Blogging update Spotty posting for the next couple of days. The ArchaeoWife is in the hospital for surgery (elective, nothing wrong), so I'm kind of hanging out in the waiting room. Yay wireless! Of course, it's an unsecured network so I shan't be checking my investment accounts. . . .
It's called a Mandibular, sagittal split osteotomies. What they do is break the lower jaw (mandible), move it forward a bit to align the teeth and then bolt it in place. Not trivial surgery, but it's mostly done for cosmetic purposes so it's a very common procedure. She has some misalignment that is producing differential wear which will eventually have consequences.
It's a little nervewracking -- all surgery comes with risk -- but since it's not some sort of life-threatening condition I am able to blog and stuff while waiting.
Still, a few good thoughts and/or prayers would be appreciated. You know, just in case.
UPDATE: Surgery's done, everything went fine. Yay!
UPDATE II: Still waiting for recovery to end. Dealing here in the waiting room with a woman who is talking LOUDLY on her cell phone. I made a few phone calls but I don't think I talk that loud. Maybe some people just talk loudly, but YOU DON'T HAVE TO TALK LOUDLY ON A CELL PHONE.
I'd heard that the reason people talk so loud on the damn things is that cells don't have the speaker's voice feedback into their own earpiece so you have no aural cues about how loudly you're talking.
Wish I'd brought the camera. Not only so that I could take Before and After photos, but so I could photograph the building across the street. (Note: There's a beagle in the room!) It's the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation and it looks like a bomb shelter. Looks kind of art deco actually. It's faced by some form of reddish matamorphic stone. The front has a lot of window space, but the north side is one big windowless wall.
The beagle is now sitting quietly next to its owner. Cute little guy.
And I'm starving. I imagine I could find some Jell-O around here. . . . .
UPDATE III: The patient is now at home resting miserably. Apparently, not all went perfectly well; the left side didn't break the way it should and now she has to be wired shut with rubber bands for two weeks instead of two days so it heals properly. And there's still a chance it may have to be redone in 6 months (though just that one side). She's still all swelled up -- I keep telling her now she knows what she'd look like if she gained a hundred pounds! -- but the pain has gone down from a 6-7 (of 10) to 2-3. Might not even need the heavy duty painkillers, which is good because her stomach's not in the best of shape. But she's drinking and "eating" etc., so she's on the way back.
I'll probably do some more posting this evening when the patient is resting a bit more comfortably.