Surgical Hooks in Place

I liked telling people I was getting my surgical hooks placed. They sound gruesome – surgical hooks. Yeah, that's right. They come with a wooden leg and an eye patch. They're placed with rusty pliers by the girl from the movie, The Grudge. Do I sound tough yet? If so, scroll down to the picture of me to undo that image.

Wires, No Elastics

So with one week to go before jaw dismantling surgery, they remove the elastics and use wires to hold everything in place. I love that Janine was apologetic about my not being able to pick out colors. Honestly, colored elastics are the last thing on my mind. Dried blood and sutures are really all I can picture right now. But, she was cool for putting in all the wires and letting me take the picture below which I LOVE. I also (quickly) played them like a musical instrument. (If they let you, take a chance to do that. WORTH IT.)

Surgical Hooks

So the hooks are these little tabs with an open groove at the bottom. She placed one on the wire then used pliers to squeeze the grove closed, locking it in place. She did this all the way around the top and bottom. These hooks will be used to secure my jaws together after surgery (with strong rubber bands).

I'd heard it was painful getting them placed. I was nervous because I didn't get a chance to eat before I went in and was afraid I'd be sore after. But it wasn't bad at all. There was a little pressure as she squeezed the hook closed to lock it in place, but nothing bad.

I also heard that they are bad for eating, brushing, etc. I'll let you know. So far I haven't even whipped out the old wax again. We'll see. I like them because they look like little antennae on my braces (and they help me hear the voices that tell me what do.)

More Importantly... Television

As you probably picked up, a major part of pre-op is selecting the entertainment for when you're recuperating. Obvious choices: Big Brother, Love in the Wild, Design Star. However, I'm branching out! I watched two episodes of True Blood on the way home from Hawaii (to wet my whistle). I was sitting next to a very nice older couple. Mental note: Don't watch an HBO show on a plane. Jump cut to: NAKED PEOPLE. I almost peed. All I could think was, "She things I'm watching porn on a plane." Sorry old lady. My bad.

Heather (who schedules my orthodontic appointments) has urged me to consider Downton Abbey in my convalescent television line-up. I thought it seemed too stuffy, but she promises "scandal." Ok I'm in. 

Follow-Up on the Picture

A couple posts ago, I put up the picture which I sent to my orthodontist of me pretending to forcibly bite down on a macadamia nut. Just so you know, he is an excellent orthodontist, but does not generally seem to appreciate my extreme cleverness stress-induced hijinks. He mentioned the photo and simply said, "Thank you for thinking of us." I'm not sure what he had to clench hard enough to get that out instead of what he really wanted to say. But that's why I like him. Have I mentioned he's a really good orthodontist? : )