Fast Forward a few months

So after 15 months in braces, all the experts agree that I am ready!!! Ready to have my face broken and rearranged. What a scary thought!! Who signed me up for this anyway???

Of course I have those fleeting thoughts from time to time, but truth be told, I am very excited to begin this portion of the journey. I have anticipated this surgery for many months now. I have done hours of research on just what the surgeon would like to do and how that will affect my goal towards a happy mouth.

Seattle is a lovely town, but I am afraid that the memories that I will be making here will not be the most pleasant.
I do try to mix business with fun while I am up there, such as going to one of my most favorite coffee shops, Storyville Coffee! Yum! The best cup. Right at the Pike Place Market.

My #5 child traveled along with me to hang out in town as he works up this way. It was great to have him drive me around in his new car instead of my original plan of taking the train and then walking the steep hill up to the surgeon's office. Like I said in the video, it is quite a journey from my remote corner of the world to a major airport and then on up to Seattle. I was pretty tired when I got home.

So.... Double Jaw surgery

Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy for the lower jaw
Lefort 1 Osteotomy with graft for the upper jaw

The graft will involve pulverized, sterilized,( and any other kind of "ized" they can do to it ) cadaver bone mixed with some kind of polymer that will create a piece to be custom fit for the new upper palate that I will have.  All the work will be done inside my mouth with only 2 small incisions on my lower jaw where they will insert the small probes to measure and balance out my new jaw alignment.
The next blog entry has a short video of what they will do with the lower jaw.
On the upper jaw, the surgeon will cut into the bone to remove some, line it up nicely, insert the palate graft, screw it all back into place, then suture it up. All this is done through the  portion of the upper lip and nasal septum area - inside. Nothing shows on the outside.