1st pre-op appointment!

So yesterday July 19th was my 1st pre-op appointment with my OS. My appointment was at 1:30p and I didn't finish until 5:30-6p! So I got to my OS and his resident comes in to chitchat with me while we wait for him to arrive because he was running late from a surgery. She takes my impression and does all these work up stuff that the OS probably doesn't want to do himself. Finally he comes in and the whole time, he was just taking measurements and pictures, waiting for my molds, fitting me on this articulator device, we barely even talked especially since I had a ton of questions I wanted to ask! I hope I get to ask them at my 2nd and last pre-op before the surgery! Lots of running in and out with the resident, I wait so long that I took a nap! After he was all done, he was like we're short on time, we gotta get you to the blood bank and xray. I'm like blood bank? I guess I needed to donate a pint of my own blood in case I need to use it for my surgery since it was a bi-jaw one. I've never donated blood before so I didn't know what to expect plus I wanted to ask him the list of questions I had but I was rushed out to do those tasks because they were closing soon! Urghh! I did get to ask the resident a few of my questions but I felt more comfortable asking my OS. So I went to imaging and had to do a pan xray but not a ceph? Oh well whatevers. That wasn't too bad, it was quite quick because there was no waiting, I then rushed to the blood bank and got there 10 mins before they closed! Thank God b/c I would not want to go another time to do that especially with work and having to drive there is a pain in the butt! It was only about 10 miles from my work but it took 40 minutes to get there! Anyway, I never donated blood before and heard horror stories about them poking around your arm to find that vein. The nurse too a sample of my blood and checked my iron level and I was good otherwise, I couldn't donate or something. We then proceeded to draw blood, sat on the big fat chair and she does her thing and all of a sudden, I feel this pinch and then blood started getting sucked out of my body! The pinch wasn't too bad, I expected worst so I was thankful that it went smoothly. Afterwards, I had to stay 15 minutes just to make sure I was OK and they told me to snack on some cookies/juices. This all end at about 5:40p and then proceeded to the pharmacy to pick up iron supplements per my OS instructions. I didn't leave Kaiser until 5 minutes til 6! I hope I'll get to talk to my OS next time I see him but I have a boat load of questions I wanna ask! If not, I'm going to email him so I'll have more time at my next pre-op to talk to him about the surgery itself.

Orthodontic Progress Pictures

I don't know why but I seem to look mad when I am not smiling! and it seems like I got a lazy eye in the first one! haha

Problem Areas and Timeline of my Jaw Surgery Journey!!

Here is a list of the problems with my teeth/jaw proposed by my oral surgeon, Dr. Robert Relle, DDS.

1. Mild dolichofacial pattern
2. Class II malocclusion
3. Occlusal plane cant-down on right
4. Maxillary asymmetry-cant and midline to left of midsagittal
5. Mandibular asymmetry-cant and chin point deviated to left

Here is a list of my journey to the perfect set of teeth so far:
11/2008 - Braces consultation
12/2009 - Braces and palate expander come on
12/2010 - 1st oral surgery consultation
2/21/2011 - 2nd oral surgery consultation
4/6/2011- 3rd oral surgery consultation
5/4/2011 - 4th oral surgery consultation & decided to go with Dr. Relle
6/2011 - Palate expander comes off
7/19/2011 - 1st pre-op with Dr. Relle
8/5/2011 - 2nd pre-op with Dr. Relle & Anesthesiologist
8/5/2011 - Surgical Prep with Orthodontist!
8/12/2011 - Le Fort I/BSSO/Genio advancement @ 5:30am
8/18/2011 - 1st Post-op
8/26/2011 - 2nd Post-op
9/5/2011 - 3rd Post-op
7/2012 - Month quoted for Debracing but hopefully it'll be sooner!

1st day of blogging about my jaw surgery countdown!

Today is my very first day in documenting my jaw surgery journey, so excited! I've seen many other progress blogs and was very inspired to start one of my own so that when I look back, I can see exactly how I've changed. I started my braces journey 18 months ago but had always wanted to start it earlier, either because I was scared of the pain with braces or just didn't have the time and money to do it. I realized that I needed to do it for myself, both functionally and aesthetically. I've always had a problem with how my teeth looked, I had one incisor that was protruding and never smiled comfortably, I've always covered up it up with my lips when pictures are taken or put my hand in front of it when laughing in front of people. Before I went with braces, I went to several consultations with different orthodontists. Many said that jaw surgery was definitely in my cards and I couldn't accept the fact that braces alone wouldn't take care of my teeth situation which didn't seem very bad to me but I guess there were many underlying issues that one can't see. Finally, I found an orthodontist that was a bit far but saw rave reviews about her that I decided to make her my orthodontist, in addition to her pricing being more affordable compared to other quotes I've received, one quoted me as much as $6K! I didn't expect it to be that high, I figure I'd pay around $2-$3K but $6K was just outrageous considering what I've known others have paid. She said that she would be able to fix my teeth w/o going through operation which I was happy about because I couldn't fathom going under the knife, breaking the jaw sounded like something you go through if you were tortured and tormented! Ekkkk!!! I opted for braces w/o surgery and avoiding extractions, about a year into my braces, I was told that my bite will not be perfect since the problems were with my jaw and not my teeth and decided to change to the surgical route despite the fact that I was horrified by even the thought of it. So here I am, a little over 1.5 years into my braces journey, I am set to have a Lefort I/BSSO/Genio procedure on August 12, 2011. I am both excited and nervous of the operation since this will be a grueling journey.