Progress in Progress!!!

So....I met with my Oral Surgeon yesterday and progress has been made. He was very impressed with the models that were sent from my Orthodontist's office and said I'm ready for take off!

Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, August 31st as long as there is an opening at the Surgi Center they use. I am so excited. I'm also excited where the surgery is being performed as it will not only cost less but there are private rooms with Wi/Fi. Not so sure I'll be feeling well enough to update while hospitalized but we'll see! :)

I will have my surgical hooks put on one week prior and also have my long 2+ hour appt. w/ the Surgeon to go over the exact measurements and have all my diagnostics done, etc. His "guess" is that I will probably go up approx 4mm on my upper jaw and out 5 mm on my bottom. I was told this will dramatically change my life and increase breathing DOUBLE from my mouth and my nose. I couldn't be happier. You can't put a price on that. I've spent my whole life struggling w/ breathing issues and this is such a big deal to me (and my husband). I am also impressed with the Surgeon. He is so kind and makes me feel like this is just as important to him as it is us.

He still hasn't decided if I will need a two piece Lefort or just one. He'll know at that long appt. If he decides on two pieces the surgery will be about an hour longer (3-5 hour surgery) and I will have a splint in place. I will not be "wired" shut but have rubber bands on my teeth and will have braces approx. 9 months after surgery. He's guessing a 2-3 night hospital stay.  The Surgeon also mentioned that I may still have some gums showing when I smile because my teeth are so short. I guess they have another surgery that can be done later where they laser your gums so you have more enamel showing. No thank you! I'll stick with my short teeth. I don't plan on adding any additional $$$$ signs! :)

In the insurance avenue....My Surgeon recommend that I insist the records being reviewed by another Maxiofacial Surgeon as it will show my open bite and the fact that it's a skeletal defect that needs to be corrected. He was also going to have the office manager call my insurance again to pressure them some more. We'll see what happens. He DID tell me not to give up and keep fighting! That's all I needed to hear to get my gloves back on and get back in the ring for another round! :)

Hope everyone is doing well. Summer is almost over. I'm looking forward to fall and some butternut squash soup! :)

XOXOXOXO

Wide Open Spaces....

So, I feel like progress has been made! I had my records appointment on Monday with my Orthodontist. They took pictures, several x-rays and molds. They said they would try to get records to my Oral Surgeon by the end of the day so I'm calling tomorrow to see if they've received them and when I can schedule my appointment! I'm really excited about this. I have not seen my Oral Surgeon since the consult last September. 

*Note* they did call in a muscle relaxer for me so I'm happy about that. I've only needed to take a 1/2 of one the night after ortho appt. but it really DOES help.

I now have the wire on that they will use for surgery. I've had a heavy wire and powerchain on my top teeth for awhile now, but they just put the heavy wire and powerchain on the bottom. Ouch...it was not fun that first night.

In Insurance news...I received a letter from the State of Missouri letting me know they forwarded my complaint to Kansas since that's where our insurance was issued. We live in Missouri but my husband's company is based out of Kansas so I guess that's why. We live really close to state line.  Anyway, I followed up and found out they will be issuing a "Reviewer" this week and they could possibly have a decision by 45 days! I'm anxious to find out how this whole process works. Well, here are the pics the orthodontist's office took.

EWWWW

It's crazy how much my teeth have MOVED in year. Notice how open my bite is? I have a pretty good crossbite too. I seriously have like NO teeth touching except for the molar in back. I also took some "home" pics so you could see my bite from the underside and up close, but I added them to the "smile file" as I do not care to look at them anymore than I have to! :) Hope everyone is doing well on their journey and enjoying the summer. It's hard to believe it's almost time for school to start!!!

XOXOXO   E

P.S. I went to the dentist and found out I have a cavity in the back bottom molar. My dentist wants to fill it w/ the silver filling because it's stronger and lasts longer. Most people go with the tooth colored filling even though they don't last as long. My dentist really trying to encourage me to get the silver one but, honestly, I'm SICK of looking at silver and would really prefer the tooth colored. My ortho says do what I want...I'm torn....

The Ultimate Soccer Mom!!!

