Confessions Of a Metal Mouth
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Post Op Check Up 2

2/29/2016

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Post op check up 2....and all is OK!  After the first surgery, I am always walking on egg shells, but I'm walking on them a little extra since my ortho wasn't 100% happy and wanted to pow wow with my surgeon after my last appointment.  Sounds like we're good to go still.  They had put me in two bands on the side and took the front band off last time, and it was letting my muscles float my bite back to it's old ways.  And leaning back in the chair was helping it do that too, so when the ortho checked my bite, it was just pulling it back ever so slightly to make him concerned, but all is well it appears.  So the plan?  Put me back in rubber band jail.
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Tight bands again. I think this is the same configuration I came out of surgery with, except this time I can take them off to clean and put new bands back on.  Not the original post op plan, but also not out of the ordinary to be in tight band configurations for a number of weeks or even months post op some times to train the teeth/muscles in to their new positions and get them used to their new home.  So, back to more muffled talking now.  It's amazing what a difference taking off that front band makes in terms of talking with more ease and a bit clearer.  Oh well, no big deal. 

Dr. Karas did another check on everything, cleaned/suctioned my inisions, and looked at my bite.  He looked really pleased again, said I am healing really fast and my incisions were kept clean and are healing nicely.  He was happy with the amount of swelling I'm dropping too and remarked again that I am healing pretty quickly.  The ladies up front said the same thing.  I laughed and said either all the medical professionals must say that to every body or I really do heal quickly because everybody always tells me how quickly I heal every time I see them.  So, all checks out and my next appointment is in 10 days where if all looks well, I'll get the splint out!  Praise baby jebus!!  I'll be able to brush my front teeth in 10 days!

Stopped at my ortho's office after and he gave a double check and likes what he sees now.  He seemed pretty excited actually, which I was happy to see after his excited, but not as excited as this week, reaction last week.  He said it's all good, and my lower teeth are not quite rotating all the way up right now too because of the splint itself.  So, I think he kind of jumped the gun a bit, BUT....I would totally rather these guys be worried about what is really nothing and super hyper-vigilant than be like what I had last time, which was totally negligent and uncaring.  So this is all good with me.  He also mentioned that my smile, after compensating the last year, is a little crooked up in the one direction, which is probably why I thought I was canted at first.  But he assured me he looked at things again and thinks it's actually almost dead on perfect.  Phew. So, he's booked me back again in tandem with Dr. Karas after I get my splint out.  He doesn't think I'll be ready to get open enough for them to do a wire swap, but we might be able to start different band configurations or something at that point. Regardless, he still wants to get his eyes on me for a check.  Man, I am still really blown away by all the check ups this time!  Crazy to go from basically ZERO post op care the first time, to really great care the second time. 

Overall good news today.  Only other updates is the area I thought was a hematoma on my right continues to feel better, and now a new hard little pea sized lump under my eye has formed.  It doesn't hurt oddly enough.  I mean, it's tender, but not bad.  I thought maybe it was a plate and screw up there (which I thought was high and up there, but who knows!), but it's not.  Dr. Karas felt it today and said it's definitely not a plate/screw up that high and it's probably a little hematoma since he had to dig up high on that side to grind out my old hardware.  So, now I'll start applying heat up under my eye and see how that goes.  Numbness on my left almost all gone, and I feel like the numbness on my right is getting a smidge better from the outter edges of my cheek and working inwards.  I think this is how it went last time too and it took a while, so we'll see what happens with that.  The yeast infection is just about cleared up finally.  Lets hope all that good bacteria stays happy now.  Weight wise I am doing better in terms of slower weight loss this time, which sucks because I gained 20lbs going in to this, but at least I am getting more nutritional calories this time to help me heal better.  I am down 10lbs now to 132.  125 is my happy weight to get to, so a few more pounds and I'll be back in happy land back in my old clothes once again.  Here's a few shots from the last few days.  I've been bad with the daily photos, but taking them enough to get the gist of how the swelling looks over a period of time.
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One Week Post Op

