May 2010 Buddies

Message

#46 Post by **charlsie142** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:34 am

Haha...and that shows how not-there I am mentally...I meant to say I feel more like I'm about 70% mentally/physically.

#47 Post by **BracketRacket** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:47 am

Getting really bummed out. I know it's still early and I have to be patient, but I'm starting to worry about the pain and numbness -- but then again, I'm a worrier. Since most of the swelling went down, I just don't feel like I'm seeing improvement -- or worse, one thing that was hurting stopped hurting and I was happy -- then it started again.

Expanding is really getting me down, too -- as soon as I do it, I feel a lot of pressure in my palate for an hour or so, and then a few hours later my gum between my teeth starts burning/stinging a lot. After the turn at night, it wakes me up, and when I turn in the moring, I randomly start hurting in the middle of the day.

Sorry to be a bummer, I'm just feeling really frustrated, and I have no excuse to me -- I know how early it still is. I look at pictures from a week ago, and know I'm so much better now, but I just can't seem to shake this. I do see the OS Monday, so hopefully he'll be able to reassure me that everything looks OK.

#48 Post by **charlsie142** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:17 am

BracketRacket, I'm so sorry you're feeling frustrated! I know our surgeries aren't quite the same, so I can't offer a lot of advice there, but I think what you're feeling is normal. And I feel the same way! We see a lot of improvement early on, and then the changes are S-L-O-W, and no one really understands how frustrating and annoying that can be.

One thing that's helped me is to try to stay busy...if I am not busy in some way, I tend to focus more on the numbness and swelling. And don't be afraid to take pain meds if you are still experiencing pain. I was off them for over a week and then ended up having to take some again. If you're in pain, that can take away from your healing, and that's definitely not going to help you in the long run.

Hang in there--it will get better!

#49 Post by **geordie999** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 12:18 pm

I would definitely second taking the pain meds if you have them. When I was staying overnight in the hospital they told me that pain leads to high blood pressure, which can lead to other complications. So pain meds are always a good option when you need them. After the first week I mostly took Motrin and sometimes Motrin PM to help me sleep at night. Though after one night of watching a comedy my face ached so much I had to take a dose of hydrocodone that night to relieve the ache.

I'm with you on the expanding. I've now been expanding for about a week and a half. But since my surgery was slightly different, involving severing the nerves to my upper palate, I actually don't feel anything when I expand. FYI, I did get a very small amount of bleeding from my gums, particularly in the morning after breathing through my mouth all night, but that stopped a while back. For the first week I gingerly brushed with just Peridex (prescription mouth wash), but since my stitches dissolved about a week ago I've been brushing my teeth with a baby toothbrush and toothpaste, though I still rinse with Peridex after brushing. Good luck and yes, keep busy - it really does help.

#50 Post by **BracketRacket** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 3:21 pm

Had a bit of an emergency last night -- ahhh! But all seems to be ok now *knock wood* The bad part (although I guess there's a silver lining) is that I'm done expanding. Apparently my mouth just had had enough. I'm pretty dissapointed, because I feel like we didn't achieve all the space we wanted to. My top is still a little bit smaller than the bottom, so we don't even have the space allotted for any relapse. I feel like I had the surgery and went through so much so that I could fix the problem, not end up compromised.

The OS seems to think the space should be OK to work with, and said that the expander was nearly maxxed out. Still sad that we ended because of a problem and not because we were done, although I can't say I'll miss expanding. On the bright side, so far the bad pain I had in my gum/front of my mouth seems to have mostly stayed away so far, so hopefully that'll be completely gone now and I'll start really healing.

One of these days I'll have some good news to report, promise!

#51 Post by **charlsie142** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:19 pm

BracketRacket--I'm so sorry to hear that you weren't able to expand as much as you hoped! I know that has to be really frustrating. It sounds like your surgeon isn't too concerned, so I'm sure you'll be able to get FABULOUS results. And, like you said, at least you don't have to expand any more, and I'm so glad to hear you don't have pain in the front of your mouth anymore...here's hoping it stays gone!

I'm still the same...I think my swelling has gone down a little more this week, which I think may be due to taking bromelain. I wish I had gotten some to start taking right after surgery, but I figured I had spent enough money at that point and passed.
My biggest frustration right now is that I'm not having a lot of improvement in my range of movement...I'm still only able to open my mouth 1 finger width despite lots of exercises and warm/moist heat with massage. My surgeon told me that he can get it to open wider if he wants to, which scared me, so I'll keep trying to do better. Another thing that stems from this is that I can't yawn. So, I haven't had a good yawn in over a month...not fun!!

