A day in Oakland

I had my pre-op in Oakland today.  I guess it wouldn't do me any good to say I went in and out of there just fine- because I didn't.  It was a stressful appointment, but it cleared up some of what the procedure will be like and the recovery.  For my benefit, the doc also drew the incision lines just so I would have an idea of what they might look like.

For the procedure- it will take about 7 hours.  I will be wired shut and will wake with a 50/50 chance of still being wired.  This depends on how "floppy" my new joints are at first.  Two incisions will be made (I'll show the pic of it below): one at the ear and one at the base of the jaw line (or the double chin area).  The ball and socket joints (or more accurately- what's left of them) will be cut out and the new fossa and condyle (ball and socket) implants will be inserted through the two incisions and drilled into the skull and the lower jaw bones.  Approximately 15 screws per side.  This in a nutshell takes about 7 hours.

Recovery will be painful at the incision sites and from the "massive" swelling.  When the doc uses words such as massive, brutal and horrendous, it kinda scares me. We're used to the swelling portion of the whole deal.  I swell up quite regularly in my cheeks and chin area especially when the pain is really bad (see pic below for the double/triple chin swelling I have today).  If I'm not wired, I will need to start working my mouth as much as possible even through the pain.  No pain, no gain- right?  Diet starts as liquid and increases from there.  Soup broth, ensure, runny milkshakes then on to scrambled eggs, oatmeal, real soup, etc.  Anyone want to join me on the "Let's lose 15 pounds Diet"?? I've said this before, and I'll say it again - I don't like liquid diets!

I went to pick up the kids from school after my appointment and Madison and Cameron thought my new face tatoo was awesome!  Megan didn't like it because it was scary and I don't think Katelyn ever noticed it.  Either way, it's going to be a lot more real in 12 days. 

Incision lines- will be a little longer on the lower portion but overall pretty close.  When measured these marks are 4 inches.  The real deal will be about 5 inches in total length - per side = 10 inces of incision.

Maddie was kind enough to take a "fat face" shot for me.  Then she offered to go start a hot bath for me- to see if it would help me feel better.  Love that girl!