Pre-Surgical Ortho Appointment

On August 14th, I had my pre surgical ortho appointment. I anticipated the molds would be a lot harder than what they were, they came out pretty easily. I have heard so many nightmares about them so I guess I was prepared for the worst.

So here we go ... my progress pics from June 2007 vs August 2008 ...

And now for the mug shots ... I wasn't thinking and didn't wear make-up that day ... so they are about as "good" as they get ... :)

And lastly ... my profile predictions. The first one is from June 2007, the profile prediction before I started this whole process. The next 2 are predictions based on my pre-surgical photos. I am guessing that the first one is with genioplasty, and the 2nd one without genioplasty, but I am not sure. I have my pre-op appointment with my OS on Thursday, so I am guessing he will go over my options then. I think the 2nd set of photos looks a bit more harsh than the first profile prediction. But I will wait until I see my OS to make any judgement or determination ...

On Wednesday, I get my pre-surgical hooks placed, Thursday I get my teeth cleaned and after that is my pre-op with my OS. Next week I have my pre-op physical and pre-surgical evaluation at the hospital (they are 2 different appointments ... one with my physician and the other at the hospital ... geez ... do they think they can throw a few more appointments in???). Then, exactly 2 weeks from tomorrow, I will go under the chop! Yikes ... I can't believe it's almost here already! I did some more shopping over the weekend, so later this week I will post my full list of supplies. I probably will have a lot of things I never even use, but I guess I'd rather be over prepared than under.

Sleep Study ...

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted, time has gone so fast. On July 31st, I had a sleep study to determine if I had obstructive sleep apnea or any sleeping issues. I tend to be a very restless sleeper. I just had my follow-up appointment today, and I definately do not have any indication of issues related to apnea, my oxygen levels looked good and I had very few breathing related issues throughout the night. I did wake up significally more than is considered normal, and had less REM sleep than would be considered normal as well. He was going to fax the info over to my OS and advise that after surgery, instead of putting me back on the amitriptyline, that he puts me on another medication. This should prevent me from being so restless and help me get a better night sleep. I am ok with this as long as I have to be on the meds post-op, but after that year, I really prefer to be off all meds completely. That is, after all, one of the reasons I am going through all of this ... I want to reduce the amount of drugs I take long term and find more natural ways to deal with these things. Here are some photos of my sleep study ... I had 29 electrodes, plus a clip on my finger, tubes that look like oxygen tubes to measure my oxygen levels, and a microphone taped to my neck. It's amazing I slept at all!