Arrrrgh, my face and neck are so swollen.. it's so freakin' uncomfortable! There is so much pressure... Im glad I just had bottom jaw surgery and not top. I couldn't imagine having cold symptoms too...
k, i'm a baby. ow.
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surgery. Show all posts
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Money money money
After a few embarrassing phone calls to family members and a couple of crying sessions, I asked my boyfriend's mom if she would co-sign on a loan to help cover my $2500 in costs, which are due at my History and Physical appointment on August 3rd. YAAAAY! She was really nice about it... she's great!!
I went into my orthodontist's office yesterday and explained that I am having my surgery on August 11th and that I sure hope I'm ready for surgery because I haven't been into the orthodontist's office since March and my bottom teeth have shifted a little bit. She was only able to squeeze me in for an appointment on August 7th, which I'm a little worried about, being that it's only four days before the surgery.
I also found out yesterday who my assistant surgeon is... Dr. William McMunn, who lives in Denver. Yeah, I so googled him.
I totally ordered a couple zip-n-squeeze bags and the cool jaw wrap (zipnsqueeze.com)... I'm hoping (more like praying) that stuff will be here in time. I also ordered The Sims 3 to help ease the pain :)
I'm having a bit of a dilemma with school. My surgery is August 11th, and school starts August 24th. Ummm. Yeah. I'm probably not going to make it the first week. I guess I'll have to send all my professors emails and hope that I won't miss too much the first week. I'm hoping (again, more like praying) I'll be able to go by the second week of school, which will be 3 weeks post-op. Anyone have any insight (besides "you are stupid for scheduling surgery right before school," haha)?
On a more personal note, I am kind of proud of myself for getting this far all by myself. It's been really hard, being that I had no idea braces and surgery were really plausible back when I stumbled over kristen's blog a couple of years ago. I had some bad experiences in the beginning... it seemed like no one wanted to help me, and I felt completely lost and hopeless many times. I am so lucky that insurance covered my braces and (seriously, out of sheer luck) surgery, and I hope that this is all worth it in the end. Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and helpful. Had I not found all of your blogs, I probably never would have gotten this far. much love, much love.
Also, if anyone is interested, here are my orthognathic surgery fees, right off the paper Dr. Vetter's office gave me:
Initial Consultation: $175.00
Progress Checks with Dr. Vetter (per visit): $50.00
History and Physical Appointment (models, photos, facebow, wax bite and records): $130.00
Surgical Fee (includes Dr. Vetter's fee, 3 months of follow-up care and post-operative radiographs): $7,650.00
Assistant Surgeon's Fee: $1,912.50
A new face and newfound confidence: priceless k, i added that
These are just Dr. Vetter's fees; I know that I have a $400 co-pay at the facility where I'm having the surgery, and insurance is paying their facility and anesthesia fees.
Again, I am only being required to pay the assistant surgeon's fee, my current account balance (from my consultation), and my history and physical fee up front. They kindly waived the up front Surgical Fee for me because I whined and cried and stomped my feet a lot (not really, but I told them I couldn't afford that craziness).
So, that's where I'm at. ;)
I went into my orthodontist's office yesterday and explained that I am having my surgery on August 11th and that I sure hope I'm ready for surgery because I haven't been into the orthodontist's office since March and my bottom teeth have shifted a little bit. She was only able to squeeze me in for an appointment on August 7th, which I'm a little worried about, being that it's only four days before the surgery.
I also found out yesterday who my assistant surgeon is... Dr. William McMunn, who lives in Denver. Yeah, I so googled him.
I totally ordered a couple zip-n-squeeze bags and the cool jaw wrap (zipnsqueeze.com)... I'm hoping (more like praying) that stuff will be here in time. I also ordered The Sims 3 to help ease the pain :)
I'm having a bit of a dilemma with school. My surgery is August 11th, and school starts August 24th. Ummm. Yeah. I'm probably not going to make it the first week. I guess I'll have to send all my professors emails and hope that I won't miss too much the first week. I'm hoping (again, more like praying) I'll be able to go by the second week of school, which will be 3 weeks post-op. Anyone have any insight (besides "you are stupid for scheduling surgery right before school," haha)?
On a more personal note, I am kind of proud of myself for getting this far all by myself. It's been really hard, being that I had no idea braces and surgery were really plausible back when I stumbled over kristen's blog a couple of years ago. I had some bad experiences in the beginning... it seemed like no one wanted to help me, and I felt completely lost and hopeless many times. I am so lucky that insurance covered my braces and (seriously, out of sheer luck) surgery, and I hope that this is all worth it in the end. Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and helpful. Had I not found all of your blogs, I probably never would have gotten this far. much love, much love.