2/25/2016

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The week has felt long, but at the same time went by quickly.  My swelling continues to drop, numbness is about the same outside of a little slight burning starting in my left bottom lip, and the pain continues to wane in to general soreness and tenderness.  My incisions are still super tender, and in general my right side feels harder and more tender than my left.  I have a sneaky suspicion that there is either a hematoma on my right side, or possibly a blocked saliva gland.  My left side feels pretty similar to how both sides of my face felt last time.....except for that whole section where my jaw bone jutted out of my face.  The other issue that has popped up is a pretty gnarly yeast infection in my mouth.  I am prone to them, especially when on the hard core full spectrum antibiotics I've been on the last week, and was hoping I could avoid it but sadly I didn't.  Felt the corners of my lips go first, which is where I typically get oral yeast infections, and then when I got the first look at my tongue the other day after taking my bands off for the first time, it was SUPER cauliflowery.  More than normal unbrushed food build up from the last week.  And then after brushing it off (which was incredibly difficult), it burned.  I definitely know what a yeast infection looks and feels like, and that's it!  My surgeon called me in 10 days of diflucan to take, so lets hope that will resolve that.

I saw my orthodontist today for the first time.  Everybody was super warm and supportive in the office.  All of my brackets look good and there is nothing broken, which is just completely opposite of my last surgery.  I was a mangled broken mess inside my mouth with the ortho after my first surgery.  Not sure if that is the ortho's fault or the surgeons fault.  At this point I am going to consider both since they both did nothing but screw everything up.  Anywho, ortho came over and took a looksie.  He thinks I am not quite biting in the splint right. Thinks I'm behind the notches in the front where my bottom teeth should be sitting, IE: I have to slide my jaw forward a little more, meaning I am left with an overbite right now.  Ugh.  BUT... I am not going crazy worrying right now because I told him the way my teeth are sitting in the splint right now, my molars are sitting in their little pre-made grooves perfectly, and when he has me move my lower jaw forward, the molar is no longer in it's little groove for it. 

So, he's going to talk to my surgeon and pow wow before my appointment with him on Monday, and then right after the appointment with him, he wants to see me to give another check.  He can't really do anything in terms of treatment until my splint is off, but it's great that he wants to keep an eye on things and is continually talking with my surgeon to make sure everything is looked at, discussed, and taken care of.  I asked him if it was catastrophically off or if we were in the ballpark of normal where these are issues that are normally fixed post op.  He said we're not catastrophically off.  Phew.  I mean, my last ortho said that too, but I knew in my gut that things were bad.  This time I do tend to think we're going to be in the normal range of what gets kicked over to ortho to fine tune.  At least as far as I can tell.  And speaking of what I can tell, when he sat me down in the chair today and asked me how I thought everything looked.  I told him my biggest issue right now is the class II on the right (which was planned, but it's still sticking out to me), and I felt like maybe I was every slightly canted now in the opposite direction on my top jaw.  He got super interested and responded, "well, I want to take a look, because there are a few patients who come along and know their stuff and you're one of them.  Anything you've ever said to me, you've never been wrong, so I trust you when you tell me something is wrong and I want to make sure we check it out."  Wow.  What a difference from sitting in my orthodontists chair a month post op after my first operation.  I pleaded with that guy.  Told him I could feel my jaw bones were all out of alignment and this was NOT an ortho problem.  He just brushed me right off and continued to string me along, moving my teeth wildly all over the place for nothing when I knew from the start he was wrong.  Just another example of the night and day difference in my treatment this time around.  So, ortho is going to talk with my surgeon and hopefully we have a better idea on Monday what the game plan is. This is exactly why I have been saying I don't want to get my hopes up even though things look MUCH better this time.  The difference this time is this team is on top of their shit and they won't brush me off and wait for me to disappear.  Instead I am confident they're going to step up and do whatever needs to be done to get this right.

