Jaw Dropping Journey: 03/18/13

Round Two!

Here we are again. Same thing all over. Back down in Santa Barbara CA trying to be cleared for surgery. I say 'trying' because believe it or not I woke up with a swollen throat two days ago on Saturday- a what?! A swollen throat?!! Totally. Freaked the crap right outta me. Last time we came down in January to have surgery..I got sick 5 days prior to surgery. So not a good idea. I felt absolutely fine when it came time for the Dr appointments, but when the Dr checked my nose it was too congested for surgery. Come to find out I am allergic to EVERYTHING. Yay me! (Check out my earlier posts) So for the past 2 months I have been working on taking care of my allergies and keeping my dang nose as clear as possible. And for the past couple weeks my nose has been clear and my breathing great! Then BAM!- 4 days before surgery, swollen throat. This feels like dejavu.

It was quite an emotional day for multiple reasons and tears were shed- tears bring mucus, congestion, soreness and sinus headaches to say the least.. let's just say I am a HOT MESS when I cry. I snot all over the place and it aint pretty! So with that being said, congestion is back! Worrying that surgery will again be postponed is back! Ay yi yi, did I mention this feels like dejavu?

Today we made it past hurdle one! Can I get a whoop whoop?! My appointment today was with the oral surgeon. He needed to check me and make sure everything was good and healthy for surgery. Then he needed to do A BUNCH of measurements.

We are thinking that my swollen throat is due to allergies because there is no sickness associated with it. At least that we know of. No fever, no shakes, no body aches, no soreness when I swallow- NOTHING. I feel completely normal. My throat was swollen for about a day and a half. It is back to normal now.

Tomorrow I do my pre-admittance to the hospital then hop, skip and jump next door for a physical exam (hurdle #2) and more blood draws and tests to make sure I am not sick and I am good for surgery. We are praying that all goes well with that appointment. This will be the doctor to tell if I have a virus/bacteria in my body without symptoms. If so, no surgery on Wednesday. If all clear, then great, but we still have to test my blood platelets to make sure it's not too thin for surgery. Normally they wouldn't be worried about this, but when I woke up with a swollen throat, naturally, I took precautions to fight off any infection that might be coming by taking a lot of garlic in two different forms.. anti-plague and garlic pills. Garlic is a natural infection fighter and immune booster. Anti-plague is, well, the most heinous, fowl, awful, potent, concentrated, disgustingly disturbing liquid that makes you want to puke your brains out and punch a hole in the wall all at the same time. GREAT for you. But your tastebuds will beg to differ. Garlic thins the blood and puts you at a higher risk of bleeding too much during surgery. (Disclaimer- I did not know this prior to taking garlic!) So thats why they will test my blood platelets- to see if they are well enough for surgery or not <- Hurdle #3.

Today Dr Arnett and his assistant Rene went over every tiny thing in detail. The post-op hospital care and night stay, the post-op home care and the surgery. I am not about to type out everything that all that entails. I'll put it to you this way.. We were at the Dr office from 8am to 230pm.. doing nothing but measuring my face, taking pictures and xrays and going over the details of home care and the surgery. It is quite an extensive surgery- 6 hours! Yikes. We heard some good news and some bad news, some comforting news and some frightening news. Good news- they don't think I am sick. Bad news- our payments are no where near the end. No. Where. Near. :( Comforting news- Dr has done about 4,000 reconstructive jaw surgeries. He is a perfectionist. He does not allow talking in the operating room and is very focused. Frightening news- there is no room for Dr to cut along the nerve and because it is so thin the stretching of the new placement could tear the nerve completely in half. If so, I will lose all feeling in my chin and bottom lip. There is a possibility SOME feeling could come back years later. Terrifying.

But ya know what? It's okay. If that were to happen, it would suck big time, but I'll take that over what I've got now any day! And I'll deal with it. If there is one thing I've learned from all this, it's to close my eyes and leap! Trust in the Lord 100% and jump into whatever lies ahead blindly. Not a fun ride if you ask me- I'd rather be at Six Flagg's roller coaster park for sure, but how do we become a better person and progress spiritually if we don't let ourselves learn from the bad in life? If I didn't have the Lord to turn to in times like these I may have been dead by now! I know that He sees the bigger picture and is shaping me and my life into something greater. If I do not trust Him and let Him shape me and my life, then I will never reach my full potential. I firmly believe that this physical trial I am going through is actually a mental and spiritual test. And as odd as that sounds, if I let the Lord into my life and help me through this I know it will all be all right. I will feel better. Be a better person. And I will have grown and learned so much. Don't we all want to progress in our life? Become a better person? Learn and have more knowledge and clearer understanding of things?

I can't wait until I can put all this behind me!!! That's the understatement of the century! In the meantime, here are some pictures to keep you entertained: