Well, I have a surgery date. I'm not thrilled that the date is FIVE MONTHS after the date I got cleared for surgery, but at least I have a date. This is how it all went down....
June 23- Ortho cleared me for surgery. I made an appointment for 8 weeks out, and the ortho told me that I would probably be calling back to cancel that appointment because I would probably have surgery before that. I immediately called my surgeon to schedule an appointment for him to clear me. First available appointment (I told them first available, any date any time I would make it work) was July 17.
July 17- Oral Surgeon clears me for surgery. He tells me to go to the front desk and get my surgery date. The ladies at the desk tell me that they have to call my insurance to get the surgery pre-certified or authorized or whatever. I know this whole process because I'm a nurse, and I used to work in a doctor's office. They say they will call me.
July 21-September 19- I call the surgeon's office every few days to bug them and ask them when my date is. They refuse to give me a date and tell me to stop calling pretty much.
Sept 22 9:30 am- I go back to my orthodontist. I actually cancelled my 8 week appt and rescheduled it for 12 weeks out. So at this point it's been 12 weeks since he has seen me. He thought I would have had my surgery about 4-6 weeks after the last time he saw me. He asks me what the heck is going on and why I don't have a date. I tell him all about the surgeon's office, and he is pretty annoyed. He takes their phone number down and tells me he will call the surgeon himself. I made an appointment for 6 weeks out, but he told me that I would probably have to cancel because my surgery would probably be in 2-4 weeks. Sweet!
Sept 22 11:00 am- I get a call from my ortho telling me that he spoke to the surgeon. He says the surgeon had no idea this was going on, and he was upset about how his staff was handling the situation. He tells me to expect a call from them with a surgery date within a day or two.
Sept 22 11:15am- Surgeon's office calls and magically has a date for me! The b*tch lady I always spoke to tells me that she has my date! She acts like it's just a coincidence that she has a date the same day that I know my orthodontist called her boss. Funny how that works out. Anyways, she tells me my surgery date is Monday, Nov. 10th.
So, SEVEN weeks away! Not 2. Not 4. SEVEN. Still, I was happy to at least have a date. I made my appt. for my physical with my primary care doc, my appt. with the surgeon for my pre-op visit, and my appt. with my ortho to get my surgical hooks put on. My mom requests 3 days off work to watch my kids so my husband can take care of me.
Oct 3- My surgeon's office calls again. It's b*tch lady. She tells me there was a "scheduling conflict" and they had to move my surgery date. Yup. As if this couldn't get any more annoying. My new date is Nov. 17th. I reschedule the rest of my doctor and ortho appointments to coordinate with my new surgery date. My mom cancels her request off from work and changes it to the new dates.
So, the good news is I have a date. Hopefully it won't change again. The bad news is, the absolute earliest that I will be able to eat solid food is December 29th. So Thanksgiving and Christmas are really going to suck this year. Another silver lining? Wine is not solid food.
my journey through adult braces and orthognathic jaw surgery
Friday, October 24, 2014
Monday, August 25, 2014
The Waiting Game.......
I haven't posted in a while because I have been pretty annoyed about this whole process.....
In March, I developed a gap between my lower front two teeth as a result of them widening my arch. The main reason I needed the braces before the surgery was to widen my arch so that my bottom teeth and top teeth will fit together once my jaw is cut and pinned into place.
The ortho said that he would like to just remove my arch wire on the bottom to close the gap quickly because I was on track and progressing rather quickly. He made a comment about us just moving this along as quickly as possible. He removed the wire, and I went back a week later with my gap closed.
At that appointment he told me that he thought I would be ready by summer for surgery. He made a few adjustments to my wires and told me to come back in 6 weeks.
My appointment 6 weeks later was at the end of April. At that appointment, my ortho told me that I was almost ready, and that he thought I would be cleared for surgery in June or July. I was excited because I really want to get this over with obviously. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I was sort of hoping for end of June early July to get this done. He told me to come back for my next adjustment in 8 weeks.
