It's Official! Really official!

So there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news! Today I got confirmation that my surgery will be 100% covered by my insurance. I was told previously that it would be covered but having the proof is just a great relief. I definitely couldn't afford this surgery if my insurance wouldn't cover most of it.

For all you medically inclined folks out there reading this blog (aka nurses, doctors, medical staff), I have been approved for a Le Fort 1 and Saggital Split operation.

For those not medically inclined, it means that I am having both my upper and lower jaws moved into the optimal position (aka double jaw surgery).

Now, for the bad news. BCBS won't cover any type of genioplasty because it's considered "cosmetic." Gosh darn, I really wanted a new chin! Hahahaha! I've been told that after my surgery, my chin might not be as pronounced as it is now. I saw some digital mock ups of what I could look like with a chin implant and I decided that it just wasn't for me. LOL.

Time to make some appointments! But first, a photo!

Me and my approval letter!
Also, this is what I will look like in the future with no chin. HAHAHA. Nailed it.

Too slow, too fast!

Well,  these last few days have been quite hectic! I was booked for a pre-op appointment and spoke with Mary (insurance coordinator) within 1 day of finding out I was ready for surgery. It all seemed to be happening so fast, definitely way faster than last time.

The day before my pre-op appointment I got a phone call from Mary. It turns out there was some sort of miscommunication and I am not ready for a pre-op appointment since I haven't done any pre-op work or anything yet. (Which I initially questioned when we first spoke but she assured me that there'd be no issues. Uh huh. Should have known!)

Anyway, when I was talking to Mary, I asked her about Dr Keith's surgery schedule and when they thought they'd be able to book me. She said if my insurance comes back soon then they could probably book me for surgery at the end of July.

Holy shit balls.  Not what I was expecting at all. Usually surgeons are booked well in advance, especially for complex surgeries like my own. I couldn't believe that they'd be able to fit me in so quickly. I had such a difficult time getting a date last time that it blew my mind that I could have one within 4-6 weeks. Yikes! It's hilarious because I was so gung-ho about having this done as soon as possible and now here I am postponing the surgery. If someone had told me I would post-pone my surgery, I'd have laughed in their faces. 

I told Mary on the phone that I honestly had expected to be going through surgery sometime in October. She seemed surprised and advised me to get in contact with Dr Klein because my waiting could derail/ruin her plan for me.

Great, just great.

Thusly freaked out,  I sent her a quick email asking about a surgery time line and if she'd be ok if I waited until October for the surgery. I figured that she would email me back with a yes or no answer but she surprised me with a phone call that evening.  I was working and couldn't answer but she left such a nice and reassuring voice mail. She assured me that waiting wouldn't harm my teeth nor my progress and said she would call back tomorrow to personally talk to me. 
You have no idea how much I appreciated that phone call.  I've never really had a doctor personally call me before just to check in so it was just so nice. We talked the next morning and she told me that I have nothing to worry about. Any time that I am ready for surgery is good with her. I'm really glad that we talked.  She really allieved a lot of my concerns. So it looks like I will be having surgery after Columbus Day.

I've already told my boss that he can expect me to be out anytime after Columbus Day for 6-10ish weeks. I will come back when I feel up to working again. I've been told that I may feel ok but my energy levels will be extremely low since I'll be on liquids for awhile.  My job can be quite strenuous so I don't think I'll be able to perform my job in the OR until I'm 100% again. I walk a lot, carry and lift heavy items, and I talk all day to other doctors and nurses. So we shall see.

No photos this time because nothing has changed since last time. But I do have another appointment with Dr Klein in July. If I hear from Mary before my next appointment, I will certainly post about it!

EDIT: I got a phone call from Mary on Friday in the late morning but of course I missed her phone call. Left her a voicemail not 10 minutes after she left one for me on my cell. Never got a call back (and it was like 11:30am). Too good to be true? Hahaha. At this point, I'm not worried so it's not a big deal. Hopefully I'll get in touch with her next week. Maybe my insurance already came back with a yes for surgery (doubtful but you never know!)

It's Official! What I've been waiting to hear...

