If you're on Facebook, some of this might be repeats. Toodaloo, go dust or vacuum or something.

After the experience in the dental chair, I proclaimed myself as DONE with this pain business. Done.Done.DONE! So last week, The Hubs and I went to see the maxillofacial surgeon that my dentist recommended. He took x-rays and CT scans of my face and showed us where my bones were smooshed in and/or were not lined up properly. I proclaimed, "I KNEW it". Part of me was a little relieved that there was evidence for all the pain I'm in. The other part of me was ANGRY at the first surgeon that didn't do anything except tell me not to chew.

The new surgeon said that in looking at the original CT scans, all the bones looked lined up except the pokey bone under my eye. He said that he probably would have done the same thing as my first surgeon- but in hindsight, she should have bracketed my bones together. He showed us where he would have bracketed them, and I think there were six.

At some point ALL of the fractures in the jaw and cheek area moved out of place. I think I mentioned a FEW times that I tend to mess with my face (along with chomping my teeth) at night to the old surgeon. She seemed to disregard that information and sent me on my merry way. I suspect that's exactly how all the bones moved. All that 'fake TV watching' and face rubbing I do at night in my sleep.

OK. Let's move along. That's the past, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Moving forward. The new surgeon had two options for surgery. One is so gruesome, that I'm not going to post it in respect for my brother's week knees. Suffice it to say, I'd end up with many metal brackets on the bones. The other is to clip one of the tendons in my face so I can open my mouth like a normal person. Apparently that tendon is rubbing against or getting caught in the smooshed in area of my face and is keeping it from stretching like it should. He said that this could be what's causing the pain because it might be rubbing on a nerve there as well.

He consulted with a colleague of his over the weekend and they both decided that the gruesome surgery should be a last effort because it's a huge undertaking and only two surgeons in my state would even touch it. Even then it's not a guarantee. So, clipping the tendon it is. After that, if I'm still in pain, then we'll look into other options. I'm going to decide right now that this is going to work, thank-you-very-much.

I'll schedule it for sometime after the 1st of August to ensure that my project is done.

Here's my noggin. The first arrow points to the smooshage in the apple of my cheek. The second arrow (and it's hard to see -but the surgeon pointed it out) shows where the side of my upper jaw is caved in. I like this picture because it makes me look SUPER thin!