My appointment 8 weeks later was on June 23, 2014. On that date, my orthodontist cleared me for surgery. I was so excited to hear that I was ready. He said the next step was to call the surgeon and schedule an appointment for the surgeon to clear me. I called the surgeon as soon as I got to my car and took the first available appointment they had, which wasn't until July 17th. My hopes of a late June early July surgery were gone........
At the July 17th appointment, my surgeon checked everything and agreed that I was indeed ready for surgery. He cleared me for surgery and then took me up to the front desk. The girls there said that they couldn't schedule anything until they had the surgery pre-certified by my insurance company. I'm a nurse and I used to work for a doctor's office, so I'm pretty familiar with the pre-cert process. I was thinking within a few weeks I would have an answer........
BUT as of today, I still have nothing. In late July I got a letter from my insurance company that the surgery was denied because they needed a lot more information, like photos, X-rays, molds of my teeth, etc. The surgeon's office told me that was normal and that insurance always denies the first time. What annoyed me was that 2 weeks later when I called to check on things, they still had not gathered all of the information needed to submit to the insurance. Today when I spoke to them the told me they had submitted everything, but are still waiting for a response.
It's so frustrating to me that I have been cleared for surgery for over 2 months now and still don't have a date. I have a husband, kids, a small business to run, and it's really difficult to plan the next few months of my life without having an idea of when I will be in surgery, recovery, etc.
I feel better now that I've bitched about this all. I'll keep you posted when I get my date. I'm hoping for the first week of October since I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding on Sept. 26th.
In March, I developed a gap between my lower front two teeth as a result of them widening my arch. The main reason I needed the braces before the surgery was to widen my arch so that my bottom teeth and top teeth will fit together once my jaw is cut and pinned into place.
The ortho said that he would like to just remove my arch wire on the bottom to close the gap quickly because I was on track and progressing rather quickly. He made a comment about us just moving this along as quickly as possible. He removed the wire, and I went back a week later with my gap closed.
At that appointment he told me that he thought I would be ready by summer for surgery. He made a few adjustments to my wires and told me to come back in 6 weeks.
My appointment 6 weeks later was at the end of April. At that appointment, my ortho told me that I was almost ready, and that he thought I would be cleared for surgery in June or July. I was excited because I really want to get this over with obviously. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I was sort of hoping for end of June early July to get this done. He told me to come back for my next adjustment in 8 weeks.
My appointment 8 weeks later was on June 23, 2014. On that date, my orthodontist cleared me for surgery. I was so excited to hear that I was ready. He said the next step was to call the surgeon and schedule an appointment for the surgeon to clear me. I called the surgeon as soon as I got to my car and took the first available appointment they had, which wasn't until July 17th. My hopes of a late June early July surgery were gone........
At the July 17th appointment, my surgeon checked everything and agreed that I was indeed ready for surgery. He cleared me for surgery and then took me up to the front desk. The girls there said that they couldn't schedule anything until they had the surgery pre-certified by my insurance company. I'm a nurse and I used to work for a doctor's office, so I'm pretty familiar with the pre-cert process. I was thinking within a few weeks I would have an answer........
BUT as of today, I still have nothing. In late July I got a letter from my insurance company that the surgery was denied because they needed a lot more information, like photos, X-rays, molds of my teeth, etc. The surgeon's office told me that was normal and that insurance always denies the first time. What annoyed me was that 2 weeks later when I called to check on things, they still had not gathered all of the information needed to submit to the insurance. Today when I spoke to them the told me they had submitted everything, but are still waiting for a response.
It's so frustrating to me that I have been cleared for surgery for over 2 months now and still don't have a date. I have a husband, kids, a small business to run, and it's really difficult to plan the next few months of my life without having an idea of when I will be in surgery, recovery, etc.
I feel better now that I've bitched about this all. I'll keep you posted when I get my date. I'm hoping for the first week of October since I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding on Sept. 26th.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Wisdom Teeth are OUT!