Well, last week was a fun and crazy week. We hosted two soccer coaches from England in our home while we had the Challenger British Soccer Camp in town. The guys were great and it was fun to have them around and fretting over them all week. They eat ALOT of food. I guess that's what I have to expect when my kids become teenagers-that and all their friends. LOL!  I really loved the accent. I felt like every time they told me how wonderful my food was that I was being complimented by Chef Ramsey himself! :)

They left on Sunday and I was much more depressed about it than I realized. My husband was as well. He never had any siblings and he really bonded with one of the guys. We both cried after they left. :( I RARELY take pics with my braces on so this is a treat. I was actually whining about it and Simon, the one with blonde hair, said let's all make mad faces to hide your braces. Of course my face didn't turn out so mad! Showing my braces, gums and all in full American Pride....

It was a nice break from my reality of "THE JAWS". I got my denial letter in the mail on Saturday. I wasn't really surprised. Insurance companies are so rich it isn't funny. The thing I was most peeved about was their reason (if you can call it that) which really hopscotched around everything. It stated:

"Member has submitted appeal of the denial for orthognathic surgery, and included information from her birth.  The medical records identify bruising and skin changes about the face; however, these physical findings would not have occurred as a result of a birth defect per se.  Therefore, please uphold the contractual denial for this surgery request."

Ugh...I was so fuming! I mean, first off, I wasn't saying it was a birth defect...I stated it was an accidental injury that resulted in this. Also, the medical records didn't say "skin changes". It was very clear in saying there was hemorrhaging, bruising and severe swelling. I also included a JAMA article talking about birth injuries and the jaw and mentioned all of the medical issues I've had SINCE BIRTH. They didn't even look at this stuff. So, instead of causing myself a panic attack I have said forget Blue Cross and Blue Shield and have issued a complaint with the State of Missouri Department of Insurance. They are an impartial party and will review all documents and make their decision based on ALL evidence. It may take them awhile so I'm sure I'll just go forward, pay the surgery as planned, and wait for good news from the state! Do you know of anyone who has filed this type of complaint and how it worked out for them????

My records appointment is Monday! I'm tempted to just call my Oral Surgeon to go ahead and schedule my appointment with them but I have a feeling they won't do that. I've had issues with clenching my teeth at night and it gets worse with hormone changes and stress. I've noticed it more lately now that things are getting closer to D-Day. I was prescribed muscle relaxers (last year!) that I would take a couple evenings a month to help but I'm out and the Oral Surgeon won't prescribe any more. Is that normal? It's not like I'm addicted. I've had the same bottle for over 8 months! 

I also plan on calling my husband's company to see how much more money we have in our medical spending account. I'm thinking it's around $1,600 so that'll be good to put down on the surgery. One lady posted that her company helped pay her surgery that wasn't covered by insurance, but I don't know how comfortable I would feel asking my husband's company if they had something in place like that...I'm not the one that works there..you know?? 

Well, I better get to my phone calls. I DO plan on posting "mouth pics" now that things are pretty much where they're supposed to be. I just get anxious. I don't even post pics of me in braces on Facebook---I don't even kiss my husband on the mouth! How pathetic am I??? My poor, poor husband. So thankful he's understanding. I'm sure he'll be expecting lots of kisses once this is all over with...

XOXOXOX :)

Fingers Crossed......

Okay, so I went to my ortho appointment last week and they DID NOT take impressions, molds, surgery records--whatever you want to call it. The ortho wanted to make one more adjustment to one of my bottom teeth but they scheduled my impressions for July 26th so I'm excited about that. I called the Oral Surgeon's office to see how soon surgery would be scheduled after that and she said we still wouldn't know until after they view these records. I must say that I'm getting very anxious! Ortho still believes surgery will be scheduled for September sometime.

In other news...I got a part-time job as a preschool teacher at a church here in town. I'm VERY excited about this as I have not had a job since I went into labor with my six year old son! He starts Kindergarten this year and my lil' girl is now three so this will be a nice little adventure for us. The preschool has the same schedule as the school district so I will be off when my son will. I couldn't ask for a better situation.  Of course pay isn't much but honestly, it's more about the social aspect of it for me. I'm just excited to get out and about in this small lil' town and get out of this house! They're very understanding as far as this surgery goes and I won't really start the job until after I'm healed...just wondering how long that will take????

