1st Picture of My New Profile!

I HAD to see it. How do I look sideways?

1st Night

I felt oddly lucid, considering all the pain killers they were pumping through the IV.

Fresh Out of Surgery

Viola! Mark waited for me as I underwent surgery. He gave me this cute teddy bear as the nurses wheeled me into my room after it was all done. Those were ice packs against my cheeks.

Giddy and Ready to Go!

OK, I made it to the pre-op waiting area. Scared silly, yes, but I was ready to go!

Surgery Day! Waiting....

8:41 am, PST. Waiting at the Stanford Ambulatory Surgery Center for the nurse to call me into the pre-op area. Uh oh. This is for REAL.

The Plan

This is essentially what the surgery's aiming to accomplish.

A Pleasing Profile

Is this what to expect?

http://www.drbonine.com/large_lower_jaw.html
http://www.craniofacialcenter.com/book/Orthog/Orthog_1.htm
http://craniofacial.stanford.edu/OrthognathicPAGE.html
http://www.universityoralsurgery.com/proc/proc_ortho.html
http://www.aaoms.org/corrective_jaw.php (good photos)

Wow. Now I want cheekbone implants. :P

Aetna, Rock Star!

Just read my last post in 2006, where I complained about Blue Shield. Thankfully, things have taken a turn for the better since then. The company I worked for got acquired, and the new company is bigger and has much better benefits. As a result, I now have Aeta, whose "reasonable and customary" fee for this type of surgery closely approximates my surgeon's quote. Net, my out-of-pocket has dropped to about $8,500, instead of the whopping $21,000 I'd have to pay if I stayed with Blue Shield.

Aetna is the way to go, if you can't have Kaiser.

Tick, Tock

My surgery is coming up in 5 days.

It's scheduled for Wednesday, January 31st.

Friends and colleagues ask me if I feel nervous. I don't. My surgeon is the one that should feel nervous! :)

All jokes aside, I trust Dr. Li. He's obviously very experienced, and more importantly, very thorough. I like doctors that don't take chances!

For those of you out there going through the same thing, here's what to expect:

• NO painkillers for 10 days before the surgery, except Tylenol. You don't want to thin out your blood.
• NO food or drinks for 12 hours leading up to the surgery. Nothing in your stomach, nothing to throw up.
• Ice ice baby. ICE your face as you recover. It helps keep the swelling down.
• No, they don't wire your jaw shut anymore. Instead, they just put rubber bands between your upper and lower teeth to help "cradle" your jaw.
• The recovery period is 4 to 6 weeks, with weekly visits to your surgeon.
• Buy lots of straws! Liquid diet, doctor's orders. ; )
• Up your Netflix subscription. Heck, when else are you going to have this much time to watch movies?