These last couple days have been quite hectic for me! Lots of annual doctors appointments, dentist visits and orthodontist check ups.
Yesterday, I went to my regular dental visit for a cleaning. Came back 100% clean and with no cavities! This had been like 3 years with no cavities so I'm pretty happy. 
Next, I went to the orthodontist in the city. Got there a little early only to discover an ice cream festival at City Hall Plaza here in Boston. I'm a lover of ice cream so I couldn't say no to that! Only regret is that I wish I could have stayed longer!

Finally saw Dr Klein and she finally uttered the magic words I've been waiting to hear : 

"You are officially ready for surgery."

Ahhhhh! 

There's a part of me that is ecstatic, over the moon, happy to get this over and done with. And there's another part of me that is scared, I'm comfortable where I am right now, and Jesus they are going to do what to my face?! So yea yesterday I had every kind of emotion that a person could have rolling around in their body.
I decided that denial would ultimately win out until I got a phone call from Dr.  Keith's insurance coordinator, Mary. It doesn't exist until things actually start happening, right?! Haha. Last time I had to deal with her, I had all sorts of issues with getting in contact with her. My messages weren't returned and it took forever to get a surgery date scheduled once the insurance approved it. However, I was pleasantly surprised when she phoned me this morning! I've got a pre-op appointment already scheduled for next week! Definitely impressed, that's for sure.

Aaaaaaah! Pre-op already?!?!?!

So many things happening all at once; my brain can't process it! I'm sure my schedule will fill very quickly with all sorts of appointments. Very exciting! And scary too.

I have another orthodontist appointment with Dr Klein just to double check that the wires are all good. They will also be prepping all my brackets for surgery at that appointment. Which kinda sucks but oh well. The surgical wire isn't as bad as I originally thought but we will see.

For now, I'm in a holding pattern. Which I guess means no more adjustments! YAAAAAY! 

My teeth have looked pretty straight for awhile now but here are some photos anyway!

Me looking fine in my hospital bling. hahahaha

Teeth - Straight!! Ta da!

A more natural smile. 

No news is good news!

It's been awhile since I posted an update so here I am.  :)
Teeth have been doing their thing which is good. I've made so much progress and things have moved so quickly it's getting difficult to notice the small changes that are happening.
I had a quick appointment at the orthodontist office just for some impressions. It went very well, nothing crazy happened, haha. One of my lower brackets had been bothering me so I grabbed some more wax and went on my way. Super easy! I didn't even need to see Dr Klein which was nice (not that I don't like seeing her, it was just nice because my appointment took all of 15 minutes). My next appointment is June 3rd where I will have a normal adjustment.
That day is looking like it's going to suck though. I have a regular dentist appointment in the morning for a routine cleaning and then the orthodontist appointment right after. Hopefully they are gentle with me! I'll have to remember to stock up on a few soft foods before then.
Other than that, nothing else to really report. In non-teeth news, I've been recently getting into biking and cycling. There is a trail near my house that follows the Charles River directly into Boston. Don and I have decided to make that our goal and do it together. It's roughly 30 miles there and back so it'll be great exercise! The only thing I have noticed so far with our bike rides is that my jaw is sore a little after. I think I strain my jaw or something while wearing my helmet. Gotta figure out a way to stop doing that.

Here are a few photos of progress! They are from about 2 weeks ago,  just never got around to posting them!

Photos! More photos!

I finally sat down and took some better progress photos! I still have an open bite but it's not nearly as bad as before.  Next appointment is May 21st for just impressions. After that, next adjustment is June 3rd.

Fully biting down

Teeth looking straight!

Frontal view smile

Super long post - sorry in advance!

Here's another update and some good news! I didn't turn into jaws at this appointment!!! While I'm ready to be done with everything and be surgically-ready, not sure I was ready to have an orthognathic wire installed at my last appointment. My most recent appointment was Friday April 24th. I had an afternoon appointment which was very different for me. Usually with my schedule, morning appointments work best. However, this time, it just worked out that an afternoon appointment was best. A lot happened at this appointment so I'm sorry if this post is a tad longer than normal.

