Roller coaster ride

I had my otho appointment on Thursday, June 27th. My ortho said that she was just as confused, maybe more confused than me as to why my surgery was canceled for July 2nd.  Once I suggested she call the surgeon to see what was going on, she left and placed two calls in the time that I was there, even asking if one of the interns could call to speak with her. Of course, no one was available at the time. I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would hear something from someone yesterday, but that did not happen. The next hope was that I would hear from my ortho today, but that did not happen either...so frustrating!! I did call the ortho, she wasn't even in the office today.  I also called the scheduler person at the surgeon's office.  She is aware that the original surgery date was canceled, and she said that she would talk to the one intern to see what was going on. He said that it is definitely something that needs to be worked out between the ortho and the surgeon.  I waited till the afternoon, but I called back with a different question and at that point as we were talking, I said that this is just due to a miscommunication. If they would have been able to reach my regular ortho on Friday (she was teaching a seminar and they couldn't reach her) this whole thing could have been avoided!!! The scheduler did say that the dr is booked all of July now because I was asking if they could pencil me in on a date while the two doctors figure it out. (The ortho said they would try to get me back on the schedule and get it done this month.) At this point, I told her that I am panicking that it won't get done and be delayed for 6 months, but she said for me not to panic, she will talk to the doctor and maybe the doctor could get me in when she normally isn't scheduled for the O.R.  I really hope that's the case. I want as much recovery time as I can get, and the summer time is it for me.  Keeping fingers crossed. I will post again as soon as I get an idea of what's happening, you better believe that I will be calling them next week!!

change of plans...

I had my pre-op work up appointment with my surgeon today and as you can tell from the heading of this post, it did not go according to plan! I had a nervous feeling for the past few days that something was up and I was a little worried about the appointment. Well, the feeling got verified today when my surgeon said that I am NOT READY for surgery, which was scheduled for JULY 2!  Did not want that news.

The problem seems to be some lack of communication between the surgeon and the orthodontist and my ortho just put a new wire on me at the last visit with the springs and my teeth are still changing too much to even do the molds, etc for them to make surgical splints since my teeth would keep changing in the meantime!  I only had to drive an hour and a half each way, and in a monsoon on the way home! I was stressed, to say the least!!

The surgeon said that I need to be in a straight wire to maintain things steady for at least a month before they could do the molds, etc. Well, there goes my summer timeline to get this done and heal up a bit before returning to work in August.  But, the surgeon did say that she thought the best result would be to do the top too, (in three parts), the bottom and the chin. I asked about how much time off they would recommend and was told three weeks. I also asked about diet at that point of recovery and the intern said that I would not be wired or banded(the splint is just attached to the top) and that I would be on a soft diet-anything mushy that I don't have to chew. At that point, I would just be worried more about energy level to go back to work and deal with kids all day long and do lots of talking. I do reading groups with kids in K-4th grade, and it can be alot of discussion. I guess I will have to prompt them and let them do all the talking! :)

So, given my work schedule, I set a tentative surgery date for December 17th, I would still have to take a few days off, but then would have two weeks for winter break from school and that would give me about 3 weeks off.  That should also give the ortho and surgeon enough time to make sure things are absolutely ready for surgery!!!!!!

I'm just trying to look at the positive side of things, even though I am so frustrated with the situation right now. But if reading all the other blogs has done anything for me, they've shown me that this happens alot and I really need to be prepared for anything! I am reminding myself that this is not something that I want to rush and I want the best results possible so if it takes a few more months, then I'll roll with it.  I have an ortho appointment next week, (which was supposed to be for surgical hooks) so I will see what goes on then and try to update after that.

Updated Plan / Ortho Visit / 30 day countdown

I went to the ortho again on Thursday, May 30th. I was due to get my first set of sure smile wires and molds done (to be sent to the surgeon).  The assistant took my old wires out and did the molds, the ortho also did a bite mold, but it wasn't the typical sheet of wax since they were fed-exing the molds to the surgeon, and heat in a shipping truck would ruin the mold, so the ortho used what looked like a caulk gun to squirt goo on my teeth then I just had to bite and hold it so the material could set up.  It was easy, didn't taste bad or anything, but different.

The molds are another story, I hate doing them to begin with. I dreaded having it done for the first time with the braces on.  The bottom one wasn't bad and the first top one went ok too, until she came back with the tray full of goo again and had to re do the top, that one was more challenging since there seemed to be way too much goo in the tray! yuck, hard to breathe on that one!

Then the assistant had to wrestle the wires in place and they also added springs in a couple spots to open up space between a few teeth on top, since now the ortho is saying the top needs work too. Now, the was news to me, since the surgeon really only wanted to do the bottom, unless the top isn't wide enough. Well, I guess when the ortho and surgeon had their latest consultation together, they decided the top needed to move too and this is the first I am hearing of it. So as the ortho is casually showing me on the computer how they are going to move the top, I had to stop her and ask for clarification. Now, as far as I know, insurance has only approved for the lower jaw. When I asked about that, my ortho said she had seen that it was approved, but couldn't find it in my record at the moment, so I am waiting on confirmation about that. I am at the 30 day countdown point right now!! Yikes, at least I don't have too much time to worry about double jaw surgery, I was finally getting settled with the thought of what was going to happen to the bottom. I am having more feelings of "what the heck am I doing?!?" at this point. Now I am worried about requiring a splint, longer period of liquid diet, etc. I guess I better get my list of questions ready.  Has anyone had the upper jaw done (in three pieces) and NOT need a splint for any period of time? I am thinking I need to be ready for anything at this point!!

I really wanted to call insurance yesterday, but had to leave work early due to touch of a stomach bug, thanks to my sick family-they are so kind to share their germs! I was too out of it to call anyway. I will have my daughter at the ortho on Monday for her own appointment-I wish they gave family discounts- maybe I'll get the insurance information I need then, otherwise I will be calling several different people to find out what's what! I am waiting for the insurance person to call from the surgeon's office though.  Anyway, I will end this post as it's rambling on a bit! Hope to update soon with the insurance confirmation-that will help put my mind at ease...