Pre Op Appointments

Mom and I left at 10:30 this morning for my pre op appointments...

Office Pre-Op
The first appointment was at Dr. M's office. The room we went into was a corner office that had a really pretty view of some of Atlanta's old architecture.

This picture doesn't seem that pretty, but it was nicer in person. 

This was one of my views while sitting in the chair.

 The Margaret Mitchell House

(Author of Gone with the Wind)

There was not too much involved with this appointment. Dr. M came in for a quick update. He explained again that the purpose of this surgery is to cut my palate bone, which will allow new bone growth, resulting in widening my upper jaw since it is narrower than my lower jaw.  Luckily, it is not too big of a difference. Hopefully this means the gap I will get between my front teeth won't be as wide as I originally thought!

Dr. M also went over what he will be doing in the OR.   Once I am under anesthesia, he will access my jaw and palate bones by going above my teeth.  After he reaches jaw bone, he will do some cuts in the bone. I am unsure of how many or the exact placement of the cuts. I will ask again before the surgery, but I do know he will separate the palate bone. With the bone no longer connected and with help of the Hyrax expander and the "key" for it, Dr. M will do a few cranks/turns to start the jaw expansion. When I leave the OR, I will already have a small gap between my teeth.

After reading through the scary "worst case scenario" liabilities, I signed the consent for surgery. We left the office with a few more directions and a lot of prescriptions!


Hospital Pre-Op
The second pre op appointment was at the hospital around the corner from the office.

First, we had to go to admissions and register me as a patient.  This took a little time, but the lady helping us was so nice and funny, it wasn't a problem.  Once she was done registering me, she gave me a hospital band with my information on it. She told me to check my name and birthday, which were both correct, so she pointed us to the pre op check in desk.  I handed over all of my information to the man behind the desk. While we were waiting for him to process the papers, I noticed there was a random "M" on my wristband. I looked at it for a second, wondering if it was some sort of label or organization, but the other part of me wondered if it stood for male or female.  I asked him about it, and he started laughing, saying that it definitely stood for male! He and mom and I went back and forth laughing about it, but it got confusing with all of us talking at the same time. Haha!

Mom: She's a girl!

Him (jokingly) : She's too pretty to be a man, but Jordan is a guy's name. 

You're not a man?

Me (agreeing with mom): Yeah, I am! 

*....wait.*

We were told that our wait would be a while, so mom and I had lunch at the hospital food court. During lunch, mom texted her friend who works at the hospital who came to sit with us for a little bit. When we were done eating, she walked over to the pre op office to see if she could get any information on where we were on the waiting list, and actually got us on the "fast track." (Thanks Jane!) It helped, but even the fast track took a while.  When I was finally called back, the nurses did an in depth medical history interview with me, took some blood samples, and explained some important instructions for the day of the operation.

Then we were home free (seven hours later)!!

It's begun!

The first steps have finally been made. It is making me realize the SARPE surgery is happening, and it is happening soon.

I had an appointment with my orthodontist, Dr. S, yesterday to make sure we were all on the same page about my treatment.  I think I surprised them a little bit when I said the surgery was on March 4th, considering that is only two weeks away.  At this appointment, we talked about the treatment plan and fees for all of the orthodontic procedures (insert feelings of extreme guilt and gratefulness here), put in some spacers in preparation for the expander, and set up a few more appointments.

For anyone who is unfamiliar... spacers are small rubber-bands that are placed 

between teeth in order to make space for bands to go around the tooth.

Spacers are not a big deal at all! So I didn't think anything of it when I got them put in, but later my mom asked if I wanted to take some Advil for it. I thought it was silly because, like I said, no big deal... But even no big deal can hurt! At dinner that night I tried to bite down, and I couldn't! Hah, I don't know, maybe I'm a baby. It'd be a different story if I could just chew in other parts of my mouth. Ironically, no where else in my mouth have teeth that touch together! 

Next Monday, February 24, I am going back to get the spacers removed, fitted for bands, and get the spacers put back in.  Bands are metal rings that encircle teeth to hold an appliance in place. I really like my orthodontist and everyone who works there, so I usually don't mind going to appointments at all. But I hate getting fitting for bands! You've got to try on a few sizes to get the right one, and trying them on consists of me having to bite down to get the metal to slide down my tooth. Ugh, it's almost like nails on a chalkboard for me!