Yesterday morning I had my two wisdom teeth removed. The oral surgeon told me in November 2013 that he would need to remove the teeth because he wouldn't be able to operate on my jaw if they were in place. I had one impacted on my lower left side and one that grew in on my upper right side. I was so nervous about having the sedation, that was biggest fear. And it was nothing to even worry about!
When I first arrived I had some new x-rays and impressions taken. They wanted to be able to compare the x-rays and impressions from yesterday to the ones from a few months ago to see how I'm progressing. That took about a half hour or so, then the surgeon came in to start my IV. I told him I was nervous about being sedated because I don't like that loopy, out-of-control feeling. He said I'd get better sedation from drinking a bottle of wine. I asked if I could just do that instead. He was very nice about it all, put the IV in, and then I saw the nurse hand him a syringe. He said, "This will take about 30 seconds to kick in." I felt my feet start to tingle a little and then I was out. I could hear them talking and hear noises, but I can't remember anything specific that was said or done. I also could see colors, kind of like when your eyes are closed but you can tell when the lights are on or off. Sometimes I would see dark, sometimes yellow, sometimes red. Maybe it was depending on the surgeon moving the big overhead light? Anyways, I felt like I was sort of fine the whole time hearing and seeing colors. Then they woke me up and said, "You're done!" It felt like it was only 5 minutes, but I think it was about 15 minutes or so.
As soon as they woke me up, someone was removing my IV from my arm and then someone else was telling me I could walk to my recovery room. From the moment I woke up, I remember everything and didn't feel loopy at all. I felt kind of groggy, but not drugged up or anything. My husband came into the recovery room a minute after I got there and I told him everything that happened. I had a bunch of gauze in my mouth so it was hard to talk. The biggest annoyance for me was that my tongue, cheek, and chin were all numb and my mouth felt so dry. I asked the nurse if I got a Novocain injection or something and she said yes. Then I told her my mouth was really dry and asked for some water. She took the gauze out, said I had already clotted, and gave me some water to drink. The surgeon came in and told me that everything went well, and I told him I was stupid for being worried about the sedation because it was nothing!
After he came in, the nurse came back and gave me my scripts. I had one for Vicodin, one for ibuprofen, one for penicillin, and one for a mouthwash. I told her I didn't want to take the Vicodin since I'm breastfeeding, but they gave it to me anyway just in case. Then she told me I could leave! I think I was only in recovery for 15 minutes tops. The procedure probably started around 9:30, and we were home by 11 am.
My husband walked me to the car, and we were going to go straight to the pharmacy. I get car sick pretty easily though, so I asked if he could just take me home first. He brought me home where my mom was with the baby, and I laid on the couch while he went and got my scripts filled. I ate some pudding and took 400 mg of ibuprofen, then the baby wanted to nurse. I nursed her a little, then my mom was able to rock her to sleep while I took a little nap. I only napped for about 20-30 minutes, but I felt so much better when I woke up because the numbness had worn off. By that time my husband was home so he gave me the Penicillin to take, and made me some spaghetti and cut it up like I do for the baby, lol. I had a few bites, but I felt like I wasn't comfortable eating that yet, so I ate another pudding. I finally felt confident enough to eat some soup and pasta around 3:00 or so.
The surgeon's office did call to check on me around 2 pm, and the woman on the phone was very nice. Since then, I've been fine with just the Motrin. I'm a little swollen on my left side where the impacted tooth was removed, and I feel no pain whatsoever on the other side. Today is Wednesday, and I'm hoping by Friday I'll feel pretty back to normal and have no swelling. I guess we will see how that goes. The worst part is that we have had two 60+ degree days here (yesterday and today), and I've been stuck inside recovering. I'm dying to take the baby for a walk outside or to the park.
