Yesterday I received a letter from The Royal Surrey about having hooks attached between all my teeth ahead of my surgery. Whilst I gagged at the thought of being all hook mouthed, (THIS IS PRECISELY WHY I DON'T EAT FISH), I realised I hadn't updated here for a while and that actually quite a lot has happened in the past two months.

There's quite a lot of good news actually. The best news is that my surgery (maxillary Le Fort I osteotomy and mandibular bilateral sagittal split osteotomy) will be done on the NHS. Because of various NHS cuts and my age (I'm old, apparently) it was looking unlikely that I would qualify, but then things got bad. And then they got worse. And then I made the grade :D

But better than that is that my private surgeon (the super duper superhero, world class, oh-my-god can I marry you please? surgeon) will be performing the operation. There are no words for how lucky I am to be getting this guy to do my op, and I am truly grateful that he pities me as much as he does. It makes me cry every time I see him. I am an arse. But yes, whilst I am gutted it took this long to meet NICE guidelines to have my surgery done with NHS funding, I am obviously pleased that this has worked out in the end.

And not only that, but I am actually booked in for the surgery too. It will be in January 2012. I often tell people this and they think that's an insanely long way away but it has to be as my braces need time to "level and align the dental arches relative to their skeletal bases ahead of surgical alignment". Check me with my medical lingo. It's actually quite nice to have it in January though too, I can fatten up over Christmas then get wired shut and lose a bunch of weight ahead of Fashion Week in February. I'm hoping to be recovered enough to be out the house by February, because I ain't missing LFW shiz for nobody. I don't care if I'm still doing sign language and eating by syringe. I WILL BE THERE.

Pain wise? I am still in a considerable amount of pain (woooheee) but I am getting better at living with it now that I know the surgery isn't too far away. My drugs are *amazing* and whilst it has taken bloody years to get the right mix of pain relief and relief from the side effects of said pain relief, I do believe I've got the winning cocktail now. It's far from perfect, but I'm not planning my early demise any more. I never forget to take my tablets, because I know what happens when I do, so that's rarely proving to be a problem. I'm supposed to be Ms Sober for the next year or so but gin does still play a part in my life. I'm just a weird slutty/sleepy drunk now, which is not always a bad thing.

My ears are still annoying and I'm pretty dizzy (seriously, if you want to see me stack it then ask me to navigate a spiral staircase) but that should all settle down once the jaw is happier.  

I've been referred to the pain management clinic at the hospital now so I'm excited to see how they can help further with physio therapy, CBT, botox (really) and so on.

I'm pretty damn happy to be honest though! Largely that's because my family and friends have been tremendous and because I've completely redressed the way I approach my work/play/rest balance. I don't work on any projects that don't meet the "Is this fucking awesome?" criteria and this has transformed everything beyond words. No idea why I didn't do that sooner. Stupid how you often wait til you're sick to get your priorities straight. There's far more play now. So much more play. And whilst it can be very tiring on my pathetic face it's so worth it. SO WORTH IT. 

Yeah, my braces are fugly, but it's all a much bigger picture. Yes, I'm fully aware that the surgery may not actually solve this shit, but they can't do anything else until they've addressed the main underlying mechanical problem. I am excited. Very, very excited. 

I HAVE A PROPER TREATMENT PLAN FROM THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD AND SOON I WILL BE A ROBOT! Sort of.

Yey :D xxxxxxxxxxxx