Fall/Early Winter 2016 Surgery Buddies

[tdhenson86]

Hey, everyone! I'll be having double jaw surgery and genioplasty in November. So, I wanted to start a thread for those who will be having fall/early winter surgeries...

[kpw818]

Beat me to it

Surgery scheduled for October 18th. I will officially be a potato head for Halloween but hopefully healed up relatively well for visiting my BFs family for Christmas.

Will be getting double jaw, lefort 1 3 piece and bsso for underbite/crossbite.

Nervous and excited! Fall seems like a bleh time for surgery--I am totally going to miss out on some food for Thanksgiving

[pantlover]

10/20 is the big day for me! I'll be Sloth from the Goonies for Halloween

[littlebird]

Hope you guys don't mind that I'm going to jump on the Fall/Early Winter 2016 bandwagon even though my surgery is next Monday 9/12--I'll blaze the way for you guys lol. I'm having a Lefort I, BSSO, and sliding genio. I'll be wired/banded shut for Halloween as well, so I was thinking I'd be the female version of Billy Butcherson from Hocus Pocus...looking a bit skeletal, and mouth basically sewn shut.

[kpw818]

10/20 is the big day for me! I'll be Sloth from the Goonies for Halloween

Same week!

I'm wondering if should just celebrate Halloween the week before by eating a lot of candy I am asking my BF to carve pumpkins with me, but I figure I may be okay to do that post-surgery.

[littlebird]

Hey guys, wanted to give an update--my surgeon called me earlier today and said there's an issue with my insurance pre-approval. Basically, I have a letter from insurance saying that the Lefort and BSSO are approved, but now insurance is saying that the Lefort is not approved. It's a total debacle; I went to their office today (fortuitously, their headquarters office is one town over from where I live) but they were closed already...I slightly accosted someone in the parking lot to ask what to do, and they recommended coming back tomorrow morning to plead my case. In a nutshell, they need to re-do their approval by close of business tomorrow since surgery is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. 9/12. And if they don't, surgery is off.

Sooo my recommendation to you all is to call your insurance company well in advance of your surgery date, even if you have pre-approval paperwork, and MAKE SURE that all is well. Don't be like me--totally unaware of a huge issue, crying in my cubicle at work because that's where I was when my surgeon called me with the news, accosting random insurance workers, and downing a few glasses of wine to cope.

Ok sorry for the rant/sob story. On to other things...kpw818, you asked me in a different thread if I had tried some recipes in advance of surgery. Indeed I have, because last summer I was on a liquids-only diet because I wound up with a partially fractured jaw after wisdom tooth extraction (yes, I have terrible luck, though I wasn't wired shut for that one since it was only a partial fracture). I survived that whole ordeal on blended egg drop soup, Orgain protein drink (chocolate fudge high protein), banana and peanut butter smoothies (add some oatmeal for fiber), and blended chicken pot pie (looked gross, but was pretty good). I also made a ton of blended soups ahead of time and froze them in individual serving packages. Super helpful since the last thing I felt like doing was cooking. I can post recipes if anyone is interested!

[littlebird]

Well here's an update on my insurance situation. Due to multiple clerical errors by insurance and surgeon's office, the upper jaw and genio portions of my pre-approval package were deemed not medically necessary. I just found out a few hours ago. We are going to appeal, it makes not sense for those to be denied when the lower jaw was approved back in May.

Surgery tentatively rescheduled for Oct. 17. Going to see if ortho can remove some of the surgical hooks because they're creating ulcers even with wax on, and I can't handle that for another 5 weeks.

Anyone else run into an issue like this?

[pantlover]

gah, littlebird, i'm sorry about your insurance situation. it's so hard from being in the mindset that surgery is going to happen on a certain day and mentally preparing for that big day only to find out last minute that it won't.

i'm no insurance expert so I can't offer too much advice on that front but the surgeon/front office probably are. hopefully they can work with your insurance company and get the ball rolling for you. keep us posted!

[Eranthe]

Hi everyone, I thought I might jump into the Fall/Early Winter surgery buddies group, even though it will technically be summer here in Australia when I have my surgery on 10th October.

This surgery will actually be a revision Le Fort 1. You can read my whole sorry story in another post here, but basically I had my bi-max one year ago, and when they reposititioned my maxilla, they put it back on 4-5mm off to the left ... so, unfortunately this means a redo of the top jaw. It's really hard to get my head around going through this all again ... once was enough ... so I could definitely use some support this time around. It would be nice to have a little group going through the same kinda thing to have a whinge to. Cheers.

[kpw818]

Well here's an update on my insurance situation. Due to multiple clerical errors by insurance and surgeon's office, the upper jaw and genio portions of my pre-approval package were deemed not medically necessary. I just found out a few hours ago. We are going to appeal, it makes not sense for those to be denied when the lower jaw was approved back in May.

Surgery tentatively rescheduled for Oct. 17. Going to see if ortho can remove some of the surgical hooks because they're creating ulcers even with wax on, and I can't handle that for another 5 weeks.

Anyone else run into an issue like this?

Sorry to hear that. I'm seeing my surgeon today, so maybe I double check on insurance while I am there.

Thanks for the response on trying blended foods. Blended egg drop soup sounds delicious!

[littlebird]

Eranthe, I wish you the best with your revision surgery!! I hope it all goes smoothly for you and you can put it all behind you.

kpw818, you're welcome for the soup idea; I bet blended pho (the broth, noodles, and a little chicken) is pretty good, too, but I haven't tried it yet myself. Little tip for any blended foods--peas give it a mealy texture, which I personally didn't care for. Onions should be used in moderation if you're going to blend a soup that isn't normally blended, or switch to shallots, which are milder.

