August/September surgery buddies

[kelse]

Wow! It's been a busy board while I've been off the grid!!

Hi JMP75 - good to have you aboard

Hey VandyCru - I'm in Scotland but so amazing we're having the same thing on the same day . How are you feeling about tomorrow? I'm just back from camping at a music festival so I've been unpacking the car, doing the washing so I still need to pack my hospital bag
Hope you're more organised than me!!

Wow uncleezno - sounds like you're doing really well - take it easy x

[kelse]

Right, well I'm all packed - I think!! No doubt there'll be something I've forgotten!

Away to bed now to try & get some sleep. My friend is coming to collect me as I need to be on hospital early.

See you on the other side of I don't get to post tomorrow.
X

[kelse]

Good luck adorkable and vandycru x

[uncleezno]

Spoke too soon - I am dead on my feet. Haven't been able to sleep at night, super constipated from the pain meds despite taking colase, tons of pain and congestion. I am fortunate to have somewhere here helping to clean and cook because I am basically a lump.

Was able to go for a walk on Saturday; when I tried to do the same walk on Sunday I maybe made it 500 feet before I had to turn around. Boo!

[snapdresser]

Good luck kelse, Vandycru, and adorkable!!! Tho I think by the time you see this, you'll be on the other side

[slewsmissy]

I can't believe how fast time is going. It made it more real to see the schedule posted at work for the 1st week in September and see Leave Of Absence next to my name!

[adorkable8605]

I hope everything went well today for you Kelse...

Had my pre-op at the surgeons and hospital. We are doing a 1 piece lefort with advancement, BSSO, and NO genioplasty....I'm so happy because I had been so worried that a genioplasty would make my chin look huge and he said he had been trying to decide if was necessary and after much thought, decided it was unnecessary. So, now the surgery is WAY cheaper for me and hopefully recovery will be easier.

I've kind of pigged out this last week...Surprisingly, I did not a gain any weight, but I definitely made sure to eat my favorites. And I've stocked up on fruit for smoothies, sorbet, soup, and meal replacement drinks. The surgeon is very strict on the no chew diet and recommends liquid for the first week. I also got my prescriptions (a HUGE bottle of liquid hydrocodone) and some liquid antibiotic...I didn't add any flavors, so hopefully I can tolerate them (if not I'll have to bring it to the pharmacy for a flavor...They offered).

I'm excited and nervous for tomorrow! Good luck everyone!

[VandyCru]

Hi all! So I just had my lefort I and BSSO yesterday. What a ride so far! The first night is probably the worst. I had a lot of nasal discharge, so they had to put tubes in my nose and one down through to my stomach to suck up all the blood I swallowed. Not much sleep at all, especially once I started drooling and getting gunk all in my teeth.

But once morning came and they took those tubes out... absolutely heaven. Nothing in my nose, I could breathe so well, and I was actually good enough to drink from a cup! Hopefully I keep up this healing pace. Some feeling in my upper lip but not much on my lower jaw. I'm optimistic, though!

Hope your recovery is going well, kelse. Here's to chipmunk faces for the next few weeks! Stay strong, adorkable. Once that first night is done, if all goes well it should be smooth(er) sailing from here on out.

[snapdresser]

WOOOOOOOT!!!! Congrats VandyCru!!! The swelling seems to puff up for the first 72 hours or so, so be prepared for things to get a liiiittle worse in that department, but count that as a blessing that you can breathe so well! Welcome to the "Recovery Support Group"

[VandyCru]

Well, I got discharged this afternoon! Guess they decided that my nose was in good enough shape to send me home without the risk of me suffocating. My mom made what seriously seemed like the best chicken soup/broth I've ever tasted. I think she just straight up boiled a chicken! Much better than the artificial-tasting stuff you can order in the hospital. I don't know if everyone's like this, but as soon as you can (heck, even on the day right after your surgery), try drinking from a cup just to see if you can get it down that way. For me, it just helped with getting that mental sense of returning to normality, which isn't there with drinking from a syringe. Get a flexible plastic or foam cup, and SLOWLY pour small amounts into your mouth. Put a towel underneath, too, to catch the inevitable dribbling. I managed to drink at least 2 L of liquid that second day at the hospital, when they took me off of the IV sustenance.

