Surgery Day

This is my surgery updates provided by my wife while I was being operated on.

8:40am In the OR, I'm lights out getting my teeth wrapped in bars and hooks. Apparently this is long and tedious. Got my Grills!!!

10:51am The first cutting begins

2:00pm Another update, surgery is going well, just taking a long time.

4:45pm in the words of my wife: he is out and doing well. Normal blood loss. They got his jaws out 12mm which is the max they could do so they are very happy about that. Tonight his mouth is open so he can breath. Tomorrow he will be wired shut. We will be able to see him when he comes to completely and is moved to the ICU



5:00pm
I'm just waking up, normally they call patients of this surgery "tomato heads" because we come out swollen and BLOODY. Now I guess I didn't fit this so well I wasn't too bloody. Apparently I only lost 1 liter of blood.... I remember hearing the guy to my right possibly a nurse tell me I'm just waking up and doing well. I remember asking to see Becky. This is the recovery area. My airway was doing will so they didn't wheel me into the ICU. This is another good sign. I was in and out of consciousness and in my room by around 9pm. 4th floor room 433 was my home for the next few days. Becky and my Dad left late that night and Becky promised to return the day.

My mental state prior to surgery.

March 2nd, 2010
My wife's blog and point of view
So here it is, 9 days left. I'm trying not to think about the barbarian procedure that is looming ahead of me. It's scary to think of what they are going to do to my face...it boggles the mind. I'm freaked out. But staying focused on the end result. The positive has to be my focus. I went for another appointment for my dental impressions, and measurements. They are creating models of my head and jaws to prepare for surgery. They also took many pictures. I will be taking my own for sure. As I would like to see the changes to my face. Again, another scary thought. One day I look one way, the next I'll be changed forever. More to come as my thoughts focus more and more on the pending procedure.

3/9/2010

2 more days. It's getting very REAL. I'm scared out of my mind. The only thing that keeps me sane is the focus on the end and the fact that this ball is rolling and in motion. I think of it now as a moving freight train that I can't stop. I can't even imagine what its going to be like, I've read some blogs, I've heard the recovery process from Dr.'s but will I be different? Will it be worse than they say, will it be better? No one can tell. I just have to wait to find out, pray and hope it goes well and I heal quickly. Then think about not being able to open your mouth for SIX weeks!!! They say that it can drive someone with claustrophobia crazy, I'm not claustrophobic, but will this make me crazy?
Think about this at all hours of the day and night and see what your mind comes up with!! What to do, but wait!

Warning...this may be a bit graphic, if you don't like this stuff you may want to skip this section. I know it would give me this willies.

So here is what I know. I will be in the OR for 5 hours, they are going somehow, cut the bone of my top jaw away from the rest of my skull, then precisely move the bone and my top teeth forward about 1cm and then screw in very small titanium plates on both sides. Then they are going to somehow precisely split my lower jaw in a way that they can slide it forward the same 1cm and still have it touch bone to bone so it can heal, and then wire it to the top jaw with things like braces. So then I get stitched up, and if all goes well sent to the ICU where I get monitored closely for at least 24 hours if not more. Sounds like fun eh?
So assuming all goes well, I'll be out of the hospital after 3-5 days. Then I'm told my Jaws will be wired shut for 6 weeks. I will eat a liquid diet with a large syringe and a flexible tube that I get to squirt protein drinks into the back of my throat. My face will be swollen, my sinuses will be completely screwed up due the cutting into the sinus cavity. "You will be miserable for 2 months" was the exact words out of the Dr's mouth. Did I forget to mention that all this cutting a moving will stretch the nerves in my chin and cheeks. Causing loss of feeling/numbness. This loss could be permanent! Or it could take months to years to return!!! Imagine that? Still, I focus on the future and my quality of life / health. I think it will be worth it in the end. What else can I think?
May 11th 2010 = Ground zero

Pre Opp, my wife describes it just as I would read here -- Link to Becky's blog.

After I said my goodbye's (in my mind, for possibly the last time) they wheeled me to the OR room. I remember sliding myself over to the even smaller OR bed and them telling me I should be centered on it, I then made some comment about the light possibly. and then nothing.......

The Journey of my BIMAX (MMA) Surgery

So my story begins in 2003 when my wife noticed during my snoring sleep that I stopped breathing. Upon mentioning this to my Dr. I was referred to a local pulmonologist who prescribed a sleep study. My study showed that I had OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea). It was pretty severe for a 6'7" fairly fit male who was only 29 years old. Of course my Pulmonologist recommended CPAP and mentioned oral appliances, BIMAX, and others as a possible surgical fix. So I was given the standard band aid, a CPAP machine set at 6psi of pressure, a passive humidifier, and a nose mask.

Well the nose mask didn't work so well for me, I was just loosing all the air pressure out of my mouth and waking up with dry mouth and still very little good sleep. I'm by nature a mouth breather with a high arch palate and narrow nasal passages, on top of a broken, crooked nose from a sledding accident when I was a kid. So I went for another sleep study and was given a full face mask. This worked ok for a while, but I found I removed the mask at night or didn't wear it at all due to the un comfort of air being pumped into my body and what I think is a sub conscious felling of claustrophobia. I somewhat investigated oral appliances but couldn't get anywhere with the only dentist in the area who offer it as they couldn't get either the medical or dental insurance to pay for it. So I suffered on. Dry mouth led to a active humidifier. More suffering, led to a visit to and ENT who only performed UPPP surgery. He didn't recommend it for me, said it would most likely be unsuccessful in curing my OSA. So I suffered on. Now google sleep deprivation......this is serious.......

Fast forward to 2010. My CPAP is now on 10psi and another full face mask has failed to keep me from pulling it off at night, every morning I wear the mask, I wake up with a barrage of explosive gas from an entire night of being pumped full of air.....My last sleep study shows I have Severe OSA..... I'm finally fed up with being sleep deprived and all its symptoms, as well as keeping my wife up at night, I decided to seriously pursue the bimax surgery. But I couldn't find anyone in my area who performed the surgery. I called many ENT's, Pulmonologists, and Dentists and no one knew of any local surgeons that performed it. So my Dr. referred me to the University of Michigan Sleep Apnea Clinic. Here I met with ENT's, Oral Surgeons, Neurologist, had a nose scope, a CT of the head, and they made a determination that the BIMAX was the procedure that gives me the best chance at a cure. I was then prepped by one of the Oral surgeons of all the horrors that are associated with the procedure. In spite of the horrors, I've made the commitment to move on. Today is February 3rd, 2010 and my surgery is scheduled for March 11, 2010. I'm very nervous, wondering if this is a good idea, wondering if I'll loose feeling in my face? Many worries, and hopes of a cure.