4 Days...wow.

So, my last post was really just a rant...it's difficult when I'm going to school 1500 miles away from where I live an am having this surgery! But here's an overview of my appointments:

Ortho- The surgical hooks are on, and they are driving me crazy. I have wax on the bottom ones because they're cutting into my gums, but the top ones aren't hurting, just annoying :) They took my final x-rays and my molds there and I picked them up a few hours later to take to my surgeons.

At the surgeons- They took an x-ray of my jaw joint, which showed that I have developed arthritis in my left joint. This didn't really really surprise me, since I've been dealing with this for so long now! He took my measurements again (to confirm with the other surgeon) and used this contraption (wax bite plate in my mouth, connected to this metal thing) so he can mount my molds in relation to the rest of my face to preform the surgery and create my splint.

He also gave my more information about surgery day. I'll have to be at the hospital at 5:30am, they'll bring me to the operating room about 7:30 and the surgery will start about 8. Since Wednesday's are his day to get his kids to school he won't be there before they put me under, but he did tell me that we could wait for him to get there if I wanted to. After the surgery I will be in a step-down ICU overnight, so that I have more nurse supervision. For that first night I will have a tube going through my nose and down my throat to drain the blood out of my stomach, he said that this will help with the nausea, but I'll have anti-nausea meds if I need them :) (sigh of relief). I will also have a catheter in,so I don;t have to get up and walk to the bathroom. Those will both come out the next morning when I'm moved to a regular room. I'll get to walk around (a lot!) that day, and hopefully will be released the next morning!

Ahhhhhhh, this post is turning into another novel and my dad is yelling for me to come help clean the house (my best friend and her fiance are arriving tomorrow), so I'll write again with the rest of the info my surgeon gave me!

<3 Stefane