Advice to anyone who doesn't know this already: apply petroleum jelly or lip balm as often as you can remember, or at least the second you feel like there isn't any more on your mouth. Especially around the corners of the mouth, because those are the spots that get rubbed raw the most what with all the stretching during the surgery and all the suctioning you or the nurse does on that first night.

Liquid Vicodin actually freaked me out since both times I've taken it in pill form in the past I got nauseous and threw up within the hour. It seems like I just didn't have enough in my stomach, since 15mL of the liquid meds didn't hit me too hard. Actually, I've tried cutting down the dosage to 10mL every 4 hours as needed, which seems to work more or less just as well with less nausea. My pain's around a 2, usually in the form of pressure and soreness. I'm just waiting now for the swelling to peak! I start hot presses tomorrow, can't wait for my face to start returning to normal size in a few weeks. Thankfully, my surgeon said it seems to be soft swelling so it'll go faster!

Good luck to everyone on each of your recovery journeys. Stay optimistic! I'd say keep your chin up, but I don't think any of us can really move our necks very much

[kelse]

Hi all
Glad to hear you're progressing well vandycru - that chicken broth sounds amazing, and I agree about the cup. Even with elastics in it's better than the syringe for me.

Hope your procedure went well adorkable - looking forward to hearing from you when you're up to it.

I had my surgery on Monday. It went well. Surgeon was happy with placement and nerves were intact. My lower jaw muscles have tried to push back out to their old position so I have a box elastic on the front to train them back, and also a diagonal on my left to close down that side, as the right was hitting first.

The hospital food was pretty wretched - just not suitable for people after our surgery. I came home on Wednesday a made a lovely soup with onion, veg and homemade chicken stock from the freezer. Blended & strained it was delicious!!

Pain and swelling is not bad, and bruising is just starting to show.

I'm slept upright in hospital, and am still doing so now that I'm home. I had some pretty vivid nightmares last night - hopefully that passes

Might have a wee doze now - best wishes to all x

[kelse]

Hi all
So today I have eaten a nutrition shake, cottage cheese & pineapple Blended up, and some chicken soup.

Am starting to feel some buzzing, fizzing & twitching in my lips & chin so imagine that's the nerves waking up.

Has anyone been taking bromelain for swelling ? Has it helped you?

Thanks x

[adorkable8605]

Hi all! Glad to see you all are doing well.

Surgery was Tuesday at 11 am, I got to the hospital at 9am and waiting for my turn. They made me get in this paper gown with holes every where (to hook you up to a warmer) and tried a million times to get an IV started. One infiltrated before surgery and one during surgery (my hand is still swollen from the second one). I remember some of what happened after the surgery. Wednesday morning I got up and walked around, met my morning nurse (not as good as the night nurse), say my surgeon (ick...embarrassing, my gown was so yucky from the blood and drool), and got a transfusion of my blood that I donated two weeks earlier, and went home. I had SUPER tick rubber bands all away across my mouth and it was getting harder and harder to talk as the day progressed and the swelling was blowing up. After leaving the hospital, we went to my surgeons office, where he took X-rays (I'm going to ask for all the before and after pictures next time I am there) and brushed my teeth and replaced my rubber bands. I have two rubber bands from canine to canine that I can remove to eat and brush my teeth.

Eating is nearly impossible, yesterday I had a green shake, a small amount of broth, a cup of milk, and two or three cups of water...Mostly through a syringe...My lip is so big and slightly numb, so it's impossible to use a cup without spilling it every where. This morning I had a breakfast shake, water, and a banana (I'm cutting it into tiny pieces and swallowing it).

I'm not in a whole a lot of pain, but the swelling is awful and I want to be able to eat like a semi-normal person. I'm going to make my boyfriend buy me some broth and milk today and possibly a sports bottle.

[kelse]

Hey adorkable!! Glad to hear you're on the other side now! Your surgery sounds pretty rough with the complications - hope you a continuing to improve.

Think I'm gonna try & post some pics of it'll let me!

[adorkable8605]

Nothing too bad...I'm just a big baby....lol

Eating is definitely a chore, but I can already open to one finger's width and can't wait for the swelling to go done.

I've seen so many pictures of swelling after the surgeries and thought "oh that's nothing"...It's miserable...lol. I think the arnica cream works really well, my lip and bruising look a lot better than yesterday.

How is everyone eating? What do you find to be yummy?