Pat McGee noticed her daughter had not returned to the oral surgeon’s waiting room shortly before her surgery was supposed to start.

She walked to the nearest bathroom and found Jessica McDaniels, 32, outside the stall, crying. Pat took her daughter into her arms.

“We are going to say bye to the old Jessica,” she said. “And hi to the new Jessica.”

McDaniels, a hairstylist in St. Louis, had been praying for this day since high school, when the taunting about her misshapen teeth started. Now that it was finally happening, she was a nervous wreck.

She hadn’t slept well in days. This day, she stood up at 4 a.m. and looked around her bedroom.

“Today is July 11,” she said, a day that was going to change everything.

She began to get ready. As she sat in the tub in a daze, tears started running down her face. She had been having dreams of not waking up after the surgery, or getting up during the surgery.

She needed to take her mind off what was ahead. She got her two boys up for camp, did the dishes, started another load of laundry.

She posted on Facebook at 5 a.m.: Surgery Day.