! Re: worst nightmare come true, surgery redo

[Guest guest]

,

First of all, good luck finding a surgeon who will admit they made a

mistake. Mine surely did ... kept telling me he fixes your bone

structure and that the ortho aligns the teeth. He did a beautiful

surgerical job on my bite, but miscalculated how much the teeth could

be moved over postop. Now talking to my dentist, he explained that

the ortho has key role in working with the surgeon to

determine " numbers " so I feel they both somehow lost communication on

my case and it just sucked! Yes, I said it!

You ask a key question about whether to go to your current surgeon

for a redo. I had voiced here that my biggest decision wasn't

whether I should get another surgery, I had already decided that. It

was whether I was going to the original surgeon again. I couldn't

make that decision alone. Since my dentist started this whole mess

and was the one who referred me to the original ortho/surgeon team as

well as had orthognathic surgery himself many years before, I valued

his opinion. After getting second unbiased opinions from other

surgeons and orthos, I returned to my dentist. I asked him what he

thought and he gave me the old " I wouldn't think of sending you to

anyone else " . I thought there were pros and cons going either way.

Going back to the surgeon who knows his original work, or starting

fresh with a stranger (as I don't know anyone locally who's had

orthognathic surgery that could refer me to someone).

Since my second surgical opinions all confirmed I had an awesome

bite, and that there was no evidence of malpractice and that it was

purely a cosmetic issue, I decided to return to the original

surgeon. Yes, either he or the ortho screwed up in terms of numbers

and how much to align a midline ... no small thing I know ... but

since my jaws and bite appeared great after having such an awful open

bite preop, my decision was to return to him. It was a VERY

difficult decision.

I wish I could tell you what to do about picking which surgeon to do

additional surgery. It's a personal decision. I won't know until

(if) all the numbness wears off and if the clicking/popping I'm

hearing goes away whether I made the right choice myself. One thing

you have as an advantage is a surgeon who seems honest with you,

describing what happened with the measurement thingy. Many surgeons

won't admit anything for fear of malpractice, etc.

Some things to consider:

Cost. If your surgeon admits there was an issue with measurements

for you, she should go the extra mile with the insurance company to

get them to cover additional surgery expenses or she should eat the

expenses herself. My surgeon did that for me.

Emotions. You will experience ups and downs. Anticipating the

second surgery will not have the " high " of getting it over with. I

found it a bit harder to approach the OR the second time around.

Kinda like childbirth -- the first time you really don't know what to

expect, the second time " Look out! " However, healing was easier

after week 2, so that's good news! As you are already doing, I

developed a small anxiety problem anticipating Surgery 2. I wish I

had spoken to my surgeon earlier about it, but simply toughed it out

preop. Well! After surgery, the anxiety wouldn't leave, and he gave

me a small prescription for Ativan, basically a nice serious

sedative. Because of it, I slept like a dream and I think that

helped with speedier healing. Do not be afraid to ask for something

to calm you through this! If it makes you feel better, the surgeon

gave me 10 Ativan before I left the hospital postop Surgery 2 ... I

still have 6 left. You will be fine.

And lastly, you are now given carte blanche to say any curse words

you want to your surgeon post op ... my surgeon is an adorable young

man, very easy on the eyes, soft spoken, the works. And imagine my

surprise when I was wheeled into the OR and he's there to meet me,

with short sleeved medical garb on and I see these TERRIFIC chiseled,

weight-lifted arms ... anyway ... about Day 3 postop I had a

particularly bad night with nausea and after my husband and he talked

on the phone for like 20 MINUTES, I grabbed the phone and told him I

needed some " F***ING HELP! " NO LIE! You all didn't know that about

Irish! did you? Second surgeries have their privileges. Somehow

it's a bit of a payback when you can curse at your surgeon.

We can chat later. Take a few days to calm down. I know it seems

awful but I hope this post brings you a bit of cheer. You're not

alone out there.

Irish!

> > > Oh my God! My surgeon said the words I have feared the most!

> She

> > > admitted that my maxilla was brought forward to far and that I

> need

> > > to have the surgery redone. I am still in shock. All the

posts

> I

> > > have read here of people having surgery redone and I thought

> surely

> > > all the problems I have had could be fixed orthodontically.

> Well,

> > it

> > > ain't so. They advanced me too much and now the lower and

upper

> > are

> > > not matching, despite all the elastics pulling on the teeth.

My

> > chin

> > > needs to be done too. I am on Zanax and I'm still a nervous

> > wreck.

> > > I cannot believe this. , HELP!!!!!