T-7 Days

This morning I woke up with pain in my left jaw from stress clenching my teeth all night.  I am definitely getting nervous about this operation.  (Actually I am not all that nervous about the operation itself, I'll be happily sedated for that portion!) I'm really getting worried about the recovery process and how rough the next 6 months- 1 year will be for my mouth/face/life.

I will meet with the surgeon for my pre-op appointment tomorrow.  Tom will be coming with me so that he can get all my post-op instructions and details on how he can/ will need to take care of me.  I truly have the best, most supportive husband, but it is downright terrifying to me to think that I will be completely dependent on others for 1-2 weeks.

Tomorrow the surgeon will go into detail of exactly how many times and in how many places will be breaking my jaw and realigning it to correct all its imbalances.  I have a good idea of what to expect, but I will find out in gross detail just how extensive this will be.  Also he promised me a computer simulation of what my face will look like post-surgery.  I have to admit this is pretty intimidating!  I try not to be vain, but its so weird to think that the face that has stared back at me in the mirror for 32 years will be different. I'm trying to believe that I'll still look largely like me, this isn't after all a cosmetic surgery, and the doc did promise to make everything look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. However it is a huge unknown and I'm a little nervous to see that image on the screen. 

So to sum it up, I have a empty pit in the middle of my stomach, when I think about tomorrow's appointment.... Wish me luck!



I'm still not very good with the selfies, but in case I forget later here are a couple "before" pics. 1/6/2015