Dr Klein and I spoke and she looked at my teeth quite closely at this visit. She kept tilting my face and I constantly had to smile, open, bite down, smile again and then open again. Haha! One of my teeth was remodeled as a kid and I think it's proving to be a little difficult. I swam into a pool ladder and chipped my front tooth when I was 9 years old. It was fixed before my teeth were straight so they fixed it to match my teeth esthetically. Now that my teeth are straight and where they should be, this one tooth is a little larger than the other one. I will probably need to get it remodeled at some point but it doesn't really bother me that much. She said that she is now getting down to fine-tuning my teeth which is good because it means they are almost good to go!
 Dr Klein is so funny, she asked if I minded if she went a little OCD on my teeth. LOL. She wanted to re-position the brackets to fine tune the teeth to make them absolutely perfect. Moving the brackets would make my appointment run a tad longer (since it originally wasn't booked for a bracket re-positioning) so I'm glad she thought to ask. I think the brackets being moved maybe might have saved me from getting my "jaws" installed, so thanks for that! I'm hoping that I can put off getting that wire installed until the very last second. The other nice thing about getting the brackets moved is that they scale back on the wire for the next 4-6 weeks. The teeth can only take so much so they don't want to stress them out too much. So I went with a different wire and I have regular O-Rings instead of the viscous A-Chain. My teeth weren't nearly as sore as they have been recently. I thought I was going to be much more tender the next day but it wasn't too bad at all!

I was a little sore before I even arrived at the office though. Last Saturday, a bunch of our friends invited us to play beach volleyball with them. We had such a blast playing and it really made me remember how much I liked playing volleyball. I'd love to play in an local league or something but not sure it'll work out with my schedule and Don's schedule. However, halfway through our second game my husband punched the ball right into my throat/jaw on my right side. It definitely stunned me and he felt super bad. It didn't hurt at first but slowly started to get sore and very stiff. I think Dr Klein could tell that something was up with my jaw but jaw pain is not her expertise. She told me to call Dr Keith (the oral surgeon) which got me a little bummed. Something like this could derail my progress and slow everything down. She told me to call right away but I woke up on Saturday with less pain so I think I just need some time. If the stiffness/soreness gets worse, I'll definitely call Dr. Keith but I'm sure he'll just tell me to rest up and take it easy which is what I'm doing.

Right before my appointment was over, Dr Klein told me that she has a patient who reads my blog! Wow! I mean, I know that other people besides friends and family read this but it's really crazy to hear it from my orthodontist. Due to HIPPA, she couldn't give him out my information however, he gave her his card and told me that I could take his information and do what I wanted with it. I was so amazed that I couldn't NOT email him so I did that over the weekend. Getting the card made me wonder though, I thought I had set up a way to contact me through the blog. When I got home I took a look at my blog settings and realized that the layout and theme I had chosen when I updated the blog, were not compatible with all the added stuff I had chosen! So I had to redo the theme and layout AGAIN. So I'm sure you noticed that the layout and theme have changed yet again. But now all the stuff works like I want it to!
If anyone needs to contact me in any way, please use the contact form to the right! It works, I swear (i tested it to make double sure!) and all messages get forwarded to my own personal email.

 Now onto some fun stuff, aka progress photos.

I snapped a quick selfie after my brackets were removed but before the new ones were replaced. It gave me a good sense of what my teeth will look like once they are off forever.

These are my models! The yellow ones are the most recent and the white ones are the very first models I took back in 2014. You can really see how different my teeth and jaws are now. The bottom models are my top teeth jaws and the top models are my bottom teeth jaws.

Really crappy morning teeth selfie. 

My next appointment is in May to have (you guessed it) more impressions done. Hahaha. I don't need to see Dr. Klein at this appointment though. I'll see her again the first week in June for another adjustment. So 2 upcoming appointments! 

Mistake

I made a big mistake recently. I was told by my orthodontist that I would be fitted for a surgical wire sometime in the near future. I was curious and decided to Google my way through finding out what exactly an orthognathic surgical wire was.

HUGE MISTAKE. BIG.

The wire is something out of a horror movie. It's a wire with these prongs that go in between each bracket. The prongs hold the elastics that hold your teeth to your face after surgery. I understand what that means in words but seeing it in photos is just a whole new level of awful for me.

I showed my husband the pictures and he gleefully said, "you'll be like jaws from the James Bond movies!" Great. Just fantastic. Can't wait.

EDIT: Here's a picture to show just how horrifying this is gunna be.