I did get a little feedback about my surgery date. The nurse said it would have to be at least 6 months from now, because it would take that long for my bone to heal from the wisdom tooth removal. She said they can't go back in and start cutting my jaw before my bone is totally healed. 6 months from now is September, and I was given Oct. 2014 as my estimate from my ortho. I guess Oct. 2014 is still a possibility. I'm not sure what else has to be done from an orthodontic standpoint, but I guess I'll know more about that after next week's appointment. Also, the oral surgeon mentioned that he probably would only need to operate on my top jaw, and since my only top jaw wisdom tooth was the non-impacted one, I don't know if they would need to still wait 6 months. I don't know. This whole process is confusing.
I'll keep you posted next week after my ortho appointment!
When I first arrived I had some new x-rays and impressions taken. They wanted to be able to compare the x-rays and impressions from yesterday to the ones from a few months ago to see how I'm progressing. That took about a half hour or so, then the surgeon came in to start my IV. I told him I was nervous about being sedated because I don't like that loopy, out-of-control feeling. He said I'd get better sedation from drinking a bottle of wine. I asked if I could just do that instead. He was very nice about it all, put the IV in, and then I saw the nurse hand him a syringe. He said, "This will take about 30 seconds to kick in." I felt my feet start to tingle a little and then I was out. I could hear them talking and hear noises, but I can't remember anything specific that was said or done. I also could see colors, kind of like when your eyes are closed but you can tell when the lights are on or off. Sometimes I would see dark, sometimes yellow, sometimes red. Maybe it was depending on the surgeon moving the big overhead light? Anyways, I felt like I was sort of fine the whole time hearing and seeing colors. Then they woke me up and said, "You're done!" It felt like it was only 5 minutes, but I think it was about 15 minutes or so.
As soon as they woke me up, someone was removing my IV from my arm and then someone else was telling me I could walk to my recovery room. From the moment I woke up, I remember everything and didn't feel loopy at all. I felt kind of groggy, but not drugged up or anything. My husband came into the recovery room a minute after I got there and I told him everything that happened. I had a bunch of gauze in my mouth so it was hard to talk. The biggest annoyance for me was that my tongue, cheek, and chin were all numb and my mouth felt so dry. I asked the nurse if I got a Novocain injection or something and she said yes. Then I told her my mouth was really dry and asked for some water. She took the gauze out, said I had already clotted, and gave me some water to drink. The surgeon came in and told me that everything went well, and I told him I was stupid for being worried about the sedation because it was nothing!
After he came in, the nurse came back and gave me my scripts. I had one for Vicodin, one for ibuprofen, one for penicillin, and one for a mouthwash. I told her I didn't want to take the Vicodin since I'm breastfeeding, but they gave it to me anyway just in case. Then she told me I could leave! I think I was only in recovery for 15 minutes tops. The procedure probably started around 9:30, and we were home by 11 am.
My husband walked me to the car, and we were going to go straight to the pharmacy. I get car sick pretty easily though, so I asked if he could just take me home first. He brought me home where my mom was with the baby, and I laid on the couch while he went and got my scripts filled. I ate some pudding and took 400 mg of ibuprofen, then the baby wanted to nurse. I nursed her a little, then my mom was able to rock her to sleep while I took a little nap. I only napped for about 20-30 minutes, but I felt so much better when I woke up because the numbness had worn off. By that time my husband was home so he gave me the Penicillin to take, and made me some spaghetti and cut it up like I do for the baby, lol. I had a few bites, but I felt like I wasn't comfortable eating that yet, so I ate another pudding. I finally felt confident enough to eat some soup and pasta around 3:00 or so.
The surgeon's office did call to check on me around 2 pm, and the woman on the phone was very nice. Since then, I've been fine with just the Motrin. I'm a little swollen on my left side where the impacted tooth was removed, and I feel no pain whatsoever on the other side. Today is Wednesday, and I'm hoping by Friday I'll feel pretty back to normal and have no swelling. I guess we will see how that goes. The worst part is that we have had two 60+ degree days here (yesterday and today), and I've been stuck inside recovering. I'm dying to take the baby for a walk outside or to the park.