Anyway, I hope everyone continues to have a good recovery!

#52 Post by **geordie999** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:06 pm

I was just about to ask how everybody was doing and then there are two updates.

BracketRacket - sorry to hear about the frustrations with limited expanding and I hope the emergency wasn't too bad. From all the pictures I've seen on here I guess there must be a range of RPE's since mine seemed to keep on going and going...I'm sure everything will turn out great.

Charlise - I'm glad you're feeling a bit better. Keep doing the exercises and I'm sure it will improve. When I was recovering I used the original bed buddy as a source of moist heat - 45 seconds in the microwave, tie the blue handles together with a handkerchief, and wrap around your head. Very nice.

My gap is now huge, well over 10mm although i haven't measured it. I officially stopped expanding this Tuesday after two weeks of expanding. Both the OS and ortho (in separate appointments) said that things looked good and the OS doesn't need to see me for another three weeks. He even allowed me to chew soft food, so pasta and meatloaf here i come.

My top teeth are finally wider than my bottom teeth (hooray) but now I'm worried about how they are going to close the gap. Charslie I'm just like you in that I had all my premolars removed so I only have four teeth each side (beyond the expander) to play with - I wonder if implants are in my future

The ortho and the OS said that they won't start actively trying to close the gap until August to allow for some bone growth - should make teaching in September fun as I lisp my way through lots of tough terminology...The ortho also said he might be able to remove the RPE at the end of August and replace it with an TPA but I'll check with the OS to see if that is reasonable.

#53 Post by **BracketRacket** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:54 pm

Thanks for the good thoughts, guys. I know at least we'll have much more space than we started out with, but I'm just feeling down about it. I'm hopeful it will all work out, though -- or at least I keep telling myself that!

My expander is actually bone-borne, it's implanted in the roof of my mouth instead of attached to my teeth, like I think most people's are. It kind of looks like a car jack, so when we started there were pretty decent sized angles on the sides, and now it is much straighter, nearly straight across -- don't know if I'm explaining that well. If I can get a non-slobbery pic one of these days I'll post it, don't want to gross you guys out, I'm still a spit machine.

I'm glad you guys are feeling better -- if we all continue to feel a little better each day, it'll be great. Charlsie, is that a vitamin supplement or something? Sounds interesting, I'm glad it seems to be working for you.

I hear you about the gap...mine's about the size of the three bottom teeth below it.

I guess we just have to trust that everyone has a plan ready to go -- hopefully a good one!

#54 Post by **BracketRacket** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:57 pm

And to spare ya the details, let's just say the emergency involved much more blood than I'd ever like to see again.

#55 Post by **charlsie142** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:26 am

BracketRacket- I'm so sorry you had to go through such a scary experience! Still doing okay?

And bromelain is made from pineapple extract...it's supposed to help reduce swelling (as well as digestion of protein and many other things). You can find it at nutrition stores, if interested. I know a lot of people had recommended it on these message boards in addition to arnica gel (for bruising and swelling), which I did use.

I am having some issues with my nose (my surgeon fixed my deviated septum during surgery) which I mentioned on my blog. It's really too gross to discuss here, but I'm waiting for a call back from him to see what I need to do.

Geordie-- you mentioned teaching in your last post...what do you teach? I have to start teaching an intro to psych class next month, which I was afraid to accept before surgery. Luckily I think I'll be okay to do so when the time comes.

Hope everyone is doing well! I'll try to remember to update here when I find out what's up with my nose.

#56 Post by **geordie999** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:56 pm

Sounds like everybody is doing well even if there are minor inconveniences along the way. I'm slowly healing and getting used to the weird feeling that the two halves of my upper jaw are not connected by bone anymore. I also get that strange rigid feeling when I chew something soft and 'feel' the plates holding everything together.

BracketRacket, sorry about the emergency. My only speed bump was the nose bleeds I had for a couple of days after surgery that peaked when my sinuses finally cleared during my only night in hospital - kind like of the feeling when you clear your ears after flying. I asked my OS about it and he did mention that they 'poke' around in the sinuses (I'm sure it was something more techical than that) during ops like mine so to expect it...