Also, if anyone is interested, here are my orthognathic surgery fees, right off the paper Dr. Vetter's office gave me:
Initial Consultation: $175.00
Progress Checks with Dr. Vetter (per visit): $50.00
History and Physical Appointment (models, photos, facebow, wax bite and records): $130.00
Surgical Fee (includes Dr. Vetter's fee, 3 months of follow-up care and post-operative radiographs): $7,650.00
Assistant Surgeon's Fee: $1,912.50
A new face and newfound confidence: priceless k, i added that
These are just Dr. Vetter's fees; I know that I have a $400 co-pay at the facility where I'm having the surgery, and insurance is paying their facility and anesthesia fees.
Again, I am only being required to pay the assistant surgeon's fee, my current account balance (from my consultation), and my history and physical fee up front. They kindly waived the up front Surgical Fee for me because I whined and cried and stomped my feet a lot (not really, but I told them I couldn't afford that craziness).
So, that's where I'm at. ;)
Friday, July 10, 2009
the news
so, today i got the news that i've been waiting for.
my surgery claim has been approved by kaiser permanente.
i got the voicemail this afternoon and i started crying! my surgery and facility fee are approved. my work recently switched from cigna (yuck) to kaiser, and so i submitted a new claim through my surgeon's office last week. some research i did online made it seem like kaiser was way more likely to approve orthognathic surgeries than a lot of other companies. i am so thankful that we got new insurance.
kim at dr. vetter's office told me to call on monday so that we can start taking the next steps. i haven't been to my orthodontist's office since march--he told me to wait to make another appointment until i knew what was going on with my surgery.
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! i actually jumped up and down earlier. hahaha.
my mom got an akita, and we all decided on the japanese name Hana. She's so cute. Here are the two of us, pic taken yesterday.
again, thank you everyone for all your helpful comments. I'm finally moving forward!
my surgery claim has been approved by kaiser permanente.
i got the voicemail this afternoon and i started crying! my surgery and facility fee are approved. my work recently switched from cigna (yuck) to kaiser, and so i submitted a new claim through my surgeon's office last week. some research i did online made it seem like kaiser was way more likely to approve orthognathic surgeries than a lot of other companies. i am so thankful that we got new insurance.
kim at dr. vetter's office told me to call on monday so that we can start taking the next steps. i haven't been to my orthodontist's office since march--he told me to wait to make another appointment until i knew what was going on with my surgery.
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! i actually jumped up and down earlier. hahaha.
my mom got an akita, and we all decided on the japanese name Hana. She's so cute. Here are the two of us, pic taken yesterday.
again, thank you everyone for all your helpful comments. I'm finally moving forward!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
gameplan
I have an appointment to get all four of my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday 2/17.
After that, I will be calling the insurance company to argue with them about not wanting to cover basic x-rays with dr. vetter. after all, he IS on their oral surgeons list!
Hopefully, I'll get some answers, and I can get the outstanding bill I have with Dr. Vetter's office paid off. Then, I'm calling them and seeing what I should do next. As awful as it sounds, I have been considering just paying full price for my surgery--I really like Dr. Vetter, and there are no oral surgeons in this city covered by Cigna, apparently. BOO.
On another note, the oral surgeon who is removing my wisdom teeth (yep, the same guy who told me two years ago that he didn't recommend jaw surgery and then blew me off when I tried to schedule another appointment with him), who obviously forgot me from before, told me that he thinks I'm going to be thrilled with the results of my orthognathic surgery, and that it will be good for me. umm, okay??? Whatever.
Time is wasting away!
After that, I will be calling the insurance company to argue with them about not wanting to cover basic x-rays with dr. vetter. after all, he IS on their oral surgeons list!
Hopefully, I'll get some answers, and I can get the outstanding bill I have with Dr. Vetter's office paid off. Then, I'm calling them and seeing what I should do next. As awful as it sounds, I have been considering just paying full price for my surgery--I really like Dr. Vetter, and there are no oral surgeons in this city covered by Cigna, apparently. BOO.
On another note, the oral surgeon who is removing my wisdom teeth (yep, the same guy who told me two years ago that he didn't recommend jaw surgery and then blew me off when I tried to schedule another appointment with him), who obviously forgot me from before, told me that he thinks I'm going to be thrilled with the results of my orthognathic surgery, and that it will be good for me. umm, okay??? Whatever.
Time is wasting away!
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