Still taking things slow.  I drove for the first time today, and even then I was nervous since I am still pretty foggy and out of it.  I got out in public for the first time yesterday.  The grocery store, and I was waiting to get all the stares, but I actually didn't get much!  I was surprised!  Took a walk around this park behind my house the day before.  Like last time, I have energy in little spurts (like, only the 10 minute walk in the park that one day) and then I am pooped.  Just have to keep reminding myself this again is a slow process!
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The Other Side.....Take 2!

2/23/2016

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Warning:  This is going to be a lengthy update.  Lots to catch up on.  Like last time, I've been dead to the world (except for a few posts from my phone on facebook....half of which I don't even remember doing!) for a solid 5 days post op.  Didn't even open my laptop until today, day 6 post op.  So, lots to catch up on!

I had my revision surgery on the 18th.  The 12 days off of work leading up to it are a blur at this point.  The whole month is a blur.  All of the prep, the appointments, tests, xrays, scans, etc.  All of the food....the glorious food.  I always tell people don't feel bad for me when I'm banded shut and not eating, because I had a full on food free for all the last year or so, putting on the 20lbs I wanted to gain before surgery.  But I had a few good "last suppers:"
And then all of the prep.  Like last time, it's a mad dash to get everything prepped, portioned, and frozen.  I definitely needed the time off before hand to do everything and get all of my appointments. To get all the little things you need like squeeze bottles, pouches, chapsticks, creams, etc.  It was dejavu taking pictures of my fridge, because it's pretty damn similar to last time!  One thing I did differently this time is make my own bone broth from scratch, and it's SO yummy!  Check my recipes section for that recipe! 
So, I rolled in to the hospital around 11am Thursday.  It was so nice not having to get up at 4am for a 6am show like last time.  I got to have a laid back morning, but it was also more time to sit there in an anxious wreck.  Everything went pretty fast at the hospital.  I got taken back, vitals done, gown on, and IV in by 11:45.  Met my anesthesiologist, the surgical assistants, the RN's that would be int he OR.  Everybody was so nice.  So much more informative and warm and welcoming than people were at Kaiser last time.  My surgeon came in at 12:15 and we chatted for a few minutes and I signed the final paperwork authorizing the procedure.  He seemed in good spirits and fresh.  It was then the anesthesiologist could put the good stuff in my IV.  He totally dumped a little propofal right in (I asked him what he gave me).  Not enough to knock me out, but enough to give me that floaty good feeling.  I seriously wish Kaiser had given me that.  They gave me NOTHING.  Stingy bastards.  Anyway, that stuff was great.  I was actually awake to get the mask this time. Last time I was out before it even got on.  I remember last thing I said looking my surgeon in the eyes standing over me, "Thank you so much for taking me on as a patient and doing this for me."  And I think I remember the anesthesiologist kind of laughing saying "ha-- she's thanking you, Dr. Karas." Like he probably doesn't see patients saying thanks like that before many procedures.  But, even in my half whacked out approaching full anesthesia state, I stand by how thankful I am to my new team and always let them know.  They didn't have to take me on.  I am so fortunate.  Both my ortho and my surgeon, they would rather take on 10 or even 15 normal cases instead of 1 of me, but both of them stepped up and I am forever grateful. 

The anesthesiologist asked what I remembered from the last surgery and I told him I remember waking up on the table when they were all done and saying that my gown was too bloody and they needed to change it.  He was surprised, so I think he made damn sure this time I was full on knocked out.  I don't remember a thing, and I was out in recovery for a lot longer before coming to.  And a lot more is hazy that first 1-2 days post op vs. remembering everything and being super alert the first time.  I was so alert I could have driven myself home the first time.  I needed to be wheeled out of the hospital this time and I don't even remember the drive home...and honestly the next 48 hours is kind of a blur too.  I am seeing facebook posts and messages that I don't even remember making in the slightest!  Kind of scary! 

