Upcoming surgery

[LukeL]

I may be having elective surgery coming up and I am debating whether or not to go through with it. It would be to reconstrcut my jaw and replace a bunch  or all my teeth, due to losing them from bone tumors.

I have had many surgeries in the past but none in the past 7 years and I am really stressed out about this. Anyone have any advice.

[spade22]

1) Do you feel the surgery would be beneficial to you?  It sounds like at least from an asthetic view point, it would.  Would it help you from a functional aspect?

2) Can you pin-point what is making you anxious regarding the surgery?  Is it something going wrong, being in pain afterwards, a hospital stay etc.etc.

Once you have thought about these questions, do you think the benefits outweigh the risks?  Prehaps discussing your concerns with your doctor will help alleviate your fears.  I would certainly recommend chatting with your doctor - they may prescibe you an antianxiety medication to take in the lead up toward the surgery which may really help to calm you down.

[LukeL]

My fear is something going wrong in the surgery. I can deal with the pain and long recovery.

[spade22]

I can understand that!  I really think you should talk to your doctor because the surgery sounds like it would be very beneficial for you (otherwise you wouldn't be debating NOT to have it at this point) - they can give you something to help you relax in the lead-up to the surgery which will really help.  Also, it is very unlikely that something will go wrong but that is probably of little consolation.  Your doctor can also go through various statistics with you which may ease your mind a little.  When is the surgery?