June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[kelse]

Thanks deathorglory and snapdresser.

I'm sure it'll work out!! X

[jaime]

I'm 4 weeks post-op today which is ridiculous. Who put me in a time machine?!

New development this week: if I hold my mouth shut (which is a habit when I'm around people), my brackets and hooks press into my lower lip and it burns so badly. I've been using wax and dental silicone but it still hurts.

Swelling seems to go up and down lately. It's weird.

I guess I'm the only one still off from work? I still have 2 more weeks off...mostly just enjoying myself at this point but don't tell my boss.

Congrats to snapdresser and nozzelnut for getting some elastics removed! I'm sure it feels awesome!

[snapdresser]

Jaime - Haha I won't tell your boss That's pretty weird that it burns your lower lip. You think it's just an altered sensation thing related to tingly-ness? How did your surgeon say your bottom sutures look or did they not say? Enjoy your final week! When you starting work again? you gonna go in next week at all or just wait it out until the following Monday?

[Liz192]

Snap- No one was more surprised at how much the surgeon contradicted everything y'all had told me. Haha but we will see. Hopefully it all goes as easy as they say it will.

Jamie- are there any sores or cuts on the inside of your lower lip? If so you can try Peroxyl (it's a hydrogen peroxide rinse by Colgate) or Orabase. Those are two things we recommend at our clinic. But if there are no sores maybe the "burning" is a good sign that feeling is coming back.

[gruntled]

I have been given the go-ahead to only wear the elastics at night and I have been so terrible at putting them back on

[jaime]

Woo hoo, that's awesome gruntled!! I wish I was only on night elastics!

I don't go back to work until the 27th. When I told my boss I was taking 6 weeks off, he was like "Why don't you take more?!" They'd think I was crazy if I went back early.

My incision looks great, no cuts anywhere. When I pull my lower lip down (after having held my mouth closed), I can see a perfect indentation of my hardware. It's like a burning/rubbed raw feeling which seems like an accurate sensation. I don't have a problem when I remember to relax my lips, but it's such an ingrained habit to hold my mouth shut! Thanks for the tip though, Liz!

I do notice that instead of tingling, I seem to have more throbbing than anything else. Guess I got the short end of the nerve regeneration stick!

You're back to work now eh, snap?

[snapdresser]

Gruntled - Lucky... You find it weird going without the elastics all day? How does your bite line up when you're just casually biting down? Sometimes I still hit a couple teeth together weird cuz the muscles are still stretching/relaxing a little more. Much better than it was a week or two ago tho.

Jaime - The 27th??? Nice! My boss was really good about urging me to take as much time as I need. I had 4.5 weeks worth of sick leave, but after that I would have started cutting into my annual leave (regular days off) and I have a trip to London coming up next month that I need to save my annual leave for. And I wanted to get back sooner rather than later so when I put in for leave to go to London it's not right after I return from a month+ off lol. Tho my boss has already given me the go-ahead for the London trip too. I let him know before the surgery that I wanted to get back fairly soon for those reasons I just said. Plus since I came back to work a little early I have a couple extra days of sick leave just in case I get sick or something. Still, that woulda been nice to take 6 weeks... Ideal, even, since you'll be out of elastics and all at that point.

What happens at Week 6 regarding diet? Do you transition to "any soft foods" or is it even more open than that? If so, I need to go ahead and start lining up restaurant reservations now

[KaylaChristine]

Snapdresser - Glad to know that your gums a little pale as well---I'm paranoid that something is going to go wrong lol. Sounds like your surgery and everything was a steal! I'm still waiting for the hospital charges to show up online. The surgeon's fee has been processed & everything. Total charge was $12,035. Insurance paid $4,198.75 & $6,557 was written off. My portion ended up being $1,279.25 so the surgeon's office owes me $368.75 . I'm waiting until I get the statement in the mail from insurance before I hassle them.

Kelse - I think at least 3 weeks would be best. I went back after two weeks & worked half days my first week back. I felt exhausted after every little task. Being on the computer, driving my car to work, etc. were all exhausting at that point. I definitely felt much better at week 3.

Jaime - Sorry to hear about your lower lip burning. Hopefully it will toughen up and stop hurting soon! My swelling is going up and down as well. Mostly because I haven't really been sleeping elevated the past few nights. My cheeks have been pretty puffy & tight in the morning.