Here's the latest on my insurance debacle...guess what showed up on the fax machine at the surgeon's office at 10:18 a.m. on Monday (9/12, what was supposed to be my surgery day). The insurance approval for upper jaw (genio was denied as cosmetic, but I'm appealing)! While I'm thrilled to now have insurance approvals for both upper and lower jaws, I'm still very upset that the surgery had to be cancelled because of paperwork issues that no one bothered to tell me about (unbeknownst to me, surgeon's office submitted a second pre-approval package less than a month before original surgery date; insurance expedited it but it was one business day too late).

The new surgery date of Oct. 17 has now been changed to November 7 because the OR wasn't available on the 17th, so now I have to wait 2 months. I'm terrified that something else is going to happen and the surgery will be cancelled again, because this surgery has to happen in 2016 otherwise I have to start the pre-approval process again (pre-approvals expire at the end of the calendar year). Surgeon only does surgeries on Mondays, so there isn't much wiggle room if we need to reschedule again. These ups and downs have taken a huge emotional toll on me; I'm trying to remain positive but what happens if the surgery is delayed to 2017 and my insurance decides to not approve the surgery? I can't afford to pay out of pocket.

Sorry for the lengthy post; I hope all is going well for the rest of my Fall/Early Winter buddies!

[buttersnacks]

I have a lower jaw surgery to correct an overbite scheduled for 12/1. This is my first surgery ever. Some of the realities of that sunk in while I was writing this post, and now I'm a little terrified.

[littlebird]

I have a lower jaw surgery to correct an overbite scheduled for 12/1. This is my first surgery ever. Some of the realities of that sunk in while I was writing this post, and now I'm a little terrified.

Hi buttersnacks, I totally understand your anxiety. Try to focus on the benefits of having the surgery, and, as my friend who is a nurse says, "trust in the medicine." Hang in there!

[kpw818]

Eranthe, I wish you the best with your revision surgery!! I hope it all goes smoothly for you and you can put it all behind you.

kpw818, you're welcome for the soup idea; I bet blended pho (the broth, noodles, and a little chicken) is pretty good, too, but I haven't tried it yet myself. Little tip for any blended foods--peas give it a mealy texture, which I personally didn't care for. Onions should be used in moderation if you're going to blend a soup that isn't normally blended, or switch to shallots, which are milder.

Here's the latest on my insurance debacle...guess what showed up on the fax machine at the surgeon's office at 10:18 a.m. on Monday (9/12, what was supposed to be my surgery day). The insurance approval for upper jaw (genio was denied as cosmetic, but I'm appealing)! While I'm thrilled to now have insurance approvals for both upper and lower jaws, I'm still very upset that the surgery had to be cancelled because of paperwork issues that no one bothered to tell me about (unbeknownst to me, surgeon's office submitted a second pre-approval package less than a month before original surgery date; insurance expedited it but it was one business day too late).

The new surgery date of Oct. 17 has now been changed to November 7 because the OR wasn't available on the 17th, so now I have to wait 2 months. I'm terrified that something else is going to happen and the surgery will be cancelled again, because this surgery has to happen in 2016 otherwise I have to start the pre-approval process again (pre-approvals expire at the end of the calendar year). Surgeon only does surgeries on Mondays, so there isn't much wiggle room if we need to reschedule again. These ups and downs have taken a huge emotional toll on me; I'm trying to remain positive but what happens if the surgery is delayed to 2017 and my insurance decides to not approve the surgery? I can't afford to pay out of pocket.

Sorry for the lengthy post; I hope all is going well for the rest of my Fall/Early Winter buddies!

Thanks for the soup info! Oh my gosh pho would be good too. Yum. Thanks for the ideas!

Sorry you are having some crazy times with your insurance and surgery scheduling. My surgery was tentatively scheduled with a different surgeon in April, and now its happening in October. I switched jobs and insurance carries, but my initial insurance denied twice, so I think it all worked out.

I can understand being worried about something else happening--I would say it sounds like you are pretty set at this point. What insurance company do you have? My window was through the end of November, so I know they can give some small timelines for a surgeon to work with.

[pantlover]

hey everyone, so i went to go see my surgeon for my pre op consultation where they took a bunch of measurements, molds, and i got to speak with the surgeon about any questions I had. It's a little weird having a professional look at your face and tell you everything that is wrong with it. My face is wrecked!

The game plan: Double jaw surgery moving the upper jaw forward and lower jaw back to fix the underbite. Then rotating the lower jaw to fix some asymmetry. Because moving the lower jaw back may give me a weaker chin, he may decide to do a genioplasty in the OR if he deems it necessary. In addition, because i have a VERY flat midface, we are also going with cheek implants to compliment the upper jaw being moved forward as well. The kicker, is that because of my nose structure (or lack thereof), my surgeon mentioned to me that I may/will probably end up with a "piggy" like nose after the upper jaw is moved forward. Which was devastating to me because that is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Although he did say that he was going to try his best to minimize that effect. I really do trust him and his abilities so maybe it will still work out.

When I went to go see him last year for my initial consultation, he briefly mentioned that I could probably get away with just an upper jaw surgery and nothing else without mention of the piggy nose. Now that surgery is a month away, and I know what to expect, I'm a little less optimistic about everything. Kinda just feel like I've been in a funk ever since speaking to him. I honestly do appreciate him being completely honest with me though. I am now going into the surgery with much lower expectations and less optimism about the results, but maybe that's better than expecting perfection and being disappointed.

Anyway, sorry for my rant and pessimism! I wanted to wish everyone else good luck on their surgeries! Does anyone else know their surgery plan? Hopefully yours is a lot less complicated than mine!