January 2016 Surgery Buddies!

[PashaBursi]

Day 17: I want to eat...I hate liquids, ensure, protein shakes, smoothies, chicken broth ecc.
My surgeon said he won't change my elastics for another 2 and a half months!! So basically he wants me to be banded shut completely with heavy elastics for 3 months straight. I don't know if he's crazy or something....other people generally change elastics after a couple of weeks and wear lighter and less elastics...I don't understand why my surgeon is so conservative.

I've already lost 12 lbs.

Everything else is ok.

Day 23: I also want to eat. All I doost scroll through photos of Instagram all day. I think I'm used to it now though, as in I've been hungry for over 3 weeks, hungry is just my natural state now. I think I'm not too depressed because before surgery I wasn't a big water anyway, I'm actually a little disordered to be completely honest. I still don't drink as much as I want and count the calories of everything I drink to make sure I don't exceed 1200. I don't move much as I'm still not feeling up to work and gym and life and I weigh 100lbs so I don't think I need anymore than that anyway.

How are you feeling apart from that? Are you happy? I think I'm mostly over the regret phase. I have a lot of swelling. It's so weird because a lot of people at 3 weeks don't still have the chipmunk look but I still do! I'm mostly upset about my nose, it's completely crooked and I'm worried that most of the swelling is gone and it's just going to stay crooked. I really really don't want to have a nose job, this surgery has put me off all procedures for life!!!

I also understand your band pain. I'm completely wired shut and will be for another 3 weeks and then I start with the tight elastics! I would not tolerate 3 months! I would definitely ask to take them off to eat because a liquid diet for more than 8 weeks is ridiculous. It's just not healthy, pure torture!

[Kazorina]

Hi Everyone!

I didn't see this thread before. I had lower jaw surgery on the 20th so just over 2 weeks ago. Swelling has pretty much gone and I'm wearing elastics, one on each side in a triangle formation. My teeth are sooooo painful, mainly the lower ones. Surgeon and orthodontist both say this is totally normal but I am finding the pain worse than the initial post op recovery. It's like when you've just had an adjustment but worse! and my teeth even feel loose, it's depressing as I don't have a comfortable bite atm.

All in all that's probably the worst I've had to deal with.

[ZiziOConnor]

I love these surgery-buddy threads! How's everyone doing?

[PashaBursi]

Hi Everyone!

I didn't see this thread before. I had lower jaw surgery on the 20th so just over 2 weeks ago. Swelling has pretty much gone and I'm wearing elastics, one on each side in a triangle formation. My teeth are sooooo painful, mainly the lower ones. Surgeon and orthodontist both say this is totally normal but I am finding the pain worse than the initial post op recovery. It's like when you've just had an adjustment but worse! and my teeth even feel loose, it's depressing as I don't have a comfortable bite atm.

All in all that's probably the worst I've had to deal with.

Lucky!! I'm 4 weeks post op exactly and I still have so much swelling! I have a crooked nose (I'm praying its swelling!), long swollen area above my lip, swelling on my upper cheeks and a big hard ball of swelling on either side of my lower cheeks! I also had 4 wisdom teeth (2 impacted on the bottom) extracted at the same time. I'm still wired shut but incredibly nervous about getting unwired next week and then removing my hooks and changing my archwire and adjustment the next day at my orthodontist! It's completely over shadowing the fact that I might be able to have a little more variety in food! I think I'll just dose myself up with my pain meds that are leftover from surgery as k only needed them for a few days. And then the dreaded elastics! I hate elastics!!!

[PashaBursi]

I love these surgery-buddy threads! How's everyone doing?

Hungry. Soooo hungry.

[EWUgal15]

Lucky!! I'm 4 weeks post op exactly and I still have so much swelling! I have a crooked nose (I'm praying its swelling!), long swollen area above my lip, swelling on my upper cheeks and a big hard ball of swelling on either side of my lower cheeks! I also had 4 wisdom teeth (2 impacted on the bottom) extracted at the same time. I'm still wired shut but incredibly nervous about getting unwired next week and then removing my hooks and changing my archwire and adjustment the next day at my orthodontist! It's completely over shadowing the fact that I might be able to have a little more variety in food! I think I'll just dose myself up with my pain meds that are leftover from surgery as k only needed them for a few days. And then the dreaded elastics! I hate elastics!!!

My first adjustment post op came at 7 weeks and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. My lower wire did get stuck, but I was still numb enough that all I felt was pressure when they were trying to slide it out. I did get jabbed by a surgical hook but it wasn't terrible and as soon as I indicated I was in pain, everyone let go (there were 3 people working on me that day). They ended up cutting my wire to get the majority out and the orthodontist used his magic hands to gently work the remainder out. After the new wires were put in with my power chains and elastics, I felt more normal than I had since surgery, so it was a welcome relief. I needed a normal dose of OTC pain killers and I was fine. I think you'll be ok

[StefanoMI]

Day 17: I want to eat...I hate liquids, ensure, protein shakes, smoothies, chicken broth ecc.
My surgeon said he won't change my elastics for another 2 and a half months!! So basically he wants me to be banded shut completely with heavy elastics for 3 months straight. I don't know if he's crazy or something....other people generally change elastics after a couple of weeks and wear lighter and less elastics...I don't understand why my surgeon is so conservative.

I've already lost 12 lbs.

Everything else is ok.

Day 23: I also want to eat. All I doost scroll through photos of Instagram all day. I think I'm used to it now though, as in I've been hungry for over 3 weeks, hungry is just my natural state now. I think I'm not too depressed because before surgery I wasn't a big water anyway, I'm actually a little disordered to be completely honest. I still don't drink as much as I want and count the calories of everything I drink to make sure I don't exceed 1200. I don't move much as I'm still not feeling up to work and gym and life and I weigh 100lbs so I don't think I need anymore than that anyway.

