The beginning- present day

I started out with the idea that braces would help my headaches, neck pain, and jaw bit issues. Wow, I was so wrong. I headed over the orthodontist for the next time in my lifetime and found that braces alone would not help my issue. Shocker.... a week a few months go by and after many opinions, I decided to go with orthognathic surgery. The issue couldn't be corrected alone with braces. That would just mask the issue temporarily. After about 9 months of braces and prep work I was admitted into St Joseph's hospital for Jaw surgery and deviated septum correction. I was terrified, uncertain and confused of the way I would look, feel and react. Nothing could of prepared me better for the way I look and feel right now.....but.... here I am 4 days post op and for some odd reason, all the pain and frustration I am going through is not something I regret. I guess I hope my journey might be able to help others in their decision and journey to do this major surgery...yes I said major. The Dr did not treat this as anything minor. You have a set of specialists mainly a dentist, orthognathic surgeon (someone who is trained 6 years past dental school) and many other support people. You go through regular braces tightening, and many other painful procedures making your bit look even more awful then possible. This is all in preparation for surgery. About a few weeks before surgery, you go in for molds, x rays, physical and medical clearances and psychological evaluations. (The psych eval makes sure that you are aware that your appearance will change and that the medical results from this will not change your overall self-esteem) After I was aware of all the necessary paperwork and background information I new there was no turning back. Fast forward to December 15, 2010 and there I was waiting for the anesthesiologist to give me my "happy drug" and start me on my orthognathic journey.....