Soooo....please pray and keep your fingers crossed.  I worked very hard on my insurance appeal and sent it off last Monday. I know they have to respond w/in 30 days so I'm hoping for good news. My exclusion is very "exclusive"! For them to cover it has NOTHING to do w/ how bad I need the surgery or any medical issues I have. The exclusion states that I must have been diagnosed w/ a birth defect w/in 30 days of birth (which I wasn't, of course) or that I have an accidental injury.  In that instance, surgery would have to be performed w/in one year of incident (unless unable to be performed w/in that time period for medical reasons). So, that's my fight...I have birth records showing injury to my face during labor. In several records it makes note of my bruised head and face and hemorrhages on my face. I found a medical journal dated around the time of my birth that states that even though facial injuries are rare in infants that it CAN happen and that nothing would be done at that time until the person had time to develop and see how noticeable the injuries were. So, of course nothing could be performed w/in one year of the incident. I know it's a stretch. Especially since insurance companies love to deny EVERYTHING but I am praying it'll be enough to get it covered. If not we'll just have to pay ourselves and it'll be a nice chunk to deduct on taxes this year! LOL. But regardless, PRAY & KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED and I'll keep checking the mail! XOXOXOXO

9 Months and Counting...Feeling Overdue

Okay, so I've had my top braces on for over 9 months now and my bottom braces on almost 7 months. My bite is getting worse all the time (in preparation for surgery) and I'm feeling ready to do this thing!  The only experience I can compare it to is my first pregnancy.  In the beginning I was very excited. I couldn't wait to begin to see and feel the changes that would take place over the next nine months...I wanted to document every little detail.  For instance, taking pictures of my growing belly.  As you can see in the photo, I was very excited to be showing. The little paper I was holding up stated I was proudly 17 weeks pregnant and even had a cute little smiley face next to it!

As weeks sped by I continued to take pictures of my growing belly while sporting the same outfit. At 23 weeks I can't say that I was as "smiley"  as I was at 17 weeks, but I was definitely still very excited and amazed at the little life moving inside my growing belly.

As time wore on and the cuteness wore off I quickly grew tired of all the details that had preoccupied my time. I was just ready to have my little baby already!!! I feel the same way regarding this jaw surgery.

My next ortho appointment is on Wednesday. My orthodontist made a note at my last visit that there would "possibly" be impressions taken at this appointment. I don't really know what that means or how soon the ball will get rolling after impressions but I feel it's a start. Maybe sort of like those Braxton Hicks contractions??? :)

It's very humid here in the Midwest. Like 78% humidity...I feel like a 38.3 week old pregnant woman with swollen cankles who is retaining all her water. How is that, you ask???? Well.....My guess it that would look a little something like this.......

Sorry! I just couldn't help myself. Misery LOVES company! I figured that if I'm going to be posting some not so nice photos of a bloody, disfigured face I might as well throw these in as well! lol.
 
But, back to my comparisons on my jaw surgery journey and pregnancy...I think it's a great idea that your family and friends throw a baby shower for you during the last trimester of pregnancy. No better way to help get your mind off the swollen cankles and get your focus on that little miracle that is soon on it's way by receiving gifts to brighten your day.
 
What I'm trying to do is justify my "showering" of gifts to myself. I have to admit, I am not one to spend much on myself AT ALL. But I threw all caution to the wind and decided to venture out and pick out a couple items for my upcoming "event".  First, I purchased a Waterpik, which I am still a little unsure of. I am glad that the only thing in it is water because I have sprayed myself, the sink, counters and even the back of my throat (the water ended up coming out my nose-not sure how that happened). So, needless to say, this is a relationship that is probably going to need some work.
 
I also purchased a brand new Vitamix which was shipped to my front door today! I'm very excited about this. There were tons of recipes for soups, smoothies, drinks, sauces, etc. I bought my kids those little Popsicle freezer things so I could make some fresh freezer pops for them. Next week I am (or my loving husband is) treating me to an hour massage. My neck and upper back is really feeling the stress from all of this "adjusting" so I'm really looking forward to it! No hurt in "showering" myself a little is there?
 
Well, I need to get to work on my insurance appeal. It's probably a waste of time. There are so many super exclusions in my policy that it's going to be difficult to fight it but I'm going to go all out trying!
 
