[Super Duper Fantastic] ISFP/INFP. 4w5. World Explorer. Super Hero. Rose-colored Glasses.

Throughout this entire process, one thing is certain: I am not alone.

It doesn’t matter that it is only my face that’s affected; everybody is wonderfully supportive. Rather than lock myself up at home, I go out quite a bit. By week three, I was not so swollen and had the energy to go out. I’d make sure to bring enough food to last me the duration of the outing. While everyone else is enjoying their food or booze, I down an Ensure Plus beforehand and hang out with my own beverage [non-alcoholic preferred]. Alcohol, like most everything else, just doesn’t taste the same with the splint in.

In doing so, I find out that many I encounter have known someone who has had jaw surgery or are going to have jaw surgery at some point. What I don’t understand is why I don’t see more of them out and about. Before this, I’d never run into those people?! Are they just locking themselves up during the healing process? Or perhaps they heal much quicker since their procedures may not be as dramatic as mine? One week out of the social loop compared to seven?

After many calls and emails, I was finally able to secure an appointment for next week. There’s no guarantee that the bands and splint are coming out, but at least I’ll have gotten checked up on. One of the bands from my braces fell out too, so the sooner I take care of the bands/splint, the sooner I can make an appointment to see the orthodontist to fix that. I’ll also be able to go to the dentist! I am in dire need of a cleaning, considering everything’s been SHUT for the last six weeks. Absolute grossness is all I can say.

Over the summer and through unemployment, my life cluttered up. I filled my days and nights with activity. There was always something to do and somewhere to be. Now that I am back in the workforce, I am feeling the need to declutter. It doesn’t help that I’m stimulating the economy with the recent boost in income [new bedding, printer, jewelry...], so suddenly my room is full of boxes and things to be sorted.

The job is going well, and I am quite happy with the situation. Sure, the office is small. I don’t interact with many on a daily basis in the office, but it’s still a learning environment for me. I’m not stagnant yet. After my eight-hour day [WOO!], I can do other things too. I’m absolutely loving it so far, which is a relief for me to hear myself say. I won’t be itching to find the next thing just yet.

A clean and organized life will be appreciated when I have to spend most of my day locked up. Surgery was rescheduled for November. A date became available, so the hospital called me up. Fortunately, my mom has some time off, so she’s going to be making sure I am fed while wired shut. RV will also be around to answer my beck and call! I am planning to keep the social aspects down to a minimum while I heal up. Sad, but I am sure the friends will understand…

So yes, I’m trying to slow the pace down and clean up a bit. I want to be able to sit back and enjoy everything.

Here I thought it’d be smooth sailing through surgery since everything was scheduled. Not so! After a very long pre-op appointment with the hospital [It went overtime!] and then later the surgeon’s office, I found out that my surgeon had been overbooked. On the day of my surgery, he also had twelve other appointments to keep. So he took the easy way out and asked that I have my surgery date changed. Only thing is, the next available surgery date isn’t until the very end of this year. Literally. On December 30th [since New Year's Eve is a holiday], I’ll get all of this done.

I only found out after I had to make two molds, answered a bunch of duplicate questions from earlier on in the day – all on an empty stomach.

This is after finding the perfect job to let me go at the right time. This is after coordinating with my insurance company, so that my benefits don’t change on me halfway through. After countless calls to the schedulers, you’d think they would get it right and schedule me for a time that is actually available on the surgeon’s schedule.

This is after I set aside time for a party to stuff my face at. I’ll still have the party this weekend, but it just won’t have the same meaning as if the actual surgery date was right around the weekend.

:-/

I feel like after all that preparation, I’ve been let down. I am annoyed, upset, UGH. There’s just not much I can do about it though. Worst of all, it’ll still cost a shit ton, which hopefully insurance will still cover. So annoying.

It’s a roller coaster. Bad news. Good news. Bad news. Back to the bad news, it seems. I was able to finally get a hold of a scheduler at the hospital. They know who I am – the annoying girl who keeps following up with her appointment? At least call me back to let me know my status! Apparently, there’s nothing available in the next month or two. That’s fine, but please just tell me. When I asked about when the next available appointment would be, so that I could start planning, she said probably November. There’s also one opening in October, which I wonder why she didn’t schedule me for. She would call me to let me know if anyone canceled in the rest of October.

This is beyond frustrating. I’m fine with a later appointment date, but I’d at least like to know. I don’t know what to do at this point.