JULY 2010 BUDDIES!!!!

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#31 Post by **Josh'smom** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:08 am

Josh went and got a new round of xrays. These have been sent to a radiologist in Sacramento, CA to read. They are looking specifically at airflow.

Funny thing, they said Kaiser pays for the xrays, but not for the radiologist to read them. What the heck? It was only $75 so not a big deal, but I find that so odd.

Today is his last day of 6th grade. He'll return in the fall with a new look and he's so happy about that!

Josh's mom

#32 Post by **VikingGirl** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 1:30 pm

Hi! For long I've onl y stalked this forum, but decided to join now that I know my date of surgery: July 7th! I'm going to get my upper jaw moved forward - I have an underbite, but it's due to my upper jaw being weak. I live in Denmark (which is also the reason why I don't know the proper jargon when talking about jaws

)
I must admit I find myself becoming more and more vain as the date approaches - I mean, I'm really nervous about the outcome.
I'm pretty sure that I'm already going to get those fine surgery braces on 23/6 - I'm such a lucky girl. My dentists go on holiday before 1/7

Josh's Mom - Good luck with your boy, it sounds like quite the surgery! Poor kid, I really hope that he'll be able to eat and just live normally in general after this huge change!

#33 Post by **Josh'smom** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:30 pm

So glad you posted Viking Girl. We are sending good energy to you. Wow, you are about 3 weeks away! What are you doing to prepare?

Thanks for your good wishes for Josh.

#34 Post by **VikingGirl** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 5:31 am

Josh'smom wrote:So glad you posted Viking Girl. We are sending good energy to you. Wow, you are about 3 weeks away! What are you doing to prepare?

Thanks for your good wishes for Josh.

To prepare? Collecting information, preparing how to sleep, how to ea and so on.. It's going to be a very interesting experience, but according to my surgion, it will be very good afterwards. I trust him

I don't think I'll have very rough time compared to many others from here!

#35 Post by **James0099** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:22 pm

Went to see my surgeon today, for the final meeting with them before surgery on July 20th. He told me that what he wants to do is move my upper jaw forward and it will have 16 screws placed in to hold it and the bottom jaw will have no screws or anything, he told me my mouth will be wired shut, so I am not getting the bands way but the wired way.

The surgery he said will take 3-4 hours, I will have my surgery at 3PM then leave the next day around 12 at noon.

Had more impressions taken and pictures.

He did not show me a picture of a estimate of what I will look like afterwards.

Said I shouldn't puke when after surgery, that he never had someone who puked after it, they'll give me anti neasua medicine.

#36 Post by **Kirish** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:59 pm

James0099 wrote: He did not show me a picture of a estimate of what I will look like afterwards.

Why ?, because he didn't do one, or because he doesn't want you to see ?

#37 Post by **Josh'smom** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:00 pm

It's getting closer James! Having that final meeting must make it feel even more real.

Did he have any idea how long you would be wired shut?

Have you figured out if you will use those condiment bottles, syringes, or what?

Joshua gets surgical hooks on July 12th (surgery on July 26th). We are just in a holding pattern at the moment.

#38 Post by **James0099** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:16 pm

He didn't show me them because I think he didn't do them yet, he took these impressions and other things today and said he'll be doing a 3D walk through thing for the surgery in the lab.

He gave me syringes for the "eating", told me I will have to place it by my cheek and head up that way, that I won't be able to open my mouth. Also gave me a baby tooth brush to brush my teeth with.

For how long I'll be wired shut, I think he said like 4-6 weeks.

He gave me his email address for if I have any questions before hand.

#39 Post by **Audra** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:18 pm

Not every surgeon does predictions on what the patient will look like. Mine doesn't.

#40 Post by **James0099** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:19 pm

Oh I forgot, he also said that we are not doing the geinoplasty. We'll look into it after the surgery, he said he can easily do it in his surgical office so we can wait and see how I look after the surgery is done.

#41 Post by **isolde** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:41 pm

Less than a month to go now for me!

My brother has gone away for the summer, and it was strange saying goodbye to him knowing that when we see each other again I'll..well..have gone through all this and have a shiny new jaw.

#42 Post by **Kirish** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:51 am

Audra wrote:Not every surgeon does predictions on what the patient will look like. Mine doesn't.

I'm not sure that's a correct strategy.

My surgeon was sure at first he'll move my lower jaw back using BSSO. Then he made visual predictions and showed it to other surgeons in his team. They all agreed, using the visual prediction, that BSSO takes my chin too much backwards (and the amount of genioplasty needed to compensate is a bit too much and doesn't look very good) , and then one of them suggested doing segmental mandibular osteotomy instead of BSSO, which will allow to take just the lower lip backwards, without touching the chin (the cut is similar to Lefort I, and so the chin remains in place while the upper part of the lower jaw can be moved back). Then my surgeon did a visual prediction for the new suggestion, and when they compared the BSSO prediction to the segmental prediction, they all agreed that the segmental prediction look much better. The point is that without a visual prediction, I would have done BSSO, which would have corrected my bite just as well, but aesthetically would have looked inferior.

In any case, what's weird is that it seems my surgeon does not think it is important to show me the predictions... I will ask him why at our next meeting.

#43 Post by **James0099** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:00 am

My surgeon said hes going to go through a 3D walk through of the surgery to see whats what, he just didn't show me any visual predictions, I didn't ask for it either. Wasn't really important for me to see a visual prediction though.

#44 Post by **Audra** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:10 am

Who's to say what is correct or not.... I do know that the work my surgeon does on the models using the CT scan and facebow measurements takes him around 15 hours or so. He may or may not do 3D visual predictions. I don't know as I did not ask, nor did I really care. I had this surgery to improve my bite. Whatever aesthetic outcome I achieved was a bonus, so I didn't need to see a prediction.

#45 Post by **Kirish** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:25 am

Audra wrote:Who's to say what is correct or not....

Preferably a professional surgeon with lot's of experience and a good eye for aesthetics...

I had this surgery to improve my bite. Whatever aesthetic outcome I achieved was a bonus, so I didn't need to see a prediction.

So what you're saying is that the aesthetic outcome of this surgery didn't bother you. I think I'll keep my thoughts to myself since I would prefer to keep this username longer than the previous.