October buddies

Message

Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:03 am

Good luck to LeahRuth and Colorado girl whos surgeries are this week! Will be thinking of you! Post and let us know how you are doing!

#17 Post by **LeahRuth** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:20 pm

^ Thank you
Only two days away from my Bilateral Mandibular Osteotomy, I'm getting really anxious. This is my first surgery.
I had my pre-admission clinic last week, they said I might be in the hospital 2 nights depending on how things go. They also mentioned I'll probably be moved to the intensive care unit after the procedure.

The nurse told me that mucus will build up in my lungs and that I have to cough it up... except I can't open my mouth. This should be interesting.

I'll try to update everyone when I can.

#18 Post by **chicago29** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 2:04 pm

Wow there's a lot of you in October! Best of luck to everybody, and I look forward to hearing everybody's story.

mamaneedsanewjaw...That is a TON of movement for the bottom jaw. You're going to look so different and love the result!

Best of luck All!!
-Chicago29

#19 Post by **ColoradoGirl** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:31 am

Thanks everyone. Good luck tomorrow, LeahRuth!!

I'm SO glad to be almost to the surgery. I know I've had a relatively shorter wait than a lot of people on the board, but it's still felt soooo long.

#20 Post by **ColoradoGirl** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:56 pm

Found out my movements: upper jaw forward 6 mm; lower jaw 18 mm. Yikes!

Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:11 am

Wow- that is a lot of movement Coloradogirl!! Mine is close to yours but not quite as much (5mm upper, 15.4mm lower).

Thinking of you tomorrow!

#22 Post by **chicago29** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 7:41 am

Good Lord...that's just a TON of movement on the bottom!!!

ColoradoGirl...best of luck tomorrow. I'll be thinking about you...

-Chicago29

#23 Post by **kmputnam** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:38 am

Just wanted to wish LeahRuth a speedy recovery and ColoradoGirl good luck with the surgery tomorrow and a speedy recovery as well.

Cheers, Kara

#24 Post by **LeahRuth** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 10:09 am

Hello everyone, I just got home from the hospital! Surgery was yesterday morning and it went well. They said it took less than two hours.
I discovered throughout the night that morphine injections make my arm swell and turn red and itchy, so they switched me to liquid T3. However, it made me really nauseous and I had to receive IV gravol and a gravol injection. Now the gravol injection site is extremely swollen and I can't touch it or lift anything with that (my dominant) arm. Finally we decided on oxycodone as my painkiller of choice.

I'll update more on my personal braces story with pictures and details when I'm feeling more up to it. Right now I'm pretty drowsy and achey, and only slept 1.5 hours because they had me on so many IV fluids that it was impossible to sleep between my hourly bathroom breaks. Also, morphine does not make me drowsy, at all! ha.. long night.

I hope everyone is doing well.
Good luck to the rest of you.

Take care

Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:02 pm

LeahRuth- YOu sound like you are doing great! Yeah! Congrats on being the first October group member on the other side! I am sure it is a relief to have the surgery behind you!

#26 Post by **chicago29** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:46 am

LeahRuth: Congrats and I wish you a very speedy recovery. Be sure to take it easy!

ColoradoGirl: Today is your day. I wish you the best!!

-Chicago29

#27 Post by **Rizzie** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 7:23 am

Good luck ColoradoGirl! Sending positive vibes your way!

LeahRuth--congrats on making it to the other side! Take care and wishing you a smooth recovery.

#28 Post by **LeahRuth** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 4:28 pm

Thanks everyone!
Today is day 3 and as far as pain goes, it's a lot better than yesterday.

I wanted to give a few small tips that have made the last couple of days more bearable

1) Ask your nurse if you can combine ibuprofen with your painkiller. This has made such a huge difference as all the swelling was putting a lot of pressure on the incisions. I added 400mg of ibuprofen every 4 hours and it's really helpful.

2) LIP BALM! Mum bought me some lip balm at the gift shop and it's been really helping my dry lips

3) frozen yogurt/ice cream is probably the most effective way to help the incision pain.

4) while in the hospital, see if they will set you up with a suction device. I wish I had one of these at home!

5) buy a baby toothbrush.

6) buy a wide variety of different instant sauces and gravies to blend with foods. You'll get sick of everything tasting the same.

I hope some of this helps!
When you're in the hospital, don't be afraid to take advantage of that buzzer and ask the nurses for anything to make your experience more comfortable. (iv gravol!)

If you have any questions about ANYTHING, please feel free to ask. We're all here to help each other and I'm glad to do anything I can

#29 Post by **Broadway Bill** » Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:27 pm

Hey folks!

I went to see my surgeon yesterday, and I got a date! October 21st!

I am pretty excited to finally have the date. I go back on the 15th to look at a few options, which should be cool... I sort of get to pick how I will look post surgery. I really like and trust my surgical staff, so I am feeling pretty good about it.

I have an 11mm differential to correct, and the basic plan is to move the upper 5mm forward and the lower 6mm back. My doc said this was inly slightly more movement than most cases, so he expects things to go smoothly with the procedure and the recovery.

Can't wait!

Congrats and swift healing to all the rest of y'all who had surgery this month!

#30 Post by **cocomecrazy** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:14 pm

YO

I just registered in this forum because I'm getting my surgery down on October 14. Yes, yes I'm pretty nervous.

But =I'm more nervous about missing a lot in school

I'm in college right now, is anyone here in school? How are you gonna deal with this?

One of my friends is going to audio record the lectures (like three of my classes cuz she's in three of those classes), and I'm going to photocopy my teachers' lecture notes. I'm really really worried because I want to get good grades this semester.