I used to look compared to now.


SARPE Surgery Progress

Things are going pretty well with my mouth. In January when my orthodontist told me the gap would start closing, I have to admit I didn't really believe him. But look!!!


January 8th (last day of turning the key) vs February 12th

As you can imagine, this has led to quite a bit of front tooth sensitivity. Since my front 6 teeth are obviously on the move, they're extremely tender. Knocking a tooth on my drinking glass is a painful affair, and biting into food is out of the question. Next time you hold a burger up to your mouth and bite into it, please think of me and be grateful for the convenience of sturdy teeth. You don't know how nice that luxury is until you're using a fork and knife to eat a tuna salad sandwich.

As far as numbness, my face is back to normal but my upper gums are still 100% numb. I'm actually a little concerned about that and will be asking my orthodontist when I see him next Thursday.

My facial muscles are pretty much back to normal. My upper lip still feels stiff and I have no idea why; if it's the new placement of my teeth, the gum numbness, etc. I can pucker my lips but it's uncomfortable and I've lost the ability to whistle. Smiling and laughing are no longer uncomfortable, thank god. Since the gap has gotten so much smaller, I find it much easier to talk and less embarrassing to smile.

My talking is probably 95% normal now. I also barely think about the RPE in my mouth and waiting until April-June to get it out no longer seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Every time someone told me I'd get used to it, I said or thought, "There's no way!" Then one day I realized I hadn't thought about the RPE in a few days. Then even more days went by. Then I realized I'd been eating without focusing on it, talking without paying attention to my own voice and before I knew it, I was indifferent to it.

I had my first steak last week, thinking my chewing was good enough for it. Sadly, a steak is still a little too much, but that's the only food I've struggled with lately.

I probably won't do another mouth update until something big happens.

White Chocolate Oreo Blondies with Buttercreme Icing

What do you love most about the Super Bowl? The hoopla? The commercials? The parties? For me, it's definitely the parties. I first started watching the Super Bowl in 2008. I bet $20 on the Patriots and won my $20 plus an additional $20. I loved the Super Bowl immediately. Nowadays my Super Bowls involve less gambling and more cooking. My boyfriend holds a Super Bowl party at his house every year. Normally I make a cake with my football cake pan, but this year I was feeling adventurous. I combined a few recipes to come up with these blondies. They turned out great and I will definitely make them again! They're very rich so it's easy to eat only a small amount, but I found them pretty addictive nonetheless. I had already eaten a big chunk before our guests arrived (oops).

Ingredients: Blondies
Courtesy of All Recipes.

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli)
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 TSP salt
1/3 white sugar
1 cup semisweet white chocolate chips (again, I used Ghirardelli)
1 package Oreos (I used Double Stuf but you can use whatever you want)

Ingredients: Buttercreme Icing (optional)
Courtesy of The Kitchen Magpie...this has been my go-to vanilla frosting recipe for a few years, it's amazing.

1 cup of salted butter
3  teaspoons of vanilla
4 cups of icing sugar
4-5 tablespoons of  coffee cream (18% and up)

4-5 Oreos, crushed (from package of Oreos listed above)


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan. Melt white chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler, over barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth. Set aside to cool. (Note from Jaime: if you've never melted chocolate before, do yourself a favour and read about how to do it first. You cannot just throw some chocolate in a pot and put it on the burner.)

2. Crush 6-7 Oreos with a potato masher, set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs until foamy. With the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and vanilla. Drizzle in the melted white chocolate/butter mixture. Combine the flour and salt; fold into the white chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Fold in chocolate chips and crushed Oreos.

4. Spread evenly a small layer of batter in the pan, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

5. Lay Oreos on top of batter (do not squish them down against the pan, they should be sitting on top of the thin layer of batter.

6. Spread rest of batter over Oreos.

7. Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

8. Let cool completely before icing.

Directions for icing:

1. Whip butter with hand or stand mixer.

2. Add in icing sugar, a bit at a time.

3. Add cream.

4. Add vanilla.

5. Add crushed oreo.

6. Whip with hand or stand mixer.

7. Avoid eating spoonfuls of icing

Spread icing over blondies. I also crushed up the leftovers Oreos and sprinkled them on top.


Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any diabetic shock, clogged arteries, heart attacks, or any other bodily malfunction due to high levels of sugar!