General 'Timeline' for Surgery

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#46 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:04 am

Hmmmm, I still don't have any confirmation of my surgery date. I feel like a precarious surgery date needs at least some tangible foundation- in this case a letter acknowledging that I actually have had a surgery date booked for me. Honestly, I'm so paranoid! The secretary was a bit of an airhead (sorry, love) with my dates to see my ortho, but the surgeon rang and booked my surgery date (it's at a different hospital) so I don't know how the system works there.

Does anyone from the UK know what happens once you get the date? As in, will they ever acknowledge it with some form of communication to me?!?

I need to have some proof

Also I think at my next ortho appointment (December) I will have the surgical hooks placed too. I hear they are pretty annoying, and I don't exactly want to wear them for ages before the surgery, especially if it gets cancelled round one! How are they to live with for at least a month, probably longer?

Sat Nov 21, 2009 5:54 pm

You will just have to wait for a letter from the hospital, that is what i got told back in February at the ortho

my letter arrived on October 10th. Surgery date is November 25th ...although there was no mention of that on the letter it's very ambiguous only to say i am to fill in an admission form and bring it along.

Enjoy eating your solids for now

#48 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:00 am

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
...a pre-op assessment for my sur-ge-ry. La la la la la, la la la, laaa

Well, my letter came today finally. My pre-op assessment is on the 22nd of December at 10.30 (I wonder if I should come in an elf costume, or wear a red nose or something, it's so close to Christmas day). The letter said I may be there 2 or 3 hours (um, how long?). I suppose it's the usual humiliation of being weighed (well, I am a teenage girl, my weight is a sensitive issue!) and poked. I think it said I would also meet the staff who will be looking after me too.
For the actual surgery I need to be there for 7:00 (the hospital is about an hour's drive, so it's not too bad).

Now, I still have some confusion though. When I had SARME I was in the main hospital (Royal Hallamshire Hospital) in the Ear, Nose and Throat ward. My letter is from the office of the 'Dental Hospital', which is god knows where, and all it says is to go to the Theatre Admissions Unit.

So I get that I'm having the surgery in the Dental Hosptial*, whereas I suppose SARME is minor and so was carried out in the general hospital. What I don't get is if my pre-op assessment is in the Dental Hospital or the main Hospital, because the directions are slightly different in the letter, so I don't know whether it's a typo or not. One part says Theatre Admissions, Road A, RHH (for the assessment), and one part says Theatre Admissions, Floor A (for the surgery). On the map included there is a Road A, which is the road along the main hospital, and nowhere near the Dental Hospital, so therein lies my confusion!

I know it will be something obvious, but I'm going to check it out just in case!
And let's hope my surgery date won't change in the meantime!

*- the hospital is called the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital....my first thought was he's a PR man for Z-listers in the UK, isn't he? Or maybe that's Max Clifford...

#49 Post by **HelenUK** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 4:09 am

hi crazybeautiful, thats exciting news for you! so does this mean you'll definitely have your surgery on jan 12th? or could they still delay from there even if you've already had your pre-op assessment?

my surgery will be at charles clifford too, with mr smith, so make sure u tell me all about it! my first meeting with him and the orthodontist is 2 days after your surgery date!

good luck, and merry christmas! xx

#50 Post by **sauerkraut** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 4:52 pm

Whee, you've got your letter at last. Congratulations!

Haven't some other NHS patients been made to go through psychological tests before they're passed fit for surgery? So perhaps the ambiguities in the letter are part of a cryptic challenge to see if you're really a suitable candidate

. Either that or they've mistakenly sent you a copy of an invite to the staff Christmas treasure hunt.

It reminds me of going for my EKG before my SARPE. I was already in hospital but the cardiac unit was in some remote part of the hospital grounds and I was issued with a great list of instructions about how to get there and what to do when I arrived (placing different coloured forms in colour-coded pigeon holes and the like). I felt like a character in a bad spy film.

I'm sure you'll work it out anyway, and I hope it all goes well

.

#51 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:29 am

Well, I rang today to sort it all out, and as soon as I said I'm confused about where I'm going the woman laughed; apparantly they've been made to change the letter to try and make it more clear for the patients, but loads of people have been ringing up confused!