This is a picture of a band. 

The following Monday, March 3, I am going back in to get the actual expander put in, so it will be ready for surgery the next day.

I have some dates!

Unfortunately, these dates are not the kind of dates described as tall or handsome with a foreign accent.

As soon as I had published my last post about waiting for insurance approval (honestly, just a few hour later...), we had a letter APPROVING the first surgery.  

Just to remind you:

This first surgery is called Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion (SARPE).  The goal is to widen my upper jaw.  Since I am an adult, and my palate bone has connected, Dr. M will go above my upper teeth and cut my palatal bone in half. This will allow the expander appliance to widen my upper jaw and create new bone growth as I crank it with a key every day post-op.  The procedure is done in the hospital but is an outpatient procedure, so I will be home the same day.  I was told that the recovery for this is not as extensive as the second. Dr. M and Chippy, the sweet surgical assistant, said that this will be similar to recovering after my wisdom teeth were removed.  I think that'd be no big deal for a lot of people, but I had a miserable recovery from getting my wisdom teeth out.

After a lot of phone tag today between Dr. M's office (surgeon), Dr. S's office (orthodontist), and Chippy, I finally have a game plan.

February 18 - Orthodontist appointment: This is pretty much to get all our ducks in a row. We might make some molds for the expander, and I'm assuming a chance to talk with Dr. S for a few minutes about everything that's going on.

February 26 - Office pre-op appointment (about 30 minutes) at 11:30, then hospital pre-op appointment  (1-1.5 hours) at 1:00.

March 3? - I hope this is when I will get my expander put on. I'd rather not get it put on too far in advance before the surgery.

March 4 - SARPE day!

That's all I know for now. I'm not sure of post-op appointments yet, but I'll be sure to update all of you as everything progresses.

The Waiting Game

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

This is terrible. I am completely in the dark about when the surgeries are going to start.  I feel awful not being able to give people definitive answers about RSVPs.

"Are you coming to the wedding?"

  YES... probably... about 96% sure timing will be okay, 

but there is a chance I will look like a gopher with the gap I might have.

"Can you make it to the Bachelorette Party in Nashville?"

  ...Yeesss?? I hope. I think.

"Jordan, we're going to be in the US (Vegas) next month! Join us!"

  I WANT TO SO MUCH, but I don't know if I'll be recovering from surgery at this time.

"Hi Jordan! We're a perfect family in Germany. Can you be our Au Pair?"

  *sound of my heart shattering* ... No...

"Hello, we are a non-profit in Italy. We incorporate American culture in a summer camp for our kids.  It is 2 months paid for if you'll be a counselor!"

Again, *sound of my heart shattering* ...I can't right now.

The list goes on! 

I'm not mad, and I don't blame anyone for the wait. It's only been three weeks, and I know that's pretty normal.  It just so happens that I get invited to a million exciting things all at once when I cannot commit to them.  That seems to be how my life goes at times though. Nothing to do when I am available and seeking adventure, but as soon as I CAN'T, the offers are overflowing.

This jaw journey has uprooted my ideal little 1-2 year plan: graduate, travel, au pair, then come back and teach.  Nope!

Now it's this big juggle of what needs to be done and when. This whole procedure will take 18 months, give or take a few. Months where I need close to home, so I can make it to orthodontic appointments, pre-op appointments, the actual surgeries, and follow ups.  It also means I will soon have my smile manipulated a mouth very full of metal again.   

So, that brought the question, do I do this now and get it over with? Or do my traveling as I planned and have to go through all of this when I'm a few years older?  Obviously, I chose the first.  I want to get it done; out of the way, so I can move along without these worries hanging over me.

BUT THEN I have to ask myself if I am still going to travel afterwards.  

Can I? Of course!  

Will I? I hope!

It gets so tough not letting society and the people in your life pressure you into thinking it is wrong to take the road less traveled.  There are so many questions friends and family can ask that make me hesitate to do what I really want.  "When you you start teaching?"  "What about your family?" "Are you going to move abroad forever?" "You'll miss this and that." "Do you ever want to meet someone?" "Don't you need an income?" "Are you going to move out?" 

*Big, big, heavy sigh...*

I know I've strayed from the topic of the blog a little bit, but it's all intertwined for me. This surgery is pushing the plans I had.  I am hoping it will just push them back and not completely out of the way.

But for now I will continue to wait...