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.