November Buddies

[schwin]

Thanks for the support guys. Went in at 230PM est time. Woke up with sharp pain around 8PM. The pain leveled out around 12AM. I was released at 9am from the hospital and straight to the hospital visit. Been sleeping all day and drinking water/ensure to recover. Feeling much better now. Banded shut so its feeling kinda weird. Bite looks right though!!

[Dani73]

Glad everything went well Schwin and hope you are resting as well as you can!


Well I had the appointments yesterday, I'm on antibiotics for the sore throat and the pain under my jaw/neck area and antihistamines (sp*) to try and help with the fuild on my ears. I also went and had the surgical hooks and wires taken out, but only managed to do the top, as the wire in the ring on the back molar is stuck and they couldn't get it out and my jaw was a bit tender after all the tugging, pulling and having it open for so long. The bottom one will be removed in about 2 weeks.

I also had the elastics taken out and have one on either side in a triangle config - was late to work this morning because I couldn't get the rhs one on. Added bonus, when I change the elastics once a day I can brush my teeth whilst they are off and it makes a HUGE difference with brushing. They also said I can take them off to eat, but because they are difficult to get on, I skip that part.

[Dani73]

FTA - How's everything going Beowulf??

[Izzy1979]

saurkraut - glad its getting better with elastics! Its crazy how fast things move. At first I could fit my whole tongue between my back teeth and after 2 weeks with bands on side is actually partially touching and the other very close. I am also overall pretty happy I didn't do the upper jaw. I have moments of regret where I think I would have looked a lot better but I think I would probably make the same decision faced to it again.

I had my first "chew" yesterday! Had a arugula salad. took forever but it was great!

[schwin]

swelling much worse this morning. I can start to feel the pressure in the ears. Got ice on!!!

[beowulf68]

Hey Dani/all....Things are going ok. Saw the surgeon last week he said everything looks great. I won't see him again for another 4 weeks. I'm 3.5 weeks post-op and hate these blasted wires. Since some of my numbness is starting to go away I can feel the wires tearing the hell out of the inside of my right cheek. I put some wax on the wires but it seems I can't cover them all. Still numb in both of my lips (though the upper has regained some feeling on the inside) and a good part of my chin. My chin still has these nasty neuropathic pains which come and go. I'm starting to get use to them but they still drive me a little nuts. I've lost almost 20 pounds which worries me considering I haven't gone back to work yet (next Thursday). When I go back to work I'm really going to have to concentrate on eating a lot more. With all that said, all-in-all I guess I'm doing well. No infection or serious jaw pain and I'm sleeping great and look a lot better (though still swollen).

How are you Dani......Sounds like ya had some issues. Hopefully they got resolved??

[Van'braces]

Hi Everyone!
I just thought I'd post to say I made it to the other side. I wanted to post how it went for me as it really helped me to read other people's experiences.
I got to the hospital at 10.30am to the day surgery department for sarpe and 4 wisdom tooth extractions. I got changed, got an IV and headed to the operating theatre at about 12.15pm. The anesthetist did the usual "count down from 5" and I remember thinking "I wonder how far I'll get?" I didnt even get to 4! I woke up at about 3.15pm in recovery, I think Id been somewhat "round" for a while as the breathing tube was out etc. I remember dreaming, then waking up thinking I was at home and then thinking oh, no.. I remember I must be in hospital! No pain/no nausea (I'd mentioned I was worried about this before the op and they put something in my IV during the surgery" I drifted in and out of semi-sleep for about 45 mins or so and then they wanted to remove the gauze; some was caught on my braces so they ended up waiting for the surgeon to come out of his next op to help with the untangling. All was going well until they decided I should try to get up to attempt to start the going home process and I immediately felt nauseous, they sorted me out with some more meds in my IV and by 6pm I was going home, although the bumps in the road were not fun with my slight remaining nausea! I had the usual sore throat from GA and was given codeine with Tylenol as a pain reliever which didnt agree with me. I did end up having problems with sickness the following day but my husband phoned the surgeon and we got some really good anti nausea meds. If anyone is nervous about sickness (basically blood and codeine in my stomach made me sick) I would say not to worry as there really are amazing meds out there that can help you feel a lot better. I was never worried about the pain really and its not been bad at all, nothing like the pain from spacers! Im still taking tylenol a few times a day but its really not too bad now! Im half way through my expansion (1mm in the or, 3mm at home so far, 7mm needed in total) and sometimes I do get a little fed up of the sore mouth but I know Im through the worst of it now

[Rodney008]

Well...I'm a month post-op now and I could not be happier about the outcome. The swelling is down and the bite looks pretty good. I'm still not touching completely on one side but my ortho told me he'll be able to make the adjustment. The splint came out at week 3 and now I have 2 bands which I can take out to eat. I'm still on a soft diet but my surgeon told me to add ground beef and shredded chicken to it. I can't get enough chicken enchiladas! I lost 15 pounds in this process but added back 5. Still have numbness in half of my chin and lip, but it is returning slowly. How are the rest of you?

