Pre-op Day

Today was a great day! I finally got to talk to the surgeon for my pre-op information. I will try to remember all the details before they slip my mind. If you are a squeamish person you should probably stop reading here lol

Basically the idea of surgery is that they will be cutting between my two front teeth all the way to the back along the top of my pallet bone. The thing is though, they won't be cutting from the inside where the expander is they actually will be going through the inside of my lip up through my nose and cutting down that way. And now after reading that, I have probably lost half my followers. They will close me up with dis solvable stitches and then hopefully I will be able to go home later in the day.

According to my surgeon the only reason they would keep me in is if I can't hold any liquids down or if I was bleeding too much. I'm sure I'll be fine and ready to go home later that day. I will be on straight liquid diet for a few weeks slowly working into a soft diet. He has my return to work date of December 31st and then light duties until Feb.1st.

For pre-op care he has prescribed me liquid morphine, Peridex rinse to keep things clean and Naproxen which is an anti-inflammatory. He told me that he doesn't prescribe antibiotics because with good oral hygiene his patients never have problems. SO what's the plan for Post-op?

Starting day 5 after surgery I will have to start to turn the key. Actually I should have said my husband will have to start turning the key for me as I won't be able to do it myself. The doc showed Logan how to do it today and I am so thankful for that!Each turn of the key is 1/4 mm, so on the first day of turning it one turn, the second day is two turns, third day is one turn, fourth day is two turns etc until the expander reaches it's maximum limit. My surgeon said that in surgery he will be turning the key 10 times which is a total of 2.5 mm's after he has made the cuts so I will notice a change pretty much when I wake up from anesthesia. Apparently it takes about a month to reach maximum expansion and then braces go on to bring everything back. The expander will be in for 3 months after the last turn of the key. So for 3 months I will have braces, expander and a giant gap between my front teeth. Sexy!

The need for a second surgery will be determined down the road once they see how everything moves into place. He said there may not be a need for another surgery but they will reassess later on. With that being said, he did say that sometimes they have to do this first surgery a second time. It's not common but it can happen if they need more expansion to be done. I'm not too worried though, I am staying positive that everything will work out just fine the first time around.

They also gave me some recipes for smoothies which I will basically live off of for a few months and a little care package of ice packs and cleaning sponges. Just in the last week alone I have lose 5 pounds from already having to start my liquid/soft diet and I haven't even had surgery yet.  I know it's all worth it in the end so I am staying positive and looking forward to getting this ball rolling.

The funniest part of the day is that we realized my surgery is on 12/12/12. I should probably buy a lottery ticket that day. Anyways... I think that's all the info I have for now. Next update will be on D-Day which is really only 5 days away so I am going to enjoy my busy fun filled weekend. Wowzers!