I did get a little feedback about my surgery date. The nurse said it would have to be at least 6 months from now, because it would take that long for my bone to heal from the wisdom tooth removal. She said they can't go back in and start cutting my jaw before my bone is totally healed. 6 months from now is September, and I was given Oct. 2014 as my estimate from my ortho. I guess Oct. 2014 is still a possibility. I'm not sure what else has to be done from an orthodontic standpoint, but I guess I'll know more about that after next week's appointment. Also, the oral surgeon mentioned that he probably would only need to operate on my top jaw, and since my only top jaw wisdom tooth was the non-impacted one, I don't know if they would need to still wait 6 months. I don't know. This whole process is confusing.
I'll keep you posted next week after my ortho appointment!
Monday, March 10, 2014
3 Months In, Wisdom Tooth Update, & Progress Pics
I have been putting this off because I'm sort of in the slow part of the process. I had my braces put on 11/25/13, and I had my first follow up appointment in mid January 2013 (almost 2 months ago). At the progress appointment, I asked for a copy of my original pictures from my consultation, so I could compare my teeth from November to my teeth in January. Here are my progress pics so far:
 |
| My bottom teeth, top is 11/13 and bottom is 1/14. |
I'm really happy with the progress. My teeth were basically complete straight with 2 months of braces. Now that it's been almost 4 months, they are completely straight. My next ortho appointment is next week, so I'll update with new progress pics after that. My bite has changed significantly. I used to have more of an opening on my right side, then it kind of switched to my left side, and now I have a crack that's straight across. I'll show bite pictures in my post after my next ortho appointment.
In January, the ortho decided I should start wearing rubber bands. At first he was going to wait until my March appt., then he changed his mind and said I should start wearing them in January. I wear them 12 hours per day, so I pretty much just put them in after dinner and wear them while I'm sleeping at night. The rubber bands have changed my bite (I think). For the first 6 weeks or so of me wearing them, they felt fine. BUT this past week I have been having horrible TMJ pain. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night in pain and take the rubber bands out. I'm not sure if it's related to the rubber bands, but they certainly aren't helping the pain either. I'm hoping to get an answer about this soon. It's been hurting me almost daily at some point in the day or at night. I've been taking Advil several times a week, and I'm not the type that likes to take meds. I'm just not sure if the pain is being caused by the rubber bands or by my teeth moving or by what.
Tomorrow I'm going to see the oral surgeon again. He's going to take a look at my teeth and my bite and see how I'm progressing. I'll probably have a better idea of when surgery will be after this appointment. My teeth look straight to me, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll have to wait. I don't know exactly what the orthodontist needs to achieve before I'll be ready for surgery. I know a lot of other people who have gone through this feel that they are going to be ready for surgery much sooner than they actually are, so I'm not planning on receiving news that my surgery should be sooner than the original estimate of Oct. 2014. I kind of have a lot going on between now and then between my kids and the 2 weddings that I'm in, so I really don't have time to get the surgery until October.
I'm still really nervous about the surgery. I go back and forth on a weekly basis. One week I feel okay about it. The next week I tell my husband there's no way I can do it. I guess only time will tell??
Tomorrow I'm also having my wisdom teeth removed. I'm very nervous about this. I have one impacted on my lower left side and one that already grew in on my upper right side. I'm mostly nervous about being sedated. I've never been sedated, so I'm nervous about feeling loopy. I don't like feeling out of control in that way, so I'm just not looking forward to it. I'm hoping it all just goes smoothly and my recovery is not too bad. I'm planning on only taking ibuprofen for pain since I'm still breastfeeding. I have some frozen milk in my freezer, but my baby is not a huge fan of bottles. At least I know I have the milk if I need to feed it to her. Also, she's 11-months-old, so she is eating food nowadays too.
My hubby got me some jello, pudding, and frozen yogurt today, and he's taking the day off tomorrow to come with me. My mom is going to babysit while we're gone, then hubby will take care of the baby and my 7-year-old for the rest of the day tomorrow and Wednesday. Nice little Mommy Vacation I guess. Ugh. Wish me luck. At least this is like a little practice run for the jaw surgery.
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