As I have previously mentioned, today (May 16th) was my pre-op assessment. I met with both my surgeon and a general nurse, and it's fair to say the appointments had some ups and downs.
I entered the Oral Surgery department with the same crippling nerves and anticipation that I usually have and was called in to see my surgeon almost immediately. He proceeded to show me two models of my jaws. One in their current position and one in the position they will be in after the surgery - which was so weird! Even though I could tell they were my teeth, I don't think I actually realised how different they are going to look afterwards.
Apparently he wants to place them in a slight overbite, so when my muscles and jaws settle in to their new positions, they have a bit of wiggle room if they start to move back to their original position. Also, this allows my orthodontist to carry on with my brace work and really perfect my bite and teeth.
He fit two plastic things in my mouth and made sure they fit my teeth - for a reason I don't quite know of. I believe it was a hard version of the warm wax that you bite on when they take impressions of your teeth.
After more measuring and tilting my head in all directions, I signed my consent form and he went on to tell me something I knew was coming, but really didn't want to hear. My surgery may be cancelled as late as the hour before it is scheduled if there are no beds in the ward or should an emergency case need a jaw surgery.
Obviously, this is understandable and expected, but the bluntness of the situation and the fact that it can be so close yet cancelled so quickly has stuck with my all day!
After this I was rushed off to see the nurse to have the dreaded blood tests. Now, if there's one thing that should be known about me and doctors, it is that I don't do well with needles. Having never had a blood test before, I really didn't know what to expect. Although the needle itself wasn't half as bad as anticipated, the nurse decided to take 10ml of my blood BEFORE taking my blood pressure. So as soon as the pressure cuff tightened around my arm, I felt really woozy and my ears started to muffle. Then, I practically passed out in the chair. I tell you... I've never sweat so much in my life. I didn't know so much water was capable of escaping from my body at once...
About a minute later, I was informed by quite a flustered nurse that I had low blood pressure and this was followed by five minutes of her trying to get it back up to a normal figure. Eventually, I stopped sweating and regained some sort of consciousness and was swept out as quickly as I was rushed in.
So, all in all, it wasn't totally unpleasant visit. I got a first glance of my potential new bite and am officially consented! However, the constant worry of it being cancelled at last minute won't leave me until I'm in that theatre!
My next appointment is with the orthodontist at the end of the month, where I will be getting surgical hooks attached to my braces and last minute prep for my op!
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