One Month From Surgery

My name is Madison, I am 15 years old, and I have multiple maxillofacial deformities. I am having a combination of three procedures on January 8th, 2014. These include orthognathic surgery for an overbite, TMJ Ankylosis, and total custom TMJ replacement.

I've spent my whole life waiting for this so I'm so excited for it! A lot of people think that it's strange that I'm so excited for my surgery, but really, I'm just excited to be like a normal person for once. It is embarrassing to eat in public, I breathe really loudly, I experience a lot of pain (especially since my joints started fusing together) and I am very unhappy with my overall appearance.

The right side of my jaw is significantly longer than the left and I have a chin deficiency. This causes me to have a double chin and I am very self conscious of it. My bottom jaw never grew at all, so it looks very abnormal. I'm hoping that the surgery will also help me with my confidence!

I'm also very nervous for the surgery. I really think that I won't regret it once it's over, but as the date gets closer, I'm starting to have more second guesses. I've also cried a few times because it's very frightening and freaky not knowing what you are going to look like and if people are going to recognize you. I guess the whole goal of this is to be normal, but it also feels like I'm almost losing a piece of me. I've carried this with me my entire life, and I know that it's good because I'm not going to have to worry about it anymore, but at the same time it's very strange because I've spent so much time worrying about it.

I have so much faith in my doctor though so I know that I will be safe in his hands! His name is Dr. Patrick Abbey and he actually really cares. My first surgeon was a complete whack job and I didn't really trust him. Dr. Abbey will explain things in a way that I can actually understand and he genuinely cares which is very refreshing. So I'm not worried about that part, I'm just very nervous and jittery for the recovery process and everything after that.