Surgery Day

On Tuesday I went to get my physical examination done, and then went to the hospital for the pre-admit. Thereafter I went back to the Surgeon's office to go over again the procedures and to clear any final questions I might have. I spent about an hour in the Surgeon's office before everything was finalized and good to go.

When I was at the hospital for the blood test and urine analysis, I met my nurse that would be taking care of me. She's a sweetheart, we talked about our pets and that was nice. It was her way of creating a relationship or a bond with her patients. I noticed all of the nurses and medical staff here doing that.

On Wednesday, I won't be doing anything, that's my free day. I went to look at some orchid farms with my mom. It was a gloomy morning but warmed up later in the day. Around 5:00 PM, the family went to dinner since I'm not able to eat anything after 6:00PM. I cannot have liquids after 12:00AM. I'm going to have a catheter in one nostril leading down to my lungs for air, another will be placed in my wrist to monitor blood pressure, and finally one up to my bladder ...I don't think I need to explain why. I'm having a upper multi-segment maxilla, and a bisagittal split of the lower mandible. After surgery I'll have a morphine drip at my disposal using however much I want every 10 mins. I'll also have an oxygen mask for air.

I also will have a suction tube to suck all of the puss and blood and saliva in my mouth. I'll be on elastics instead of having my mouth wired shut but I just have to be careful not to balloon my cheeks so that I don't tear the incisions made during surgery.

I'll have a small patch placed on the side of my ear to help reduce the nausea I would feel after waking up from the surgery. The anethesiaologist will start me on an IV before going into the operation room. He said I won't remember much until 15-20 mins after being in the recovery room.

I have to be there at 6:00Am tomorrow, my surgery is schedule for 7:15Am and should be over around 1 - 2 PM. I'll be there for overnight observation and will be taking ensure for liquids.

I can't wait to get this over with and move on with me life. I'm excited for the most part and a bit nervous, but to think what they are doing to my jaw is pretty cool. I checked out some youtube videos of other people's jaw surgery and thought that was pretty neat. Amazing what healthy bone looks like. It's a pure white. Beautiful. I'm interested to see what the new face will look like and looking forward to being able to eat food properly for the first time in my life. I think it will also get rid of my headaches as well.

Anyhow...goodnight folks. See you after surgery! Wish me luck!!

Pre-OP Consult

I met the Surgeon today, long day of pre-op stuff. Took some x-rays, pretty cool images if I may add. But its a 6.5 hour long surgery, the surgeon's gonna make some changes, not sure if we are comfortable with it all so we're gonna see him again tomorrow.

I'm going in at 6:00AM on Thursday, and then have surgery on 7:15AM. Thereafter, I'll have a morphine drip, and tubes for sucking saliva. Then I'll stay in Santa Barbara for 10 days to have the doctor to check up on me. I'll have titanium brackets to hold my bones together. As of right now my upper and lower jaw will be cut and moved forward. Also have some cheek augmintation.

Santa Barbara is a nice place, very beautiful!

Maybe a bent bracket....

I'm not sure but I' think I'm gonna go in and visit my ortho before next week, I'm no expert or anything but I think my bracket might be a little bent, I'm kind of concerned so I think it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll just pop on by tomorrow for a quick, ok, if it's nothing.

I'll admit being a little sensitive to the whole braces thing, specially having a few that have broke on me and I certainly don't want any broken one after surgery, because it would just be painful to replace.

Anyhow, I've been reading this book called "Stealing Buddha's Dinner", interesting book, reminds me alot of my childhood but I have to say, there's alot of food in that book, from page to page non stop.

Speaking of food, today's dinner:
- Fried Spiced fish with fish sauce
- White Rice
- Boiled cabage
- Fried Tofu

Boy am I gonna miss my mom's cooking after surgery...!!!!

One more week...

One more week till Surgery, I meet my Orthodontist tomorrow and then I see the surgeon on Monday for a final check up before Jaw Surgery. So I have some butterflies but for the most part not really thinking of it. More of can't wait to get it over and start the recovery process and making sure I take care of it really well for 16 weeks. Also I'm curious to how much weight I will actually lose, I hope not so much.

I plan on lots of protein drinks and smoothies. I think I'm gonna get creative. First, I'm gonna start out simple, blend some apple, oranges, pineapple, strawberries and bananas. Next, I'm probablly gonna be craving for something with meat, so I'm probablly gonna blend a Whopper or Big Mac or something....I can't imagine how that will taste. Next I'll probably go with the blended chicken, maybe some mozarella cheese to go with that and then probably add a little green onions to give it some flavor. Thereafter I'll probably want to fish, so I heard salmon was high in Omega 3 and mercury so I'll have to try that.

Next, I'm not sure, depends how all my above blends go, I'll either stick with the simple fruit blend or continue making more delicious meat blends.

Today's Food:
Noodle with vietnamese version hot dog meat with lettuce and green onions.

eeeeekkkk....!!!!

eeeeeekkkk....I haven't blog in a few days....no excuse really except for being lazy. As of today I have 15 days till surgery. Wow this summer is going by fast. I still need to progress on my research and reading....I'm slacking- I'll admit to that!

The weather in Cali, has been pretty chilled, not hot one bit, if anything it's quite the opposite. Many cloudy days, I'm not quite use to that for Cali. Anywho, today was another vietnamese cuisine, and a mild day. Just working on my research today.

We just got a fountain, it's pretty neat, one of those that you put in your back yard. Speaking of backyard, I probably should post new pictures on the web. Oh and tomorrow I have to go renew my driver's license.

Today's Food:
- White Rice w/ soup consist of totmatoes, orcas, herbs, fish, and spices I don't know of. Along with beans cooked with sliced beef and fried catfish....Yummy!!!!

Blood Donation Day

Today I gave blood - to myself of course. It was a 2 hour drive to the blood center. I got there early. I was happy....but not for long. The procedures were standard, five questions, a quick anemic test and iron level check. Then onto the chair squeezing a sponge with a 16 gauge needle poked into my left arm. It was interesting to see actually, but about half way through the bag, the machine started beeping, the nurse comes over and says "It's slowing down." Uh...Ok...so for the next 15 to 30 mins they continue to push the needle deeper in....someone say "Ouch". So after all that work and still not being able to get blood to flow, they told me I had to come back. I asked, "Can you guys do my other arm." After another 15 mins, they checked with the doctor and they were given the go ahead, before I knew it, I had a whole pint full. So when all was said and done, I have two bruises on each arm...a small price to pay for jaw surgery. Next stop...a trip to the dentist for teeth cleaning...I always love the paste they give me.

Another typical day. Good weather, blue skies, a beautiful day
in California.

Today's Food (Vietnamese Cuisine):
- Banh Cuon (check the link) : Vietnamese Rolled Cake

- Cơm tấm (check the link): Vietnamese Rice Cuisine