My double spring break

So as Mrs. Homan knows for sure - I'm not sure how many other people who read this - I had to miss the week preceding spring break to get some surgery done on my jaw. I've had an underbite since as long as I can remember, and my family has been working to make my teeth look better for almost a decade now.

In middle school and maybe high school, I had braces - only on my top teeth, since my lower jaw was still growing. It didn't stop until maybe my junior or senior year of high school. I got the braces off for my first year of college, then got them back on for my top and bottom teeth (for symmetry's sake, I suspect) the next summer.

Exactly one week ago, I was in the operating room under anesthesia with a bunch of tubes down my throat while the surgeons broke and realigned my jaw. They screwed a couple of bolts into the sides to keep it in place. As far as I can tell, those bolts will be in my skull long after the bones heal. The operating room was cold, but the people in it were nice, so that was a comfort.

When I woke up maybe four or five hours later, my jaw was banded shut and I had an icepack wrapped around my head and a mask blowing moist air to help my sinuses. My face was heavily swollen, my throat stung like needles (from both dryness and the tubes from the surgery), and my nose and mouth bled everytime I tried to sit up.

My parents were there, though, and they remained there while I tried to relax and suck water, Sprite, and apple juice through my teeth to soothe my throat. I stayed in the recovery room overnight, during which time I used the bathroom a lot from all the fluids, tried to read a couple of books, and cried a lot more than I thought I would.

Now I'm home, and the swelling has gone down enough for me to go from all liquids to nonchewables. Good for me. It's been tough, but I'd like to think I survived well. Hopefully I'll be back to situation normal in time.