Then, maybe I'll put my cankles up and drink a nice cold fruit smoothie! lol! XOXOXOXO

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good: 
I'm warning you...I'm on my pity pot today so in my mind I don't feel like there's much good going on right now.  I am going to the ortho today. They put spacers in my two bottom back molars last week and today they will remove those (that's good) and redo all of my bottom braces to include my two very back molars.  These two molars were turned inward a little so they want to fix that. At least when things happen I feel "progress" and that we're moving right along. I'll ask my ortho when he anticipates surgery date to be. I asked him in January and he said late Aug, early Sept. so we'll see if he's still keeping that date. Oh, there is ONE really good thing...we should have our car paid off the end of June! We have been working really hard at getting our debt paid off before this surgery and other than our house, the car is the last thing. Then, we can start saving up for this surgery!!!

The Bad:
So, now to the bad...I received my denial letter from insurance on Wednesday.  I had a feeling they were going to deny it but I was willing to file an appeal due to the fact of medical necessity. I have been ordering and organizing all of my medical records ready to fight the appeal...then I read the letter which states, "Because this denial is a result of a specific benefit limitation under your plan, this appeal will not be reviewed for medical necessity at any level of appeal REGARDLESS OF YOUR HEALTH CONDITION. " So, I was pretty bummed. I am going to email an attorney that I used to work for to see if there is anything else we can do, but if not...we're totally stuck with the bill. It just angers me how insurance will pay for something like lap-band surgery, but not this when it's something I cannot change or manage on my own w/out surgery. 

I've been trying to work out at Curves and they had this Chiropractor there doing this computerized spinal examination where it checks your muscle contractions. It was very interesting to see where all of my muscle tension was held. The pic on the left is a "normal" person and the one on the right was me. Notice how much tension was in the left side up high by my jaw?? Crazy....That's the side that has the cant that the oral surgeon says I compensate for. I really hope after this surgery this tension can be relieved.

The Ugly:

So, I told you I'm on my pity pot....I feel really ugly right now. I've had the braces for 9 months now. I really don't mind them,but since it's adjusting my mouth for this future surgery everything is screwed up. I feel like I just "hang" there w/ my mouth open all the time--With no teeth touching. I'm always the last one to finish my food and have to use my hand to cover my mouth the entire time.  Since my jaw is relaxing and moving back in it's place I have less and less of a jaw and chin and I feel like I have a harder time breathing. As most people LOSE weight with braces I have actually GAINED over 7 lbs. That's a lot for someone who's only 5'2'". I am totally an emotional eater and I think this whole situation has taken a bigger toll on me than I want to believe...so I turn to food. :( Soft, easy food like cupcakes, brownies and noodles and french fries... very sad--but TRUE. I've been working so hard on our financial situation and seeing lots of progress.  I need to focus just as much on my spiritual and physical health too.

The Mystery of the Missing & Mangled Toothbrush...

So, about a week ago I could NOT find my brush head to my supersonic Sonicare toothbrush. This was a bad way to start my day as I have a very serious attachment to this instrument. You see, I am very obsessed with my oral health.  Having braces has put a strain on my relationship with my mouth so my new toothbrush (I have to give props to my orthodontist -as he supplies these AT COST to his patients) has helped bridge the gap...pun intended! :)

I looked for my missing brush head all day. I gave in and used a "normal" brush but was not receiving any satisfaction at all. I was seriously getting "shaky" from withdrawals. Finally, I showed my 3 year old daughter her Daddy's brush head and asked if she could possibly help Mommy find HERS.  Her reply was a very confident, "Sure Mommy, follow me..." I was more than happy to play along. She leads me into my closet behind my husband's hanging shirts. This is one of her favorite hiding spots so I figure she just is taking advantage of this moment so we can play a little game of hide and seek.

As I'm uncomfortably squeezing behind all of these clothes I notice a small white something and lo' and behold' there it was in all of it's mangled beauty...My daughter knew EXACTLY where it was and obviously had some help from her furry little friend who obviously enjoyed this brush head as much as I do.

Now....we don't live close to a store that carries these but I figured this was worth a trip to Sam's Club so I could "buy in bulk" and not relive this traumatic event again. Needless to say, my mouth and I have restored our relationship for the time being and we're smiling again!

*NOTE*

May is National Smile Month

Smiling triggers your body to release those feel good endorphins and serotonin so remember to do it and do it LOTS...c'mon brace face.. SMILE!