If you follow this blog, you'll remember that I've talked about the surgery I was going to have on the 9th. (Feel free to go remind yourself... it's the above link.)
Well, they did indeed take lots of molds, and several X-rays during my second PreOp appointment. It was rather mind numbing, as I didn't really do anything except bite into wax, have plaster molds made, X-rays taken. So I'm going to gloss over that appointment, and go to my final PreOp:
Dr J had taken my X-rays and my mold, and performed a mock surgery on the molds. I was able to take some pictures of what they were going to do to my actual jaws, but the images just don't make that much sense without somebody pointing to each spot. That, and I was getting overwhelmed.
Basically, Dr J was going to shift the back of my upper jaw down, opening up my airway more than it's ever been. Then he was going to splice my lower jaw, and bring it forward. In this process, he'd also bring my chin bone forward 7 mm, which is practically impossible. Usually at lengths much above 5mm, they start using implants and leave the bone alone, but Dr Jones wanted the best long term result for me, so, after discussing it, I agreed that he should move the bone of the chin.
After discussing all this, we went into a different room to have him take some "Before" pictures, and there were some plastic skulls on the table. I found one that was similar to what Dr J had described as how he was going to affix the bone.
Well, they did indeed take lots of molds, and several X-rays during my second PreOp appointment. It was rather mind numbing, as I didn't really do anything except bite into wax, have plaster molds made, X-rays taken. So I'm going to gloss over that appointment, and go to my final PreOp:
Dr J had taken my X-rays and my mold, and performed a mock surgery on the molds. I was able to take some pictures of what they were going to do to my actual jaws, but the images just don't make that much sense without somebody pointing to each spot. That, and I was getting overwhelmed.
Basically, Dr J was going to shift the back of my upper jaw down, opening up my airway more than it's ever been. Then he was going to splice my lower jaw, and bring it forward. In this process, he'd also bring my chin bone forward 7 mm, which is practically impossible. Usually at lengths much above 5mm, they start using implants and leave the bone alone, but Dr Jones wanted the best long term result for me, so, after discussing it, I agreed that he should move the bone of the chin.
After discussing all this, we went into a different room to have him take some "Before" pictures, and there were some plastic skulls on the table. I found one that was similar to what Dr J had described as how he was going to affix the bone.
This isn't exactly what my skull now looks like, of course, but it's the general idea.
Next time: What happened after the surgery.
Gretchen
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