OS follow up 23 days post op

My Monday check up with the surgeons went well. The entire visit was over in 10 minutes. In short, they were both very pleased with my results, smiled at me a lot, and told me to come back when my braces were off, for a final x-ray and photo. OS even said with a warm grin, "Lady, you're healed." ( he said lady in a pleasant tone, not that middle school slang tone)

I was rather surprised.

When I mentioned that my OD thought there was condoyle sag, my attending OS laughed slightly, and asked the chief resident who assisted the surgery to come check out my bite. Right on. Midline? Right on. Next, they reviewed all my x-rays. Again, right on. I was delighted! I reminded myself how far my jaws & teeth have moved thus far, and even if every tooth wasn't perfect, my current smile is a huge improvement.

There's still some tweaking to do for sure.

A funny moment occurred while looking at the x-rays. The attending reminded me how much tooth I used to show when my lips were at rest. He said the normal range is between 2-3 mm or something. I interrupted him to show off I knew my own measurements, that I had shown 7 mm. Well, he laughed and said more like 157 mm! Humor seem much more appropriate now that the surgery is behind me.

At the end of my extraordinarily brief appointment, I wanted to hug both men (and find the other 2 lady surgeons who cared for me in the hospital). Alas, the clinic was busy. I settled for a handshake. All the appointments, and the fretting, and the blood work, and the drug effects, and late night calls to the dr...all of it seemed over too soon.

This is a huge generalization, okay, but since both of my performing surgeons are men, and both are well, surgeons, they weren't too big on the whole touchy feely aspect of me processing the experience. :) Oh, I wanted to tell them all about it, but I could tell they didn't really want to hear. They've likely heard it before.

The attending did tell me I was too critical of myself (I already know that sir!) and reiterated how pleased he was with the surgery. The resident didn't say much - he leaned in close to measure my new upper lip angle, checked out my jawline scarring, told me that would go away in a bout 3 months, and smiled at me really big! With their combined positive energy, I left the hospital on cloud nine.

Of course, once I was in my car driving the 100 miles home, I thought of all the questions I had intended to ask. The only advice given was to be sure not to chew until I was 6 weeks out. I am to call if I have any concerns, but otherwise, the attending surgeon didn't think seeing me biweekly would do much good. Who knew I could feel so relaxed in the hospital again? Just walking down the hallways at previous appointments had shaken my confidence.

I've been pondering how best to say thank you. How does sending a large box of citrus to the office sound?