February 2012 Surgery Buddies

[WoodWillow]

I had a post-op appointment with the surgeon today (tomorrow marks 2 weeks) and he took off my tight bands and left me with some looser ones. Still have the splint though. He said he wants me to start eating very soft foods! Yay! I will be having mashed potatoes for lunch tomorrow. I was going to try tonight, but my jaw is just too sore from all the poking and prodding at the surgeon's office today.

On top of the recovery from surgery though, it turns out the cough that I had was more than just a cough... I have pneumonia. That's a setback. Ugh. I have to get special liquid antibiotics, and I had to find a pharmacy that could mix it for me.

Anyhow, this too shall pass.

I pulled out my blackerry and snapped a pic of the before and after x-rays that were on the computer screen in the surgeon's office to share!!



The before picture is on the right, showing my bite as it was. The pic on the left is my after picture (taken the day after my surgery). They broke my bottom jaw in 2 places and brought it back 4mm and the top jaw was broken in 3 places and reassembled to fit nicely over my bottom jaw.

[worldpeace]

Hey everybody glad to hear everybody recovery is moving along well. Casteeth sorry to hear about the surgery delay hang in there hopefully it will be resolved very shortly! So I'm a week and 2 days post-op and things are progressing. I am still on a liquid diet but my energy has picked up. I can also sleep no problem. I haven't used any pain meds in about 4 days now so I have been keeping busy catching up on tv shows and movies. The swelling has gone down big time the turning point was at day 7. Still numb and swollen around the lips and chin. I also still cant close my mouth and lips. I find that really annoying but I try not to think about it too much. Like Ashleigh mentioned earlier it will take time! I can now change my elastics on my own to brush teeth. I can also open mouth a bit more but I am afraid not to open too hard. Woodwillow that picture is so cool! I can't wait to see mine and I will post when I do. It's really amazing to see before and after.

[emdanut]

I unfortunately didn't sleep as well last night but I'm sure I'll take a nap later this afternoon
I weighed myself last night and I had lost 4-5 lbs already. My mom made a very rich broccoli cheese soup for me that I can drink through a sippy cup. Its so rich though that I can't have huge amounts at a time because its very filling!
Here's the recipe she used: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food ... index.html

i highly recommend it. It is delicious!

[lattiee]

catsteeth hoping you were able to get your surgery done today hence the reason for not posting

Ashleigh Hope your pnemonia get better soon and how was your mashed potatoes the x-rays are amazing.

Worldpeace look like your moving along your recovery well.

Edamut glad you got to eat some yummy broccoli and cheese soup and I hope you get better sleep tonight

Dealing with a overflowing toilet tried nearly every trick in the book its not working now its going to be the weekend and maintennance guy don't work on weekends.

[emdanut]

I'm still having trouble sleeping but I do manage to take at least 2 30 min naps during the day which helps.
I'm tired all the time but usually not tired enough to get to sleep, if that makes sense.
When I woke up today I had the most pain I've had so far. It wasn't bad at all-- maybe a 4 on the 1-10 scale. I think it was because the feeling in my jaw is coming back. Instead of just feeling cold down there i'm feeling tingly.
I also discovered today that I can open my mouth far enough to fit a spoon in so I think that tomorrow I may try some soft foods. When did you guys transition to soft foods from liquids?

[pa1n]

hi all, i had my surgery 5 days ago and right now i'm so swollen, i'm hoping its at its peak!
i was woken up by a crack on my right jaw last night but nothing feels different, hopefully its nothing too serious?

[lattiee]

Pa1n-I think many sounds jaw make noises as I had plate removal on my top jaw and my bottom jaw clicks sometimes and I believe that is due to moving around.

Edamut so your almost 2 wks post op right as if I recall your surgery was the day after mine right ?

Soft food usually starts within 12-14 wks after surgery sometimes it can start earlier from jaw surgery

My toilet finally got fixed but it wore me out big time that I overly exhausted myself to soreness as tiredness that I feel like I'm out of breath.

[emdanut]

My surgery was on the 14th so I'm actually only 4 days past surgery.
I only had lower jaw though so I feel like I'm recovering more quickly than people here who had double surgery.
My surgeon originally said liquids for the first week and then transition to soft foods.

[lattiee]

Edamut that is pretty great for recovery moving along fast especially after this short of time as I wonder if lower jaws are more tolerable than upper jaws because a few years ago I had a wire removed from back of lower jaw that wasn't a big deal like the plate removal

[catsteeth]

I'm back! Sorry I disappeared. My hospital was on strike but it turns out it was only some of the workers and they went back to work the next day. Fortunately, it was one of my OS's operating days so I didn't get bumped out of line.

I'm now 5 days post op. The surgery wasn't too bad, the pain hasn't been bad and the overall jaw recovery has been pretty good. Believe it or not, it's my leg that has knocked me (literally) off my feet. The day after surgery, I was still wearing compression leggings to try and prevent blood clots. My left leg started to cramp and spasm. They took the leggings off but it continued. I didn't have a proper sleep until last night. I took a muscle relaxant yesterday and that helped a lot. I'm still really shaky but at least I can sit without agony and walk without my legs buckling. I figured it was something to do with the anesthetic.

I wish I was brave enough to post pics. I've got the most amazing bruises. Under my chin is almost black. I also have beautiful shades of blue, green and yellow going down my neck to my chest. My swelling is already going down and I've got lots of feeling back already. I've got one "dead zone" on my right lower lip but the left side is almost 100%. I can feel all my elastics and hooks now.

I see my OS on the 24th.

Glad to hear everyone else is doing well. Thanks for thinking about me.

[lattiee]

catsteeth I'm so glad your surgery wasn't postponed and you got in instead of waiting longer time after being so close to it that would be terrible.

I'm 16 days post op my upper lip and right side of nose is still numb so it still bugs my sinuses as they run sometimes then they stop as I can't blow my nose that well.

I did go for a walk today to see about helping at the libary as Brendan class usually has libary every wednesday but today they didn't as another class was in there due to painting the classrooms

[emdanut]

I had my first post-op today
The surgeon said everything is healing like it should. He put me in rubberbands in the front to guide my bite, but fortunately they're simple to put in.
Unfortunately i seem to have developed a rash from one of my medications (probably the antibiotic) so the doctor took me off that and told me to take benedryl. The rash is definitely not fun at all as its very itchy.

[catsteeth]

Had my first post-op. Everything looks great. I must have a really conservative OS. He told me that I'm tight banded with the splint for another 2 weeks. I'll be stuck on thin liquids until then. I've tried drinking thicker liquids but the splint just wont let anything else through. My back seems to be okay now so that's one less worry. I actually feel fine..just cannot say anything at all. The splint pretty much limits me completely from talking. My family understand some of what I say because of my tone and my gestures but an outsider would be clueless. No chance of getting back to work for now.

Endamut, hopefully you are less itchy.

lattiee, runny sinuses would be really annoying. My numb spot is my right lower lip. I can move it but it still feels dentist frozen. I guess we just have to wait and see.

[lattiee]

edamut hope your rashes are gone it's not fun to have reaction to medicine.

catsteeth wow tightbanded for another 2 weeks will that mean afterwards that you will have no more splint and looser bands or will it mean you will still have the splint but with looser bands that you can take out during eating and cleaning

[catsteeth]

I think he said that I would be no splint and still banded but with looser elastics. He said that at that point, I could start soft food. He also said that maybe, I'd be able to take the splint off for 5 minutes and brush my teeth at my next appointment. Fingers crossed!