Waking up in recovery was rough.  Like last time, I wasn't sick in the slightest.  Right away my mom, my husband, and a nurse was around my bed and first words out of their mouth was "It went great with no complications."  Matt knew I needed that because I've had these nightmares of waking up and hearing there were all sorts of problems and they basically could only partially fix me because of them.  I could feel right away I was a LOT more swollen than last time. It was incredibly hard to breathe.  I could feel the difference in my top jaw right away that there was less strain with it moved back and the lower moved forward.  Even through the massive swelling it was less strain, and in the mirror I could even see my cupids bow back on my top lip!  Matt pointed out in the mirror that my midlines were dead on, and I didn't look slanted and crooked like last time.  Everything was dead straight.  I couldn't believe it.  And I didn't want to get my hopes up just yet.  I knew some time needs to pass, and I definitely wanted to see a post op xray.  Anyway, the hospital experience was SO much better this time.  Kaiser didn't even have a room for me.  This place not only gave me a private suite with my own bathroom, but I had two nurses staffed just for me all night.  They were super attentive, where at Kaiser I couldn't get anybody's attention and my mom had to chase a nurse down just to refill my ice bags.  Here I got everything without asking for it. I had help going to the bathroom vs. last time almost passing out trying to get to the bathroom all night.  I got proper meds without having to beg for them.  One of the other differences this time is the amount of blood I had.  So much blood!  At least this time the nose bleeds haven't been as bad. They've been pretty consistent, but not out of the normal vs. the one I had after the nurse in the Kaiser hospital shoved the affrin tube way to far and hard up my nose and it gushed for hours after!  Anyway, I've heard of people talk about having to suction the hell out of their mouth the first day or two, but after my last surgery I had ZERO bleeding.  I didn't even have anything at my bedside for suctioning.  This time I woke up with it in my hands and got shown how to suction, and I was basically awake all night doing this.

My surgeon came by at 7am to check up on me and approve me for discharge if all was well.  Even though I was still way out of it, I was ready to go home again.  And there is another difference from last time.  My surgeon never even checked up on me last time.  It was one of her residents.  My surgeon this time did everything!  My pre op work up, told my family how I was, talked to them after surgery, did my discharge the next morning.  It was super comforting knowing I was in the good hands of my surgeon this time.  I was also set up for a check up with him 5 days post op, and a check up with my ortho 7 days post op.  Last time my surgeon didn't even lay eyes on me until 12 days post op, and then not again until 4 weeks post op.  My ortho didn't care to see me until around 4 weeks post op.  Another relief knowing I was getting the post op care this time that I didn't get last time.

