Still here...

Well help me Bob I'm still in braces and STILL no sign of a surgery date!
Come May it will be 5 years, yes FIVE years that I will have had braces!

It's been a while since I last updated, mainly because I'm wondering if I'm actually talking to myself now, is anyone REALLY still following after all this time?
What has happened since my last update? Well not a lot. I think the most exciting thing that has happened teeth-wise is my mother inlaw fed me a brandy snap basket for pudding last year and I broke a tooth! I felt very sorry for myself and I now have 2 fillings instead of just the one :(

I've had wires changed, still on the silver ligs because there's so much powerchain. I've no elastics any more.
I've had molar buildups built up, ground down, put on again and then off. Getting them off the last time was awful...I remember looking up at the light and thinking 'This is like something out of a bad 80's horror movie'. Through all the work I've had with these braces, I have never cried but the day I got molar buildups off, I sobbed my heart out, tears running down my face on to the floor sobbing. I swore then I'd NEVER have them put on again. I think if the ortho had stopped mid way through to give me a breather for a minute I'd have been fine. But she's a bit gung ho. And know how usually if you go to the dentist, they say raise your left hand if you need us to stop, well with my ortho, you can raise your left hand and make it dance and wave about and she still ignores it!

So. At one point just 2 months ago, 2 teeth went in the wrong direction because of my 'fierce bite' and the words 'molar buildups' were uttered. I refused, well the ortho said either cement or an appliance. I chose appliance. So now I have a bite blocker lump of plastic appliance in my mouth instead.
The first week, it was hard to get used to, I couldn't speak without thounding thupid and it was tricky to eat the first few days. Everything eating (well almost everything, crisps are still a problem, but I only want those cause I can't eat them) and talking wise is pretty much 'normal' now. But I am waking up most mornings with my teeth clamped so tight together. I don't know if I naturally bite my teeth so hard together or if it's because of the appliance. I also find I get to about mid afternoon and I want to gnaw my teeth out my mouth. It's not sore, just an urge to gnaw badly.

About this time last year, May 2012, 4 years in,  I finally plucked up the courage to ask when surgery might be done. It's hanging over my head, I can't even book a summer holiday, I've put off post graduate study, applying for full time work all because I know this surgery is going to happen and I know I'll need time to recover and proper time to recover not a rush job. May 2012 and the ortho said end of 2012 or beginning of 2013. I sat in the cleft clinic with my son May/June 2012 and saw my maxfax surgeon who was asking how I was getting on. I remember him saying if I saw him relatively soon, it'd be a 2 month wait for surgery. At that time. But those days have come and gone.
I will admit, I am ready now for getting these braces OFF! Five years is just too long, and certainly not what I signed up for! I even have some moments where I wish I hadn't said yes. But then I'd be walking round looking a witch with no top front left incisor. What can I do *shrug*. Not much.

I'll do some pics tomorrow so you can see where I am at.