My sleep apnea journey

This is a diary of my experiences as a sleepy mom, through apnea diagnosis and treatment. I have appreciated the information I have learned on the internet and especially appreciate the personal accounts of other's journeys. Stay tuned, it will be a wild ride.

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Location: Alabama, United States

My husband and I have been married since 1989. We have a son ('95) and daughter ('97). We have another daughter in heaven since 2000. I am a stay at home mom with a current nursing license. I started this Photo-A-Day blog to document my family's everyday life and to challenge me to grow a bit as a photographer.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Freedom Comes in Stages

I had my appointment with my Dr. H yesterday to get my retainers. The weekend without anything on my teeth was nice but short-lived. The retainers look much nicer that braces but they are so tight! I am thankful, though, that I can take them off to eat and clean my teeth. Any, by the way, cleaning my teeth rocks now! I can brush and floss my little toofies in less time than it took me to brush my braces. Fabulous!


I hope that Dr. H isn't reading this because I took my Dremel tool to my lower retainer today. The wire that hooks over one of my molars was sharp and scratchy and was therefore irritating the bottom of my tongue on the left side. I tried to just bend it over a little bit so that it would curve down onto the surface of my tooth but it didn't want to budge - so I did the next best thing - I sanded it down a bit. I rounded over the end of the wire so it wouldn't scratch my tongue. It is still plenty snug but now it hopefully won't bug me so much.

With any luck, in 3-6 months I will be able to go to using the retainers only at night - which will feel like real freedom. Right now my teeth are that familiar level of soreness that I got with any adjustments to the braces. I am sure that within a few days I will be over the soreness and the retainers will become just another part of my daily routine.







I took a picture with Dr. H and my tech yesterday and they had no problem with me posting them - so here are the folks that have spend so much time listening to me talk with their hands and pointy instruments in my mouth.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations on concluding this long and powerful journey. Your ortho is handsome, and seems gentle and kind...what a great combination of qualities to have in a doc. He also did a fabulous job on your teeth. Enjoy those nuts and other fun food.
Jen

1:22 AM  
Blogger Anne said...

Thanks for the congrats.

Dr. H and Jen have been wonderful through this whole journey. I was impatient wanting things to click along a little more quickly but Dr. H's cooler head prevailed to make me not rush things - like I had a choice!

Since you are reading my blog I am wondering if you are considering surgery for sleep apnea. What gives?
Anne

9:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anne:
Yes, I do have apnea, and am starting the preparations for MMA/GA surgery. Just got my braces on a little over 3 weeks ago, and using the Bipap at night. I'd like to get the surgery done in 9 to 12 months, and my ortho believes this time frame is very doable. This is my third round of metal braces; in some ways, I'm an old hand in the ortho dept, but the heat activated, Niti archwires, are new for me, and chewing has been a real challenge. I'm living in Northern CA and am a patient at Stanford. Thank you for your blog; I appreciate the road map you have offered.

1:55 PM  

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