Recovery was so much rougher this time.  Those first few days are a blur to me, but I know I struggled.  I think day 3 I had thoughts of going back to the hospital because I just couldn't breathe. I was SO swollen and gunky in my mouth with my nose clogged and I just couldn't get any air in, let alone try to get any liquids and nutrition shakes in.  My surgeon had to cut through a lot of old scar tissue, grind out all the new bone that grew over my old hardware to remove it, and then make the fresh breaks and move everything and put new plates and screws in.  He had his hands full with the amount of work he had to do, so I was expecting to not feel as great as my first recovery.  I had more trouble managing the pain levels this time too.  I have a high pain tolerance, so if I am complaining, you know it's bad.  Despite the bad pain the first few days, I was still able to ease up on my pain meds by day 4-5 again.  By day 5 yesterday, I took nothing during the day and then at night with my jaw spasming and clenching, I did take some vicodin and a muscle relaxer.  Yes.... I slept well with that mixture ;)  I also saw my surgeon for my check up yesterday.  Again, we all felt so relieved that I was being checked on and cared for post op. I walked in and right away took the pano.  The pano I dreaded taking and had so much anxiety over the last two years.  To find out if I was right or not finally.  They laid me back in the chair to get ready for the check up, and up on the main screen in the office, my new pano pops up. I immediately bursts out in to tears.  My mom wasn't sure if they were good tears at first, and I was like "no no-- great tears.  Everything looks so straight!!  He did it!"  I couldn't believe it. I am not a crier, especially in front of others, and I couldn't help but burst out in to tears for a little bit.  Very happy tears. 
My surgeon was pretty happy with the way everything looks.  My incisions are healing nicely.  He seemed surprised that I didn't even need to take childrens tylenol by day 5.  He suctioned out my nose, which felt amazing!!  He checked my bite and everything is checking out, biting nicely in the splint still.  I got unbanded from the tight bands and put in just two tight bands on the sides.  Still pretty constricting and I am still having trouble talking, but feels good to open my mouth just the slightest to be able to cough, yawn, clear my muffled ears.  Speaking of coughing, I have a cold!  I went in to surgery with a little post nasal drip starting the night before. I figured it was allergies and since I didn't have a fever, they took me in.  Nope...def a cold, which now might be a nice little sinus infection.  I am taking robotussin and on heavy duty antibiotic already, so hoping it will resolve itself, but it's the absolute worst time for a cold.  Probably why my recover and breathing was also rougher.  I see my surgeon again next week for the same check up to clean out incisions, check my bite, and suction out my nose again. 

I'm definitely over the worst of it now, but still have a rough month ahead of me.  I am still pretty swollen as you'll see in the progress pictures below.  The main issues I am having now is my antibiotic.  It's REALLY rough.  Usually I don't have stomach issues on antibiotic, but this one is getting to me, especially with the nausea.  So funny because the first 4-5 days of recovery after morphine and vicodin, you can get constipated from that.  On top of the fact that I am not eating, so not really producing much to go in that department anyway.  But then to turn around and go from not going at all to the total opposite on the antibiotic... it's no bueno, especially when you need to be as hydrated as possible.  Nobody likes to talk about TMI stuff like that, but in the interest of helping other patients out reading this, I'm just throwing it all out there.  First few days post op try to get in as much fiber and everything that you can to go. I mixed fiber powder in with my water and drank apple juice.  Prune juice works but I hate it and can't get it down wired shut either.  If you have the same reaction to antibiotic I had, then switch it up and drink a probiotic powder supplement and drink some pedialyte or something to keep your electrolytes up.  Coconut water was great for me too.

So, here is some of the carnage so far.  This is by far the roughest hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life.  I was telling my mom that theoretically speaking, if I had a kid and the kid got raped and the rapist could be punished by death or by this jaw surgery/recovery I just did, I would rather punish him with the jaw surgery and recovery vs death sentence.  Yes, it was that bad.  OK, maybe I am being a little dramatic, but you get the idea.  I need to thank everybody again for all of their support.  The community online has been great through all of this.  My friends and family have been great through all of this.  People at work have been amazing.  I got get well baskets from two FAA departments at work.  Tons of messages from people.  Really means a lot to me and warms my heart.
And then there is this little gem..... that I don't even remember recording.  And I guess I posted it to facebook too!  Ha!  I seriously don't remember this at all, but I am kind of glad I took it to show how talking was at first.  It actually got much worse after this.  I was still not at peak swelling and my mouth was pretty suctioned and clear at this point.  Over the next few days I had to use a white board to talk and couldn't be understood at all.  Regardless, it's painful and exhausting to talk through banded shut jaws in a splint!  Since being moved to slightly looser bands it's a little better, but still rough and exhausting.  The people at my surgeons office said I am doing a great job through. :)
So, that is that!  Hopefully I'll be making more short updates with the daily photo progressions instead of a massive update like this.  I just had no energy to even get my lap top out, let alone have my wits about me to do anything on it.  I was so out of it! Speaking of being out of it, it's also because I am not getting calories in.  I already dropped 8lbs of the 20 I gained going in to this, so I am glad I beefed up!  Here's to the rest of initial recovery.  Looking forward to seeing the swelling drop more in the next two weeks and hopefully getting the splint out in 2-3 weeks!
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Final Surgical Plan

