Pre-Surgery

At this stage I expected my surgeon to take the lead, informing me of process, guiding through and keeping open communication.  That was not the case at all.  Being a teaching hospital, UCSF operates much differently than private practice.  Essentially lacking in business skills.  The main phone system is a mess that leads to a dead end.  The office manager doesn't pick up her phone or return calls.  Trying to set this up and coordinate between a dentist, orthodontist and surgeon keeping in mind personal plans, travel arrangements, not to mention work projects was quite frustrating.  Surgery is only every other week and regular appointments on the alternating week, a very narrow window of opportunity.  Making matters worse, I was told the date wouldn't be confirmed until insurance approval went through, 6 weeks after my follow up consultation.  Basically they wouldn't speak to me until I had the pre-op appointment.  I did my best to schedule a tentative date while  making it clear that I needed more than a week's advance notice on the operation and was not willing to let my treatment plan slip due to scheduling missteps.  I had heard horror stories of treatments being delayed 3 months and having difficulty scheduling followup appointments and getting insurance approvals.  After much persistence I finally found the right approach and began making headway with key contacts.


Follow Up Surgical Consultation - May 18, 2015  

At this appointment I was seen in promptly at 9am and was out by 9:30am.  Dr Best looked at my teeth and new molds taken by my orthodontist the week prior.  He walked me through details of the the timeline and process and gave the okay.  I followed up immediately to ensure the insurance submittal went through and scheduled my follow up dental cleaning and orthodontial pre-surgical appointment anticipating the surgery date.  I don't know if it was my hounding or if I was overly worried about the process taking too long, but within two weeks it was signed off and the office contacted me to confirm.  I am on the calendar for June 22nd, Week 38 of braces.


Pre-Surgery Appointment - June 15, 2015

One week in advance the surgical team meets to review and practice the operation.  My final orthodontial appointment was the day before.  All movement is paused until after, this was only to place the surgical hooks which will be used to stabilize my jaw while banded shut.  All of my brackets have hooks built in already, the only additional hooks necessary are in between the incisors.  They are big and catch on my lip, but at this point I don't really care as I will soon have bigger problems to deal with.  Another twist - Dr Good is pregnant and will be on maternity leave in July and August.  I am glad she has been able to see me through leading up to surgery.  My follow up appointment and re-starting braces will be with a stand-in, which is a little disappointing.  At least she will get to see better results in September.  Hopefully by then I will be very close to braces off for the finished product.

Back to the surgical appointment, it took ages.  3 hours, most of which were sitting waiting for the staff to do something.  All very stressful on the heels of navigating my two weeks off work, only to continue to have numerous post-op appointments before full recovery.  Once again enforcing the fact that this is a huge time commitment and that some things can't be rushed.  In the end I had a CT scan, current photos, current molds and and any last questions answered.   Aside from the dysfunction of the office, Dr Best is capable and knows his trade.  I have full confidence all will go well.

10 month progress photos, hooks and all, two days before surgery... can't believe it's here.