How are you feeling apart from that? Are you happy? I think I'm mostly over the regret phase. I have a lot of swelling. It's so weird because a lot of people at 3 weeks don't still have the chipmunk look but I still do! I'm mostly upset about my nose, it's completely crooked and I'm worried that most of the swelling is gone and it's just going to stay crooked. I really really don't want to have a nose job, this surgery has put me off all procedures for life!!!

I also understand your band pain. I'm completely wired shut and will be for another 3 weeks and then I start with the tight elastics! I would not tolerate 3 months! I would definitely ask to take them off to eat because a liquid diet for more than 8 weeks is ridiculous. It's just not healthy, pure torture!

Hi, sorry for the late answer. I'm on day 31 and actually as the swelling goes down my jaw asymmetry is showing up again and yes my nose is a bit crooked too as far as I can tell. I'm very disappointed because I underwent this surgery to fix my problems but instead no....my profile looks better of course, but from the front I'm not happy with the result.

[lis773]

[quote="Kazorina"]Hi Everyone!

I didn't see this thread before. I had lower jaw surgery on the 20th so just over 2 weeks ago. Swelling has pretty much gone and I'm wearing elastics, one on each side in a triangle formation. My teeth are sooooo painful, mainly the lower ones. Surgeon and orthodontist both say this is totally normal but I am finding the pain worse than the initial post op recovery. It's like when you've just had an adjustment but worse! and my teeth even feel loose, it's depressing as I don't have a comfortable bite atm.

All in all that's probably the worst I've had to deal with.[/quote]

I had the same problem with my lower, front teeth. My surgery was January 13th and after the first 7 days I started feeling throbbing and shocks in my lower teeth. It felt like a combination of BriteSmile and getting your braces tightened the same day. It took about 2.5 weeks for the pain to even begin to dwindle. I still feel some throbbing, particularly when I wake up, but it no longer feels like someone is holding a live wire to my teeth. I was also having a burning sensation in my lower chin, which has also simmered down, so I wonder if the nerve healing is related to this pain. Removing my elastics also helped, even though they were not attached to the teeth that were hurting.

[Tgirl22]

I had double jaw surgery 1/25... Hospital stay was horrible!!! The nurses after the first night were HORRIBLE.. I got feeling back in my face the fastest my Dr had ever experienced so each visit to him was torture!! I'm so ready for this split to be taken off! I had my jaw has only 1 position! I hate the diet!! So hard to keep spirits up as I'm so ready for the next change!! Being older doing this makes it even more of a pain!!

[StefanoMI]

Day 38: Just had dinner. I ate smoked salmon, pasta, strawberries and a yogurt (not a great mix but who cares). First time I attempted such a stunt and I think I pulled it off successfully (I have no pain in my jaws). I was tired of the liquid diet, my surgeon said to wait another 4 weeks to eat soft food but I couldn't wait any longer.
Next week I'll also restart to go to the gym.

My swelling has gone down quite a bit from last week and I think my symmetry has improved. I still have numbness in my lower lip and a small portion of my chin. I have lots of tingling sensation there so I hope eventually it will come back.

[Tgirl22]

I'm on day 32 and still have my splint, I get it out in 4 days... I still have pain here and there along w twitching pain. I sure hope I can have soft foods after that... How far can y'all open your mouths? I'm barely able to get 1 finger in so I'm hoping I can start exercising to get it opened farther next week.. Wonder how long that's gonna take....

[StefanoMI]

Day 43 Update:

Swelling: I'm still a little bit swollen, probably I have 20% of swelling left in my cheeks and around my nose.
Numbness: 60% of my chin is coming back slowly, the right side of my lower lip is also coming back. The rest of the chin and lower lip are still numb.
Asymmetry: Eventually I figured out I don't have an asymmetry in my jaw, it's my nose that is a bit asymmetric and to fix it I need a rhinoplasty (but I don't know if I'm gonna do it).
Diet: I eat rice, pasta, fish, some fruits, mashed potatoes, yogurt, ice cream, protein shakes and pretty much everything I can smash with my tongue in my palate without chewing. Yesterday I tried to chew and it hurt the right side of my jaw (and still hurt a little bit). I hope it's not serious.
Weight: I lost 20lbs since surgery
Skin: my skin sucks. I have pimples and my skin is oily...I don't understand the reason, probably because my diet sucks (?). One of the pimple left me with a scar...hope it gets better soon.
Pain: Don't have any pain apart on the right side of my jaw due to having chew yesterday.
Speech: My speech isn't perfect. I have to relearn how to speak and it takes time.
Social life: I'm back to university. Next week I'll be back to the gym. I still haven't had a night out with my friends since surgery and probably won't have one in the coming weeks. I want everything to heal properly.
Bite: my bite is quite good. The left side doesn't touch as well as the right side but my ortho said is nothing serious and she'll take care of it.

[StefanoMI]

I'm on day 32 and still have my splint, I get it out in 4 days... I still have pain here and there along w twitching pain. I sure hope I can have soft foods after that... How far can y'all open your mouths? I'm barely able to get 1 finger in so I'm hoping I can start exercising to get it opened farther next week.. Wonder how long that's gonna take....

I can open almost two fingers but it hurts a little bit if I open that much..

[Tgirl22]

It's been 6 months.... I'm so tired of dealing w this stuff... Goto PT twice a week for getting my mouth range back and still numb in the upper jaw.... Ugh!!