2/11/2016

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It's kind of surreal being in this posture again.  A week pre op, getting my final photos, xrays, scans, blood tests, etc done.  Running around to a ton of appointments, picking my parents up from the airport (my mom is staying the month with me again to help out), eating everything I can while I can.  Totally dejavu, but at the same time not.  There are definitely differences this time.  One of them is having a detailed surgical plan in hand.  Finally....the thing I wanted so badly the first time through, I finally have.  It took a bit of weight off my shoulders.  Not that I doubted my surgeon was going to give it to me, but it's this nagging thing in the back of my head because of what happened the first time.

I had a long appointment with my surgeon yesterday to go over some things.  He basically breezed through the paperwork advising me of the risks because I already knew them, and the booklet on liquid diet nutrition because I've already done it.  Instead he concentrated on the numbers and the plan.  He presented some images of his mock surgery from all of my 3d scans and molds.  I guess some of my anxiety is this ridiculous feeling like I couldn't be fixed.  That what I had after the first surgery was so bad that I would be screwed.  So, to see it fixed on paper....it was amazing.  And relieving!  To see what I currently have vs. what it looks like to be fixed.  What a huge difference!  Just seeing how asymmetric I am now compared to the straight proposed finished product.  No wonder why my face/jaw is so strained the last two years!  No wonder I have had a constant migraine the last two years!  There is so much torque on my joints.  I could feel how my jaws were sitting immediately after the first surgery, which is why I doubted that ortho was ever going to fix it and that I was immediately a surgical case.  Seeing how yawed/twisted/skewed in these scans at least makes me feel better knowing I was right with exactly how I felt my jaws sitting.  That I am so twisted and torqued that I am not a whiny baby for complaining about how awful things have felt the last 2 years through this.

On to the fun stuff.  The first picture is a start/intermediate/final image.  Top is what I am starting with.  Middle is what I expect to look like after the top jaw is fixed.  Bottom is the final result after he finishes up with correcting the bottom jaw.  I harp a lot on how off my top jaw is, but looking at that middle image of the intermediate projection really shows how absolutely screwed up my bottom jaw is.  It's just as canted and twisted, like Dr. Gunson told me from day 1 of my revision consult journey.  The view from under my chin in the second picture is crazy with regards to the lower jaw.  You can really see how yawed out to my left I am.  And I'm basically in a cross bite with the way the two jaws are sitting, which is exactly how I felt and described it to my ortho a few weeks post op after the first surgery.  My surgeon is still not making any promises, but he's hoping centering everything as best he can in the yaw/cant/midline position, it will help the bowed out left side of my face.  I also got all of the measurements. It's a lot to take in, but in general my midlines are being shifted back over a few mm where they were before my first surgery, upper jaw being moved back 2.5mm (which is still not as far back as it was before my first surgery, but we don't have much room to move it back further), lower jaw forward more about 3mm, and everything untwisted and cants leveled out.  Surgeon thinks my nose will be less upturned and shouldn't see a bunch more widening.  Phew...good.  Speaking of the nose....that was the one piece of not so great news.  I've always had issues getting air in to my nose.  It felt worse on my left side after surgery, but like my ear issues after surgery, it's never something high on my complaint list to talk to my surgeon about and thought I would see an ENT later on about it all.  After the scans and taking a look up my nose, surgeon said I am pretty significantly deviated on the left.  Never thought to try this, but I blow out air one nostril at a time, and sure enough barely any coming out of my left, and full amount from my right.  So, he's going to try to do what he can while he's in there, but I'll probably need to fix the deviated septum when we're done.  Goody.  And the other bad news I was worried about is the bone grafting and bone loss.  I do have some, but not an amount that is completely unexpected after all the work I've done. They're going to bring in grafting material in case they need it, but for now we're hoping I don't.

