Pre-op news

Hi everyone! I hope you all are enjoying spring as much as I am. I have lots to tell so I'll get started. First, last week (18th) I had my ortho appt and am sorry to say that the doc didn't have results for me. I was in and out of there in ten minutes. All they did was change my bands and left the wires in the way they were. This week on Tuesday I had my pre-op with the oral surgeon. The appt. took two and a half hours. They did more molds and yes they got very stuck again; I gotta warn the people who have tmj issues that it really hurts when they start yanking. I'm sure that when they are pulling on the molds it would hurt anyone for that matter. Prior to this I had told the assistant that the molds got stuck at the ortho appt and she said, "oh our molds rarely get stuck because we use a different material than the orthodontist". They did two sets for the top and bottom so I had to go through that four times. They also took their pictures, lots of measurements, and more molds with what looked like what can only be described as a caulking gun. My husband asked the doctor where he could get one and the doctor said well we could probably order one for you but it would be pretty expensive. By the end of the appt. they were pals and talking about carpentry work. Oh yeah, was wondering if anyone who has already had surgery had measurements taken with the thing that looks like a stethoscope with a compass on it? I was wondering if you knew what they were measuring with it? I didn't get a chance to ask because I had molds in my mouth at the time and forgot to ask after that. I thought maybe it was used to measure my upper jaw width and maybe my nose and cheekbones. After all of that I got to ask a lot of questions about the surgery. I asked him to describe to me exactly what he thought he was going to do. He told me he was going to do the BSSO (bilateral saggital split osteotomy) and the Le Fort 1 with possible multiple cuts. He will remove bone and push the upper jaw up to close the open bite and reduce my gummy smile. He said he won't know until he gets in there whether he's going to have to widen the upper jaw or not. He will move my upper jaw forward as well but he didn't say how much. He will remove bone from the right lower jaw due to asymmetry (the right side is longer than the left) and then move both sides back. He said the surgery would take about 3-4 hours depending on what he finds while he's operating. He told me my nose and chin are proportionate so nothing needs to be done there. I asked how long I would be in the hospital and he said some people go home the afternoon following surgery and some stay an extra day depending how they feel. We talked about the blood donation and he said he didn't think it would be necessary because in 20 years of doing this he's only had to transfuse one person. I explained my fears of receiving someone else's blood (HIV and Hepatitis) and he said the blood is very well screened and my risks were very low. He seemed very confident about this so I decided not to donate my own blood. He's also very confident that the surgery will eliminate my tmj pain (YAY!!!) but he can't promise anything (they say that to cover their butts). He also said I wouldn't notice if the tmj is better for 3-4 months (it might actually feel worse at first) but he thinks after that I'll notice a significant difference. I think that is very positive news and I am very hopeful. I'm not looking forward to more tmj pain than what I have now but I'm prepared and that's all that matters to me. I am really anxious about getting this over with; I only have 20 days left. I have almost everything I'm going to need for after the surgery. I am wondering though if it's possible for a dog to know that something is up because my dog Lucy has been extremely anxious and following me everywhere. She won't let me out of her sight. I feel bad for her because I can't help her understand. I'm sure she's feeling my anxiety and that's why she's acting like this. She's going to be heartbroken when I'm gone for a couple of days. The last time I left her she didn't eat the whole time I was gone (three days) and my daughter was there with her; I thought that with someone familiar with her the transition wouldn't be so bad. So, needless to say I am a little worried about Lucy. She will be with my son at my mother's and it will only be for about two days; so that's not too bad I guess. My kids are fine with everything although I don't think they realize how serious the surgery is; which is probably a good thing so they don't worry about it anyway. So anyway, that's it for now. Enjoy spring everyone!