A Secret History

• 22:12 Recovery going swimmingly thus far, and there is gladness and rejoicing throughout the land. Also I adore the Girl beyond all reason. #

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• 12:10 For now this will be @tutordennis' twitter for @nullalux updates. #
• 12:10 She has gone into surgery. Everything looks good. #
• 12:38 My happy place has been besieged with predatory Lilliputians. #
• 13:40 Emily is out of surgery. Doc says it went well. She'll be in the recovery room for up to 2 hours more, then we can see her. -@karenbynight #
• 13:50 She gave the doctor the thumbs up sign! #
• 19:22 We have arrived at home and the emily is resting. #

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So. Tomorrow, we sally forth to Oakland Kaiser, where I have a date with bone saws and destiny. We met with my new surgeon again on Monday, and Dr. P― is confident that this time the procedure (bilateral sagittal split osteotomy, or BSSO) will be successful (almost too confident, but then, he is a rockstar in his field; I have high hopes that he'll add the bionic upgrades I've drawn up).

Below is my latest cephalometric radiograph. When compared with the one from June 2008, you can see that the bone graft in my chin has filled in nicely. Dr. P― does BSSOs a bit differently from my last surgeon; I'll have snazzy titanium plates screwed to my mandible, and my jaw will be wired closed with a splint between my teeth for ten days. Mmm, broth.



Many thanks for all the well-wishes. tutordennis and shoutingboy will be with me at the hospital, and they have friends and family scheduled for visits when I return home. tutordennis will also be Twittering from my phone with tomorrow's post-surgery update. I'm in good spirits, and anticipate a fairly smooth recovery. I'll be able to return to work in four weeks, and will have the brackets removed in six months (scheduled for mid-July). Catch you on the flip side!

Nota Bene: All of my entries tagged 'jaw' can be found here.

• 12:41 A whirlwind day of pre-surgery appts at Kaiser. #
• 17:01 Snacking at Herbivore in Berkeley. Mmm, espresso milkshake. #
• 22:34 Heading out to shake a tailfeather at the G of D. (My last feather-shaking opportunity before my jaw-breaking antics this Fri!) #

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• 08:17 Rocking the nerdcore on the way to ortho. #
• 14:08 Getting new brace bling was awesome! Or wait, what's that other thing? Oh yeah: NOT. Ah well; the 10-day countdown until surgery has begun! #
• 18:25 Ask USDA to facilitate veg school lunch options in those schools where at least 5% of parents request it: tinyurl.com/lunch4change #
• 18:36 What time is it? Zeppelin! xkcd.com/73/ What floor do you need? Zeppelin! xkcd.com/288/ #

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• 13:54 I write dead people (this gets a 10 for creepy and a 10 for clever): tinyurl.com/carboncopies (via @Plantgirl) #
• 14:23 A trope that never gets old (in bed), especially when you plug this into your Twitter: inbedder.com/index.php (via @birdchick in bed) #
• 14:27 At the orthodontist this morn, queried about braces made of brass and polished wood (I jest). Then a brisk run with a smoothie at the apex. #
• 14:35 Mtn lion sighted in San Mateo yesterday. Keep critters, food, Circle of Life sing-alongs safely indoors, folks. tinyurl.com/mtnlion #
• 15:17 @teawiththecheat: Have fun at your new internship! Looking forward to hearing all about it over dinner. #
• 01:02 Blink into the wild sky, find a dirigible trailing by… These sightings remind me of the phantom airship phenom: tinyurl.com/ethership #

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J is for Jawbone, indeed. Brief recap: In June of this year, I underwent lower jaw surgery (called a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy). Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful, and my surgeon told us that I wasn't a good candidate for further attempts. Read previous posts and see my cool bionic skull here.

So I met with a different specialist last month (Dr. P at Kaiser Oakland) to find out about alternate therapies. However, to our surprise, he seems to think that if he performed the same surgery (BSSO, like Dr. T at Kaiser Santa Clara attempted), it would be successful. I'm cautiously optimistic, and the procedure is scheduled for 16 Jan 2009. He seems very confident, but I do want to make sure that he works closely with my previous surgeon to ensure success (with as little nerve damage as possible), since my surgical team ran into trouble before.

Regarding recovery, he does things a little differently. This time, I'll have a splint between my teeth and I'll be wired shut, but only for ten days. All incisions will be intraoral, which is nice. And there will be metal plates to anchor the bone, instead of just screws. I can't say that I'm looking forward to another surgery, but if when it succeeds, I'll feel that all the effort and funds we've invested haven't been wasted. I did heal very rapidly last time, and didn't really have any adverse side effects, so that bodes well.




And this seems to be floating about again (last seen at la_veuve_chibi): ( Nearest Book Meme )

• 10:36 Skin still warm and tingling. I think firecrackers exploded from my fingertips. #
• 10:54 @mactavish: Oh, I'm sure you're not far off the mark. ;) #
• 10:56 @artmonstergirl: Much sympathy for the loss of your ratling. *hug* #
• 14:42 Working on a post about the surgery. It's a difficult one to write. Taking a break for my 2nd post-op at Kaiser Santa Clara w/ @tutordennis. #
• 19:46 @princeofwands: Oh noes! Was this the place near us in San Mateo? #
• 22:40 Another break to sip savory split pea soup and read a bit of the latest Craft Magazine. craftzine.com/magazine/ #
• 00:41 It's amazing I haven't yet gotten too weary of soup and pudding and smoothies. But then I've always been fond of them. #
• 02:04 The 2009 Geek Girls Calendar is now available to order on the Calendar Geeks website! tinyurl.com/5pysfz #

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• 17:38 Long story short: jaw shattered into three pieces when they tried sagittal split on left side. She screwed shards back together and aborted. #
• 17:41 They did manage to implant metal plate and bone graft in my chin. Just trying to focus on healing right now. I have wonderful caregivers. #

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