With the bad, came a little bit of good news.  I am NOT banded tightly shut the entire 6 weeks! Since they are not going to do widening of the top jaw, I am tightly banded the first week, a little looser the the 2-3 weeks, and hopefully by the end of the month I can be in the lingering band configuration that allows me to easily take them off to eat and clean.  Like the ones my ortho had me in after being unwired last time.  The splint will be wired to my top jaw for 3 weeks, which sucks, but hopefully being able to open a little bit to get a baby spoon in or the nozzle of my condiment squeeze bottle to eat from will be a huge win despite the splint being in still.  So, this is HUGE news.  I was so anxious about being wired tightly shut with the splint for the entire 6 weeks.  Don't get me wrong, this is still going to be rough, but now I know it won't be any rougher than what I went through last time.  So, here's to liquids/purees for about 3 weeks, and then soft chew by the end of the month hopefully!!  Yay!!!

Anywho...here are the pictures of the plans.  Just a week to go.  Tons of prep left to do still, so it won't be a super relaxing week.  Everybody out in jaw surgery land or friends/family reading, start sending your good vibes.  I'm going to need them. Seems like I have endless bad luck with all of this.
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Two Weeks To Go!

2/3/2016

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Two weeks out from surgery.  So weird to finally be in this place again. I remember what I was doing when I was two weeks out the first time. I attended the stupid "what to expect after surgery" course that Kaiser gave.  The one where I was teaching the RN about some stuff instead of her teaching us about some stuff.  And then the usual stress/anxiety leading up to surgery.  I went out of work around 10 days before surgery last time.  I am doing 13 days this time.  My last day of work is coming up soon, and boy I can not wait. I am exhausted.  I've been saying in posts the last month or two that it's been a struggle at work and I am barely hanging on a lot of days.  It's gotten so much worse the last 3-4 weeks.  I am SO tired, emotionally and physically.  I haven't been sleeping still.  Last night for example, I was in bed by 11, then up again around 3am and just stared at the clock not able to go back to bed, and then up again wide awake around 5am and did the same thing for another hour, and then finally up for good around 8am.  I never fully settle in to REM sleep again in between these episodes, and I can definitely feel it through the day time.  So, I am very glad to be done with work on Saturday, hoping I can get lots of rest and finish the tons of prep I need to start doing.

Prep. Ugh... I am SO far behind this time around.  Last time I had a lot of stuff ready to go.  I need to bust out my humidifier and clean it up.  I really need to defrost and clean out freezer space so I can store all of the bone broth and pureed soups I need to put together. Have to reorder more arnica gel/cream, liquid supplements, and syringes and bottles to eat from.  I need to hit the drug store for more boost.  Appointments are going to be a pain in the ass to get to this time.  Last time my ortho was right around the corner from my house.  Everything was close.  Now I have my ortho 40 minutes away, surgeon 50 minutes away, dentist over across the other side of the bay 40 minutes away.  I am going to be driving all over the place the next two weeks.

Speaking of appointments, I am kind of in limbo right now with that.  I don't have an overwhelming amount scheduled....yet!  I see my ortho on Monday and I will probably have more appointments scheduled with him after that one.  I'll need to see my family doc for a check up and pre op blood draw.  I see my prosthodontist for a cleaning next week.  I think my surgeon is still in planning mode, so they will call and schedule with me when he's got something and ready to share with me.  So, I am sure I will be berated with appointments soon.

So...two weeks left. I really hope I can get some rest before then.  I was nowhere near this exhausted going in to this the last time.  I just feel so run down all the time.  I finally got more meds for the anxiety, but the surgeon only gave me 8 pills.  Yes...8 pills!!  Knowing how I was the week before last time, I am going to need another prescription or two of those!
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