Day 828 - Surgery Time

Sobering news today - it is surgery time.

I have seriously been contemplating not going through with the surgery. I am extremely satisfied with my results thus far. My bite is definitely not ideal (I have a crossbite, my midline is off, my maxilla - believe this or not - is not quite wide enough, etc.), but my teeth have come so far, so dramatically, that I was thinking, "Hey, why put myself through this surgery?"

I met with the surgeon, Dr. Holmes (the same guy who performed my SARPE), yesterday, and he answered that question very simply: If I do NOT do the surgery, there is a high chance of relapse. After investing over three years of my life now (hard to believe my expander first went in over three years ago!), the last thing I would want is to take steps backwards and undo what has taken so long to accomplish. I trust Dr. Holmes' word very much. He is a very experienced surgeon who has this gift - at least with me - of relieving any anxiety related to these procedures.

Therefore, I'm sitting here today almost positive that there will be maxillofacial surgery in my near future. As to the exact timing, I am obviously not quite sure, but likely late March/early April.

Dr. Holmes brought me through some of the details of this surgery. Does not sound fun.

As I pointed out before, my maxilla has to be expanded even a little further than it is now. For those who have read my blog, you will know already how far my maxilla has been expanded. As a quick recap, there were 67 activations of the expander, for a total of 16.75mm of expansion - well over half an inch. In fact, the maxilla had to be expanded so much that they had to switch expanders half way through because the screw in the first expander was not long enough! Unreal to think on those days again.

I think the rest of the plan for the maxilla is to bring it a little forward and push it a little upwards. Everything then gets screwed into place, which is different than SARPE where my upper jaw was left to 'naturally' heal, and therefore was loose and "wobbly" whenever I would do something as trivial as lightly brushing my teeth.

The surgery also involves work on the mandible. *Sigh* I think basically they will be looking to rotate it a little to fix the crossbite and bring my bite together. This damn bone sounds like the trickier part.

He also said that my jaw will not be wired shut. There will be some elastics to ensure I do not move the jaw too much, but no wires. I guess that's good. I'm taking any good news I can get right now!

We then spoke a little about how long a surgery like this will typically last. He said, "At least 5 hours, likely closer to 6 or 7." …… that floored me. I have never been under the knife for so long.

How long is the recovery? The first 2-3 days are in the hospital. Then home. Liquid diet for a MONTH (to compare - the liquid diet with SARPE lasted just under a couple of weeks), likely 2-3 weeks at least on short-term disability from work, all the joys of that swelling and bleeding that I missed so much from SARPE. Hahaha. Oh, did I mention that I would then still be in braces for probably another year? Hahaha. Man. What am I doing? Someone talk me into this or talk me out of it! Please!

Anyway, now that the ball is rolling again, I will be back on this blog, pictures and all.

If I am not back on again, Merry Christmas and all the best for a healthy and happy 2012!