Bi-Maxx Jaw Advancement, Stanford
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Bi-Maxx Jaw Advancement, Stanford

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Posted by freddybush on March 03, 2008 at 12:07:49:

Hello everyone. I'm a fellow OSA patient. I really don't know how long I have had this problem. I'm 54 years old and just saw my Dr. last year complaining about being tired. He right off the bat said it sounded like sleep apnea. I said no way. First of all I kniow I must sleep because my wife says I snore. Second, I think I would know if I stopped breathing. My Dr. said now you wouldn't and snoring was a sympton. Anyway after having my sleep study they were concerned about my OS level being at 72. I tried the CPAP and that did not work, I was really excited because many of my customers and friends were also on the CPAP and said after 3 weeks you would fell like a million bucks. Well I never did. They sent me to Stanford to see the GURU of sleep apnea Dr. G. First thing he said was that I needed get my weight down to 145lbs. I told him that I don't remember ever being 145lbs, I was 168 in high school. He recommended a BI- level Cpap, My insurance company must love me they paid for 2 machines within 3 mos. I did lose weight and got down to 184 from 208, I thought that was great. After another study there was no change. I was sent to see Dr. B. the ENT at Stanford, After reviewing the sleep study and finding that I had a severe deviated septum, he recommended surgery Phase 1 and would radio frequency my nose for now and then do the septum later. I had the uvala all but removed my tongue advanced 12 and the back of my throat widened. This was probably the most painful surgery I had ever had. After healing I found that this was just a waste of time. My OS level did jump to 74 or 75 and I stopped breathing 36 times per hour, still unacceptable. I was headed for Phase 2. Dr. B asked me to be part of a study he was involed in and I said of couse maybe it can help others later. I guess he is using a MRI machine for something it was not designed to be used for. I really don't know how well it worked the idea was to see just where the obstruction is while sleeping, but I never slept so I could not see how this was really helpful. Anyway Dr. B sent me to Dr. G the Maillary plastic surgeon at Stanford who was going to do the Bi-Maxx along with Dr. B. She is very nice and very qualified and I felt I was in very good hands. One concern was that when she was demonstrating what she was going to do, her model only showed how the lower jaw was detached. Also my advancement went from SLIGHT change in appearence to SIGNIFICANT change in appearence. This was scary. My appointment was made for Feb. 11th. Two weeks prior to the surgery I developed Hives. I'm guessing they were brought on by the stress and worry of the operation and the Saturday before my pre-op with Dr. G. I had what appeared to be two heart attacks. I had several of these attacks between 1995 and 1997 after suffering from a reaction from an alergy shot. I was hospitilized because of the hives and indication of a heart attack. I saw a cardiologist and he said that there was no indication of a heart attack. Anyway Dr. G. cancelled the surgery until I received a Cardiac Clearence. She said that if i'm having a heart attack from the stress of surgery I would probably not survive the operation. I went through a 4hr. test in Sacramento that involved 64 MRI photos and a treadmill test. I was told nothing was wrong with my heart and received the clearence. I'm still going through test to see why I'm having the hives, they are awful and so far nothing is clearing them up. Tomorrow I go in to have a sonogram to see if maybe these attacks are caused from gulstones, go figure. My surgery has been rescheduled for April 28th. Thats along time away but was the soonest that Dr. B and Dr. G could get together. I just want to thank all of you for the information about my procedure, I feel much better about it after reading all about your experiences. I have also, through your letters know what questions I need to address and also how I will probably feel after the surgery. Thanks again, Freddybush

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