Chris is scheduled to have jaw surgery tomorrow. I cannot believe it's happening so soon. We have been on a journey for years to resolve his obstructive sleep apnea. At first, he tried various oral appliances and then a CPAP machine with every face mask imaginable. He originally contemplated jaw surgery at UCLA, but I was optimistic that we wouldn't have to go the surgery route. Then he went to Stanford for a sleep study and ultimately decided that jaw surgery would be the best solution and even scheduled jaw surgery there for December 26, 2014. After that surgery got delayed due to reasons out of our control, we re-evaluated what would be best and ultimately decided to choose Dr. Gunson in Santa Barbara to be his surgeon. Dr. Gunson had specific orthodontic requests, which Chris began in April and took 7 months to (mostly) accomplish - some adjustments will also be performed after his surgery.
Yesterday we met with Dr. Gunson and Kimberly to go over his post-operative care and the plan for the surgery. We got a list of items to pick up, as well as his prescriptions. The office staff was incredibly kind and they spent a lot of time with us going over every detail. There was some good news (i.e., Chris's nerves are out of the way and *hopefully* will not be affected by the surgery) and bad news (i.e., Chris's upper jaw bone is extremely thin, which may make screwing in plates nearly impossible and require a super-long plate that gets attached near the bridge of his nose or connecting bone only by wire if the screws do not work). As a result, Chris may be told to not talk for two weeks after the surgery so that the bones can heal safely and without any stress or movement. Eep! I'm already anxious for this to be over and it hasn't really begun yet.
We had his pre-op appointment at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital this morning. It's a beautiful new hospital that opened two months ago. I'm fortunate that I work very close to the hospital so I will be able to walk over and check on Chris tomorrow after surgery. It was nice to meet some staff and get a tour of the facility. I truly feel like Chris will be in the best hands possible tomorrow. He also had his pre-surgery physical, which I heard went well. We are getting lots of last minute things done today, like picking up post-surgery supplies, getting his prescriptions, ordering things online, and trying to relax (mm, that might be difficult!). I do have to take time to take a step back and appreciate the fact that we are able to have this surgery in our backyard and that Chris can recover at home.
I hope to use this blog to inform family and friends on the progress that Chris is making after surgery. I'll be in touch!
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