I'm in the Dental Hospital for the surgery and the assessment, and the different directions in the letter are just so you can get there by an easier route. I wonder why they don't just write that- it's not like we can just assume we know where we should be, seeing as though there's about 10 different sections to the hospital, joint up with the university dentistry bit too (where you went right, sauerkraut? The university generally, that is).

So anyway, that's sorted now. I've got a medical history sheet that I need to take to my doctor to fill in, but I since I haven't seen my doctor for probably 10 years, there isn't really much to fill in!

HelenUK- my surgery date still isn't secure unfortunately. I could still end up getting it postponed- so I just hope I won't have to. They've even said it could be cancelled when I'm actually at the hospital, so I really hope that scenario doesn't happen

The thing is though, I have an appointment with my ortho next week and I think I will have the surgical hooks placed then- so I don't want to go round with those things in my mouth for weeks and weeks.
Mr Smith is nice. And because the whole team always work together, it's a nice relationship between orthodontist and surgeon (I think you said you see Nicole Parkin too?).

sauerkraut- maybe the cryptic letters are a scheme to try and reduce patient numbers, where people might just give it up as a bad job

#52 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 1:34 pm

Just a bump to say yay- my ticker is offically counting down days and not months!

#53 Post by **sauerkraut** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 4:04 pm

Glad to see you sorted out where you need to go OK. I knew they wouldn't manage to put you off the scent that easily! I can't really picture where it will be because the course I did was based out at Crookes so I rarely needed to go to the main Uni buildings. And it's a very long time ago! I have heard of the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, though (though I'm afraid I've no idea who Charles Clifford is/was...

)

Exciting for you that you can start counting down the days now. I had another adjustment the other day but no mention of surgery yet. My gaps are pretty much closed, which is good, but apparently there's still some "fine-tuning" to do. Never mind, I shall continue to cheer you on from the sidelines and hope that my day will come eventually

#54 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:24 am

Glad your teeth are getting close to ready, at least!

As for me- today I had my sugical hooks placed, final molds and measurements taken, and also one more photograph for good measure

The hooks went on quite easily- my wire didn't have to be removed, and the hooks were just 'clamped' on, as it were. I have about 8 on the bottom I think, and less on the top, but haven't had a proper look yet. The pressure on my lower teeth was quite painful, though. But then we're used to pain, aren't we?

Speaking of pain, when I saw the face bow for the first time today I thought 'oh, so orthodontists do use torture devices after all!'. It's a rather odd looking contraption that needs to be screwed tight on your head. Seeing someone holding a screwdriver over you isn't the most welcoming sight in the world. But the good thing is, it just looks scary, but it's actually quite tame! All you have to do is bite onto the mold, and the frame is just there to measure your bite correctly

The face bow:
http://tinyurl.com/yz4m8zb

http://www.austindental.com/art/splint2.JPG

So after that I had a lot more molds taken- I had 2 'normal' ones where you have all the vile stuff in your mouth. I don't really have a problem with these, and they don't take long.
Anyway she then need to take some different molds to just get my bite indentation. Basically they were sheets of wax or whatever, that were warmed in water to make pliable, and then you bite down on them, etc. It was 9.40 and her next appointment wasn't until 10, so my ortho thought she would 'experiment' if I didn't mind. So she used quite a lot of new stuff that she hasn't used much...and wasted quite a lot of it too. It's difficult taking a mold of a bad bite though really, because the whole thing is that your teeth don't meet well, if at all (like in my case they don't meet on the right side at all when I bite down). She got it right in the end, though

And then finally, she took another photo of my bite to add to the collection.
And that was that

I'll get a photo of my hooks up soon.

#55 Post by **sauerkraut** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:55 pm

Interesting that that was your first encounter with the facebow. I was measured with one of those before SARPE, though like you I got the impression it was something my ortho doesn't use that often. The nose piece didn't seem to line up that well on me and as they tightened the apparatus it pressed really hard into the bone at the bridge of my nose and was decidedly painful. I still remember that

I've often had to bite into those sheets of warm wax. That seems to be part of our ortho's standard "records-making" repertoire, and he usually has to do everything at least twice: once for himself; once for the Krankenkasse (Germany's version of the NHS, sort of); and occasionally another set for the OS. I suppose if you try to bite down on the wax and your teeth miss it completely at least that demonstrates how much your bite is off!

