June 2012 buddies

[geordie999]

Apologies if this is a repeat of a group but I didn't see any listing for June yet. Posted two years ago when I had a le fort 1/sarpe for a narrow upper pallate and an under bite. I appreciated the posts from others at the time. Spent the last two years having the necessary ortho work and finally went in for my second op on Thursday. This time it was a another le fort 1 to bring my upper jaw forward after a large expansion from the sarpe, and a bsso with titanium mesh fixation and an inferior border sliding mandibular osteotomy. Got out friday morning and im currently banded together drinking lots of liquid. Not sure I like the chipmunk look but I know it will subside in few days.

Any other June buddies out there?

[geordie999]

Since it looks like I might be the only June surgery at the moment, and that things have settled down for me, I thought I'd post a follow-up.

Check-in was at 5 am with my surgery scheduled for 7 am. This time it took about 3 hours. I was told later that it would've been shorter but the surgeon had a tough time getting through the scar tissue left over from my previous surgery. In addition to correcting for lots of asymmetries he moved my upper jaw forward 4.5mm and my lower jaw back 1 mm. He said he used a splint to set the bite while they were operating but then took it out when they were done. I remember waking up in the recovery room around 11.30 and after about 30 minutes they transferred me to my room. My surgeon added the surgical hooks during surgery and tied together my jaws with elastic bands in a square (more of a trapezoid) pattern. My teeth now meet for the first time ever! I spent overnight in the hospital and was quite comfortable. Just like two years ago I was able to get up and move about as soon as they transferred me to my room. Since there was no splint and I was only heavily banded together I was able to talk to the nurses who came by. I think this was a little unusual since I startled one nurse who stopped by to give me steroids for the swelling. The moist oxygen through the half-mask and ice-packs were very comforting. By that evening I was able to remove and reattach both on my own so I could walk about little. I knew ahead of time that keeping the nose and mouth moist was important so I bought myself a humidifier, which I'm still using a week later. I keep it very close to the bed and turn it on during the night. It feels a bit like a sauna in the morning but I feel much better for it. I was checked out early Friday morning and spent the rest of the day and the weekend relaxing and drinking lots of fluids (Dr's instructions were only fluids until the first preop appointment). As I think is typical the swelling peaked around Saturday/Sunday and then started going down after that. During that time I consistently used moist heat (the "bed buddy" wihich has two blue handles that can be tied together with a hankerchief and lopped over the head and under the chin), as instructed by my surgeon. It's now only have a small amount of swelling along the jaw line and in my numb lower lip and chin. This pleasantly surprises me since I know that I swell up at the dorp of a hat. Up to this point I've been taking the prescribed lortab (codeine/acetominophen) every 6 hours since I could definitely tell when it wore off. But it now looks like I should be able to limit my usage to as needed. After my preop appointment the surgeon said I could now switch to a no-chew diet. I can take off my bands (not as hard as it sounds) to eat and brush my teeth with peridex. Being able to go to solid foods, scrambled egges, mac and cheese, and very small pieces of fruit, has been great. I go back for another follow-up early next week and by that time I should be finished with the antibiotics and not using the painkillers any more. Finally, now that I can finally see what I look like I can say that I'm very happy with the results. The most striking difference is I can now smile with all of my teeth showing. An added bonus is that my face is less flat and now more in proportion after my upper jaw was moved forward. When I go back to work in a few weeks time it's going to be interesting to see my colleagues reactions.

Apologies for the long post. While this was my experience with this surgery I hope it is of some help to those undergoing similar procedures.

[Soph26]

Hi geordie999, sorry, didn't see this post! I am a June buddy but have been posting on the main SARPE thread. Had my surgery on 26 June, all going well. I'm working from home still but hope to be back in the office later this week (after I get some dental wax from the orthodontist's to hide my gap.) A question for you, how long was it after your SARPE before you could move on to harder food?

[geordie999]

Hi soph26. I got wax before surgery since I knew I was going to have surgical hooks added during the op. I felt guilty going back to my ortho and asking for new packets so I went to amazon instead. Turns out I didn't need it anyway...oh well. The harder food is a good question. For both the sarpe, which I had 2 years ago, and my current op, my surgeon made me sign (and pledge) that I wouldn't chew anything for 6 weeks. I've been doing quite good though I've started using my front teeth to very gently tear soft bread. For the sarpe surgery,after the six weeks, i do remember that it was very obvious what I could and couldn't eat. It's a strange feeling in my upper jaw, not painful, just strange. I would say it took me about a year before I was comfortable eating harder, crispier bread or biting into apples. I had expanded to about 10 mm and it really looked like i had lost a tooth. Since bone grows about 1mm a month it took me about a year before i was comfortable eating harder food such as apples or hard bread. The upside is most food is quite soft and i never found it hard to find something to eat. I think the best advice is to listen to what your jaw is telling you and you'll know what works and what doesn't. Hope that helps.