Bilateral TMJ (Arthroscopic) Procedure

On December 2nd I had a bilateral TMJ Procedure. A lot of people are curious about the procedure, what happened and how it helped me. I'll try to be as simple as possible!

The procedure I had was done on both sides (bilateral) and dealt with the TMJ area, specifically the joints connecting the top and bottom jaws. My oral surgeon made two cuts, one cut on each side of my face in front of my ear. From there, he used a very tiny camera to see the joint. The camera was no bigger than the tip of a regular pen (totally cool how advanced technology is). Then, he injected steroids into the joint to reduce the inflammation I had. After that, he stitched me up, wrapped my head in an ice pack (known in the TMJ Surgery world as a face bra, lol), and sent me off to PACU to wake up. The procedure was about 30 minutes (15 minutes per side). I was probably out for a total of 2 hours though. The PACU nurse taking care of me was very surprised that I woke up so quickly. Most of the time, patients have a hard time shaking off the general anesthesia. I saw Dr. Keith before and after my surgery. He even gave me some pictures of my jaw joint after I woke up. It was great to actually see what he saw. After I was awake and had my IV line removed, I was given my prescriptions and sent on my way.

My experience was pretty easy seeing as how I work in a hospital and most hospital OR/Surgical Suites function in the same ways. Here are some tips for people having surgery that I found helpful to myself:

• If you are having any surgery that involves general anesthesia, make sure you have a reliable person to give you a ride home. If you don't give a contact name with phone number when you register, they'll 100% cancel your surgery. My hospital was liable for my care 24 hours after I left. And if I decided to operate a car and drive myself home and then got in an accident, it would be their fault. I'm married so it was a no brainer to me. My husband just drove me home.
• Since I had stitches on my face, I needed to keep my head straight. I bought one of those travel pillows and put it in the car for my ride home after the procedure. It really helped to keep my head from bouncing around and banging my stitches. I also had a light blanket (I'm always cold so the blanket was for added comfort). 
• Wear comfy clothes to your surgery. You'll have to change into one of those uncomfortable and revealing blue hospital gowns but the clothes are for when you go home. I had pajama pants and a loose t shirt and a sweatshirt. There were some people there wearing tight sweaters and jeans and boots. I just can't imagine how they woke up from the anesthesia and put their clothes back on. I know I was barely able to pull my pants up, nevermind figure out boots. 
• Make sure you have everything before you leave. Refer back to the reliable person for your ride home. They can be your second set of eyes. This includes any prescriptions from your surgeon. I left with a whole folder full information along with my two scripts. But don't worry, the OR staff won't kick you out before you are ready. 
• The night before your surgery, have some soft food left overs on hand so you don't have to cook while you recover. Mashed potatoes, squash, apple sauce, jello, ice cream. My husband even made me a smoothie which was nice. 

I'll talk more about my recovery in the next post!