Charlsie142 - hope the nose issues can be dealt with quickly and painlessly. I actually feel like I can breathe more easily now than before the op and the expansion - I wonder if my sinuses are bigger? And good luck teaching Intro to Psych - a big class I'm guessing - I'm sure you'll do a great!

I'm actually a chemistry prof here at a liberal arts college here in SoCal (I'm younger than you think

) - mostly organic chemistry. Enjoying my lazy summer before I get back into the mix in early September.

#57 Post by **charlsie142** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:31 pm

Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to be sedated to have whatever this is in my nose removed. So, that happens on the 28th of this month. I posted about it in more detail in my blog just a bit ago, so if anyone is that interested, see the www link below.

Geordie-How cool...I absolutely loved organic chemistry and biochemistry when I took them. All because of an amazing professor! So I'm sure you'll inspire others to love it, too.

And I think a common side effect of upper jaw surgery of any sort is that usually the airways are made larger. I know my surgeon also gave me a septoplasty during my surgery, and lots of others also get turbinectomies during surgery (not sure if I had that, too). As my surgeon put it, "no one else is in a better position than I am to fix it since I'll be in there anyway.." Glad to hear you're reaping some of the benefits as well, geordie!

Today was also my first day back on campus...had too many meetings and too much walking around campus in 90+ degree heat. I was a super tired and not feeling too well by the end, but I survived. What stinks is that by this point, you look normal so everyone assumes you're up to any amount of work professors ask you to do...so we'll see if I'm ready for it, I guess. It will be nice to get back into normal activities though.

#58 Post by **geordie999** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:58 pm

Charlise142 - read your blog about your nose. It's great to be an interesting case..."oooh I've never seen that before" are not really the words you want to hear out of a doctor.

And yeah for me...somebody who likes organic chemistry who doesn't have a PhD in it. Your response is not the normal response I get from people, particularly doctors who usually say that it was very hard and they didn't get a very good grade in it...oh well.

Next semester should be fine for me since I've been doing this for a while and I'm not even sure I need my notes any more. But I just can't wait to get the expander out and a TPA in so I can talk properly. Thankfully I chose to pull back from work this summer - since I'm really only on a 9-month contract - so no student mentoring, no meetings, and only showing up on campus when I absolutely have to. And I hear you about looking normal - although all I have to do is smile at people and they go "Are you OK? What happened? Were you in an accident? Are you getting an implant?"

Interesting that my doctor never talked about septoplasty or a turbinectomy - which sounds like you're having a Dyson vacuum cleaner installed

I never brought it up so I guess it doesn't matter - I guess my easier breathing was just a happy side effect.

BracketRacket - hope things have settled down and no more emergencies...

#59 Post by **BracketRacket** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:33 am

Thanks. Hope you guys are feeling good! I go back to work tomorrow, a bit worried, but I think I'll be fine -- just feeling insecure.

I've come to a bit of status quo -- and that's ok by me for now! My lip is still a bit numb, I can't feel my upper teeth and parts of my palate, but I'm hopeful that will come back soon. When I move my upper lip, it feels tight and weird and it still hurts to smile. I think some of my stitches are gone, so hopefully more will go and things will feel better. I have some swelling around the sides of my nose that I hope will go soon! Eating is a bit of a challenge, so I just don't chew at all -- it's weird and I sometimes hit the expander screw with my bottom teeth and don't want to do it hard by accident. Ugh.

How are you guys doing with swelling/numbness?

#60 Post by **geordie999** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:51 am

Congrats on getting back to work. As far as numbness goes I can't feel my upper teeth either or my upper gums and parts of my palate. It really is a strange feeling (or lack thereof) and completely different from when the dentist does it. Although I can feel heat up there since i did a good job burning my upper palate with a steak fry a couple of days ago

My OS told me before surgery that they cut all of the nerves above the roots of those teeth so no pain - but makes flossing (which I do gingerly) very interesting - especially since my teeth have now been RPE'd and are in different places. Since I can't feel the floss with my teeth any more I have to use a mirror which makes it interesintg - oh well...

And it took about 2.5 weeks for my stitches to totally dissolve though I'm still a little tender in that area if I poke it with a finger - which is probably telling me that I shouldn't poke it with a finger. I'm now chewing very soft food - like non crispy steak fries (hopefully cool ones) and turkey sandwiches on really soft bread.

Hope the first day back at work went well.