And the process begins...

About a year ago, I finally went in to get my sleep apnea taken care of. The Ear Nose and Throat guy said that there was not much that he could do for me aside from getting me put on a CPAP machine to keep my air passages open. My problem is caused by a malformed jaw resulting in not having a good place for my tongue to go when I sleep. My tongue falls backwards and then I snore to the point where I have to breathe harder to get more oxygen then I end up with an excess of oxygen and stop breathing. While others get a little surgery, I got a machine that blows air into my nose to keep my airways from collapsing. A permanent solution is of an orthodontic nature. So, I finally went to the orthodontist and got my prognosis. 12 months of appliances in the top and bottom of my jaw for widening the jaw and lowering the roof of my mouth. I will also have 34 months of braces. Yippy! I have been resistant to this for a while. But it is time. I am tired of the machine and tired of food getting stuck in weird places. Actually, I have been tired of the food getting stuck in weird places most of my life. As I did more research and realized the possible benefits, I definitely wished I had decided to get done with this sooner. Nothing being guaranteed, I could possibly sleep better, eat better, talk better, sing better, breathe better, my sinuses may drain better, and I will look better too!

To begin the process, I decided to shave and post before pics. Unfortunately, I discovered I gained a slight double chin. No doubt, this has been caused by my festival like eating habits the past few weeks. I have been determined to eat while I can enjoy it, because after May 30th and maybe after tomorrow when I get my "banding" done I will not enjoy food at all and in fact am planning on the smoothie and soup diet for the next few years. Another explanation for the chin may be my habit of pulling on my long gotee to much. Well, enough with this rambling, here we go.....