Sunday 12 August 2012

Progress at last!


On Thursday I went to the hospital for my joint clinic appointment with the surgeon followed by an ortho appointment.

I did lots of waiting around, but then eventually got called and told I needed to go and have some new x-rays done as it's been 2 years since I last had them. 

Then I did some more waiting... and then went in to see the surgical team.  There was the man who I'm pretty sure will be my surgeon, and then another surgeon, and two women who just said they were a part of the surgical team.  One of the women then explained the surgery to me at a very basic level, even though they've already explained this to me at least 3 times, and I've done so much research I think I could be an amateur jaw surgeon!  Anyway, so then I just asked all the usual questions, which I kind of already knew the answer to but thought I'd ask anyway.  I asked about whether I'd need a splint, and they said they don't remember anybody having a splint in the past year, and that I definitely won't need one, so that's good! 

I also asked about my nose, because although I hate my nose and pretty much any change can only be an improvement in my mind, I'm also really worried that I will end up with some wonky bulbous nose!  They said the only negative thing that could happen to my nose is that it might turn up a bit at the tip, but the surgeon nicely pointed out that i have a 'small hump' in my nose, and that it going up at the end might make it look more straight.  I swear these surgeons are just trying to make me feel more ugly, I wasn't even aware of this hump!  

Anyway, onto surgery details.  They said that my op will actually be at King's hospital in London, but then all my follow-up apps will be at my usual hospital.  They said that they usually operate on a Wednesday, and then you usually go home on the Friday, but obviously it just depends how you're feeling.  So the surgeon said the next step is to wait for a letter with my surgery date!  I asked how long it will be, and he said that he'd hope that it would be done well before Christmas! 

The surgeon also said that my teeth are in a really good position ready for the op, so he thinks I will only need my braces on for 3 months after!!  This is all very exciting, but they also said last year that my surgery would be around August, and that obviously hasn't happened, so I try not to get too excited when they say these things, cos I kind of won't believe it until it happens.

I then went to see the ortho, and she took some more moulds of my teeth.  Then she said that she wants to see me again in October, and said that she'll send an email to the woman that books the surgery, and she said that she thinks they are booking for November at the moment!  So it seems like it will probably be in November.  I'm now just going to be doing a lot of waiting for letters for my next appts and my surgery date!  But if I don't receive any letters with a couple of weeks I'll be on the phone nagging them about it!

I'm soooooooooo excited now that it finally feels like it's going to happen.  I'm sure when I get my surgery date I will be equally terrified as excited, but that hasn't set in yet.



3 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you're moving forward. Btw, my surgeon told me that everyone with a recessed chin has a hump on their nose. (Now, I obsessively look for that.) I have a "dorsal hump" that I will have taken care of when I get a septoplasty and rhinoplasty after I heal up from this jaw surgery. Anyway, just wait until they start doing all the measurements and photos. The purpose of these (I'm pretty sure) is to erode one's self-esteem to the point where the patient says, "Just do whatever you want to my face." Luckily, you already look much more like an "after" than I do (even after my surgery). So you'll be fine! Anyway, congrats.

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  2. Thanks Thomas and SN! That's reassuring to hear about the 'hump', not something I'd noticed before but definitely will now... I think you're right about them trying to erode any self-esteem you have left, I didn't realise I had so many things 'wrong' with my face until I started this process! It seems like there's a medical term for every possible imperfection on a face! I'm not sure I agree with you that I look more like an 'after' than you do! I think everybody thinks that they look much worse than anybody else... I definitely don't think I look like an after! I've been following your blog, hope you're recovering well!

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