[Dani73]

I'm a bit frustrated with myself atm. I think it's because it will be 5 weeks on Tuesday and I was starting to come good and now it seems I've gone backwards again.

After I posted on here, I was actually feeling a bit human, but then the next day I ended up with ALOT of pressure in my ears and sinuses. It felt like my ears were going to pop off the side of my head. But there is not alot they can do until I can start blowing my nose properly. So I can't get comfortable. Then last night the crazy itchy/burning started in my face. There is no rash, so it has to do with the healing, so that's making it hard to get to sleep. All I seem to be doing is complaining - and then that gets me down again. Such a viscious circle. But like everyone keeps on saying to me 'It's only been just over 4 weeks!'

Beowulf - glad you are recovering reasonably well.

Van'Braces - Glad you come through the op well.

Rodney - my back molars haven't joined since the op, but the ortho did a new config with the elastics and I noticed today that they are getting closer together.

How's everyone else doing?

[schwin]

Good afternoon all,

Swelling has gone done tremendously 5 days post off. The bands were loosened barely yesterday after my visit at the office. I'm still pretty much shut and continuing to take in liquids. Does anyone get really sore teeth during the day? I'm still sleeping upright and its making my neck quite sore. Thanks!

[sauerkraut]

A couple of my posts got lost in the changeover, so I'm just reporting back in to see how you're all doing. Congratz to schwin and van'braces and hope things are going ok.

Schwin -- yes I have permanently sore teeth, but then they are being yanked around by elastics at the moment so I suppose it's to be expected. Hang in there with the liquids -- soon that phase will be just a memory. I'm already eating almost normally, which I would never have believed even up to just a few days ago.

Van braces -- glad you managed to avoid being sick. That's what I most wanted to avoid as well. Those anti-nausea meds are great, aren't they!

Beowulf -- hope you're coping with work ok and managing to keep the weight on. I can really imagine your frustration with the wires and everything. But you're getting there! Keep soldiering on!

Izzy -- thanks, yes the elastics are doing their job and my ortho said he was very pleased with progress closing the open bite. And yes, the "first chew" is amazing isn't it. I even managed toast today. Ok, it was rather soggy toast, but still VERY satisfying.

Dani -- hope things have improved and that you're starting to feel better. I understand the battle of the elastics! I got so frustrated with mine at first because sometimes they'd go on OK but other times I'd be battling for 10 minutes just to get the first one on. I've got a lot more practised with it now, thank goodness. What were the surgical "wires" you had taken out? I'm wondering if you had the extra set of surgical braces like I had, as so far they seem to be peculiar to Germany. Mine were a bit like a second set of brackets (looked a bit like a tiara actually!) fitted above and below the normal brackets by means of strong wire wrapped round each tooth. Removing those was... not fun. So I can empathise with the tugging and pulling experience! Oh, and feeling down is a normal reaction to anaesthetic, quite apart from all the other health issues you've had to put up with. You're quite entitled to vent on here -- that's what we're here for

Rodney -- good to hear you're satisfied, and getting back towards normal food. I also had teeth that didn't meet and got a bit concerned when the surgeon started talking about being left with an open bite, But the ortho didn't seem to think it was that big a deal, and the elastics are working wonders.

Hi to everyone else. Would be lovely to hear from those who haven't reported back yet

[schwin]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Anyone have some popping/crackling ? I have slight popping/crackling on the right side of my jaw. Hopefully this is not a long term problem.

[Dani73]

Schwin - yep I had that, it seemed to settle down once I got more movement in my jaw. HTH


sauerkraut - Thanks for being understanding. The only way I can describe the surgical wires is that i have the standard wire that goes through each bracket, but instead of having the standard elastic ligatures around each bracket, they have secured it with more wire. So with the extra wire they wrap it around the bracket, then twist it around the standard wire quite a few times, then wrap around the next brackets, so on and so on. So it's one big lot of wire and when they take it off, they have to cut and untwist everything - hence all the tugging and pulling. I'm due to go back again tomorrow to get the bottom done.

Update: I've been back to the surgeon since the last update and I'm allowed to blow my nose properly (he did my turbinates as well). But unfortunately it hasn't helped with my hearing. So I have an appointment with an ENT to find out exactly what is going on - but grommets were mentioned. Oh well, I don't mind, it'll be nice to have 'normal' hearing again. Swelling has hit a plateau, 6 weeks tomorrow.

[schwin]

Feeling a lot better today. 14 days post ops. I'm eating blended campbells chunky religiously. My favorite is a Mcdonald's Yogurt Parfait blended with milk for dessert. I drink about 2 of those a day.

[Rodney008]

6 weeks post op now. Do any of you all still feel like you have something stuck in your mouth where your incisions are? I'm not sure if it is scar tissue or what, but will this feeling go away? I have this feeling at the top of my upper jaw (where the incisions are for the Lefort 1) and at the bottom of my low jaw (where the incision are for the genio).