Mckenzie's Jaw Surgery Blog

Blogging my recovery from double jaw surgery to correct my underbite

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Day T-1: My Night Before Surgery

Sunday, October 16, 2016Leave a Comment

My jaw surgery is tomorrow morning! It’s 1:30 AM and I have to wake up at 5:00 AM, but I’m a night owl anyway and I figure the less I sleep tonight the more I’ll sleep in the hospital. It’s strange – I’m not nervous at all. I spent tonight grocery shopping, watering my succulents, and repotting some cactus. I downed a ton of water before the “no food or water after midnight” cut-off because I was doing a lot of physical labor outside in the warm Arizona night.

My fiancé is going to miss my surgery. He works in the aerospace industry and was supposed to launch a rocket today (to send supplies to the International Space Station), but there was a problem with the ordnance system so they had to postpone the launch until tomorrow. I hope I wake up from the anesthesia before 4:45 PM so I can watch it live. It’s a really important launch for him – the first since an explosion two years ago. I’m a little worried it will make me cry, because I’m so proud of him, and I’ve heard crying right after jaw surgery is bad. He’s going to take a red eye flight and try to get home before I’m released from the hospital at 7:00 AM on Tuesday. I told him I don’t care if he’s not here – this rocket launch is more important than my surgery and I would feel guilty if he came home early. Out of all the excuses in the world, “I have to launch a rocket” is a dang good excuse for missing your fiancé’s surgery! Plus, my mom flew out from Wisconsin to take care of me, so I already have a full-time nurse for the next two weeks.

I made sure to remove my fingernail and toenail polish so they can monitor my oxygen levels. I also went a little crazy on Amazon and spent over $200 on supplies. I probably won’t use half of it, but it made me feel prepared. The only thing I don’t feel prepared for is the liquid diet part. I didn’t do a very good job of coming up with recipes or making a shopping list. I figure we can just wing it (or I can drink Boost shakes 24/7). I don’t think being on a liquid diet will bother me – I hate food. My “last meal” tonight was cheese, crackers, and strawberries. I probably should have eaten more today as a last ditch effort to stock up on calories. I weighed myself and I’m only 131 pounds, which is considered underweight for my height (5’9″), so I probably should have tried to put on a few more pounds. I regret not eating the angel food cake my mom frosted for me before midnight. Oh well, I just ran out of time… like always!

Below are the Day T-1 pictures I took. I wish I had thought to take these earlier in the day while it was still light outside. You can see how my upper jaw is tilted down on the right side, so I show more gum in the profile photos on the left. I’ve always hated pictures of my profile, so it was really strange to take these. I can’t believe my underbite will be gone tomorrow!

Mckenzie Jaw Surgery Day T-1

Filed Under: Jaw Surgery

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WELCOME TO MY BLOG

On October 17, 2016, I underwent double jaw surgery at the age of 31 to correct my class III skeletal malocclusion (a.k.a. underbite). My jaw surgeon performed a 3-piece LeFort I osteotomy on my upper jaw to advance it by 2 mm and bilateral sagittal split osteotomies on my lower jaw to set it back by 3 mm. He also raised my upper jaw by 2 mm on the right side and 4 mm on the left side to correct my tilt and gummy smile.

JAW SURGERY TIMELINE

Day 24: My Second Post-Op Follow-Up
Day 21: My Pizza Hut Smoothie
Day 14: My Beetlejuice Costume
Day 7: My Return to Work
Day 6: My Brushing Incident
Day 5: My Bruising is Neon Yellow
Day 4: My Family is Too Funny
Day 3: My First Post-Op Follow-Up
Day 2: My Swelling Gets Worse
Day 1: My First Day Back Home
Day 0: My Day of Surgery
Day T-1: My Night Before Surgery

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I did a lot of research before my surgery. Here are my top three favorite blogs:
kellysjawsurgery.blogspot.com
roxsjawsurgery.wordpress.com
mymilliondollarsmilee.blogspot.com

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