I shall be intrigued to see pics of the surgical hooks. They sound quite intimidating!

#56 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:16 am

When I had SARME they just took basic measurements with a ruler and by eye

But it turned out ok, so..!

The facebow hurt my ears more than anything. Same as when I have X-rays; it's always a pain in the ear

As for the hooks- I have 12- 8 on the bottom and 4 on the top. I'm glad I still have springs on the top actually, because otherwise I think I would have had more hooks on. I don't have any in the middle of my front teeth, which is good. The front 2 on my uppers keep catching my lip when I smile though, which is going to get annoying. But so far they're not that bad.
Anyway I've got a couple of pictures but I'm afraid they aren't very clear- my camera phone doesn't really take well to small details. So I've messed around with the editor funtion to 'subtly' highlight where they are

I'm going to try and get a better one. But basically they are just annoying sticky-outy things so the elastics can fit over them.

Oh also my ortho said her last 2 patients had their surgeries first time round and didn't get a cancellation. So does that mean third time's a charm, or the luck has run out for me?

#57 Post by **HelenUK** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:09 pm

Hi,

Fingers crossed that you get surgery when planned, and no pesky cancer patient gets in the way

your teeth are looking really straight now, I can't wait to get started on mine!!

I wanted to ask, are your braces the standard metal ones? I can't tell with your pics, but they don't look too big and shiny and metal, which i was a bit worried about. Do you know whether clear brackets are available, obviously at cost? I wasnt too worried, but my boss said today, 'make sure you get clear brackets'. I work with the general public all day everyday, and they already think i look too young to be doing my job!

ta, Helen xx

#58 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:03 pm

Thanks- hopefully I won't get the cancellation. I'm hoping that nobody is ill enough to need surgery before me- for their sake as well as mine

My braces are metal ones, however they are self-ligating so they are quite a bit smaller than 'traditional' metal braces where you have to wear ligatures

I've found a comparison, but mine aren't clear at the top like the ones on the right are:

I didn't have a say in which braces I got, my ortho just said I was special because mine are expensive ones...so not to break them (jokingly)

I don't know if ceramics are an option because I never asked, but to be honest, ceramics seem quite bulky and so still noticeable, and 'apparantly' don't work as quickly ('apparantly', because I don't know for sure

).
Also if you are having surgery I think they prefer you to have metal for stability purposes anyway. But, if you get the self-ligating ones like mine, people don't really seem to notice them. I'd say despite being metal, they are discrete!

#59 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:38 am

Well my pre-op was uneventful really; we managed to find the place straight away because it was right at the front of the hospital (so why the need for the convoluted instructions I don't know), and I went in straight away too. I had my weight and height measured to calculate my BMI (I'm slightly overweight. Boo hoo society

), then we went through my medical history, blood pressure, pulse, breathing, etc.

Then I had to do some swabs to check for MRSA (and let's hope I haven't got that!)- of my nose, and my....'leg crease'. I thought the nurse meant like me knee or something, but he meant my groin. So I went in a little area by myself and got the sample

It was quite odd

Then I had to go into the main hospital and get some blood tests done. I was waiting quite a while but the actual blood test was fine. Whilst we were waiting though, we suddenly heard this loud cry of 'OOOOW!' which was quite funny. It's like when you go to the dentist and you hear the drilling in the other room. Luckily I have no fear of needles, or dentists

(or orthodontists or maxillofacial surgeons....)

I will go to the same place when I have my surgery too, and then I'll be taken to the Head and Neck ward.

I also asked the nurse about the cancellation policy too, since I've been told numerous times the surgery is likely to be cancelled, and he looked quite surprised and said my surgeon doesn't usually have many cancer patients anyway. So the situation clouds...*shrugs*

A nutritionist and dental hygienist will come and see me after the surgery too, which is good.

Well, I think that's it. So here's hoping -again- that my surgery won't in fact, be cancelled

#60 Post by **sauerkraut** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:27 pm

It sounds like you're well on track now. I'm getting excited for you already! And I wouldn't worry about the weight: I'm sure that will solve itself very soon