As some of you probably already know by now, I will be starting a major change in my life very soon. I will be having my major surgery coming up on July 23rd, 1998. This will be a start of my series of surgeries and a big day for me, my parents, my relatives, my friends, and strangers. The wonderful team of doctors at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) will be opening my mouth, fixing the decayed wisdom teeth, and making me a bigger jaw. [This ant will be able to use his mandible efficiently.]
Obviously, this process will not happen in one day. 23rd will be the first day to start a series of processes for who knows how long this will take. The whole process could take up to six months or more. The first step is to open my mouth wider. Currently, I can only open 1 cm wide with my mouth. Hopefully, I can open a lot wider in the soon future, but not wide as normal people. Supposedly, I will be able to open up to 3 inches. The second surgery will consist of making a bigger lower jaw for my mouth. Heh, I probably will look like Jay Leno :). This step will be a much more serious because of the intense work required.
The doctors are planning to do the surgery from the external skin of my face and work their ways through into my face. Carefully, they will release my mandible joints without harming my facial nerves. Facial nerves are very important and critical. If they mess up with them, my face could be totally paralyzed. That's a scary thought. Hopefully, the releases of the joints and additions of "springs" in my mouth will expand my mouth slowly each day.
Only the Lord knows that answer and I believe He will hold me a better future. The pain and suffering of not having teeth aches in my cheek areas are not fun. It even sometimes hurts my eye sockets. Worse than a migrane headache. Ouch, yes it is not fun. This pain started almost a year ago before entering my fourth year of school at Azusa Pacific University (APU). I decided to hold off the surgery until I was done with college. I did it, but the teeth are now killing me. God tells me it is time for the surgery to relieve the pains and sufferings. I don't think I can delay the surgery anymore. :(
Who knows how long I will be staying in the UCLA hospital. From what I have been told, I could be there for a few days. Who knows.
As a computer geek, I will most likely be bringing my notebook so I can use the Internet to communicate to people. So, you can all still e-mail, ICQ, and frag me all you want. :) Hopefully, this will keep my mind off the mouth, pain, etc. Again, I won't know if I will be able to even use my computer during the first few days of the recovery stage. :( I am thinking of making brief logs almost everyday on how I am doing on my home page. Just visit my home page to see if I decide to do it.
If you are near Azusa, CA on July 17th, 1998 after 8:00 PM PDT and have nothing scheduled, then come to Underground Gaming Alliance [UGA] at APU. I will be there with bunch of my friends playing computer games until the midnight hour. This will probably be the last major event for me to attend and hang out with all my friends before the big day. Again, no one knows when I will return. This might be your last chance to see my old face before I get an improved face.
So, please pray for me in my the surgery. Hopefully, things will go smoothly without any complication. This will not an easy part of life for me and anyone. This ant will hibernate for many hours on this day. I will not be afraid since I have gone through this before in 1984 with a major surgery on my mouth. As Arnold from the Terminator movie says, "I'll be back." :)