So the past several days my bottom jaw has been jerking forward, upward & to the sides every now and then. It sometimes happens when I'm talking, drinking or just randomly. And because of that my wires aren't as tight as they probably should be. I can wiggle my bottom jaw a lot more than I could before. Called the surgeon's office and made an appointment for Tuesday to see if he should tighten them. I'd hate for anything to heal incorrectly. My cheek numbness has gone down--the left side is still more numb. I've been getting lots of tingles & itches in the areas that are really numb so I'm sure that's a good sign. I broke down the other night and blew my nose...a lot harder than I should have. He gave me the okay to blow lightly last week, but I just couldn't stand it anymore! I couldn't breathe out of my nose at all one night & didn't get practically any sleep. The only thing he warned me of about blowing my nose was that it could increase swelling. It might have increased for a short period of time but it wasn't too bad. Since then my upper jaw/cheek area on the right side has been a little sore to the touch but that might just because I'm less numb & swollen over there.

Oh, and I got a haircut earlier in the week -- chopped off around 6 inches. I haven't had the energy or the range of motion to really deal with my hair (my hair is really thick & wavy). The stylist was really rough with me though. I told her about the surgery & everything but man, she sure jerked my head around. Apparently I should have told her to be gentle with me lol.

I've been really busy with work and getting back into the grove of things, but I'm hoping to post a new video tonight.

Have you guys gotten many comments on how different you look? I've gotten quite a few. It's still really strange looking at myself in the mirror.

[jaime]

Snap, that's funny you're going away shortly after you get back because I am, too. I work for 9 days and then go on my honeymoon (finally). I'm not going anywhere as exotic as London, though!

As far as week 6, I was just told that's when I can start trying to chew again. I don't know about other people here, since you and Nozzel were cleared to eat some soft things now.

Gee, you're all eating real food, sleeping horizontally, and having fewer elastics or night elastics only. I feel so far behind, haha.

Kayla, that's why I got my hair cut and coloured a few days before surgery! I didn't want to have to get it done while I don't want to make small talk, or get knocked in the face. Also I knew I was going to be taking lots of photos and videos and I wanted to not have 2 inches of roots!

Well, I'm off to go make a blog post. I've procrastinated it long enough.

[Liz192]

Jamie I'm glad to see you are improving. You've come along way since day 1. I love your positive spirit.

I was talking to a friend today and she asked me what I wanted for my last meal before surgery. I can't think of what I want so I figured I would ask y'all what you had as your "last" meal.

Hope everyone is doing well!

[jaime]

Liz, I went to one of my favourite restaurants and just picked something that sounded good. In my case, it was a beef dip au jus, with sweet potato fries and basil mayo. Also had a (okay the censoring doesn't like the word c0cktail) and my favourite dessert: a white chocolate brownie a la mode.

Originally I was going to go to a nice steakhouse but I ended up having steak the weekend before surgery.

Whatever you do, just don't eat soup for your last meal. You'll get enough of it in the weeks after.

[Liz192]

That sounds amazing! Haha I need to come eat with you oh I was thinking about this yesterday, have you tried putting dental wax on the lower hooks? I have to right now because they are tearing up the inside of my lip. I'm trying to wean myself off of the wax though. It might help relieve some of the pressure of the hooks.

[jaime]

Yup, I was using dental wax and silicone (which works better but is so visible, ugh). Thanks for thinking of me, though! I've been working on not keeping my mouth closed so I haven't had a problem for the past few days.

Do you know what you want to eat for your last meal? Let me live vicariously through you. haha

[Liz192]

Haha I'm not sure what my last meal will be but I'm about to have Greek food now. Bring on the chicken yeeros!

[snapdresser]

LaylaChristine - To quote my surgeon, "Relax. Enjoy your weekend" I'm sure our gums will be fine That's awesome about the refund from your surgeon. I think sampmitch might be the only person in the group paying out of pocket. That's interesting that blowing your nose could increase swelling! I was at the airport yesterday and something in the bathroom gave me a ridiculous allergic reaction. I couldn't stop sneezing, and my nose started running. I went ahead and bought some tissues to blow my nose with. I was gentle, but it was my first time post-op so I was a bit concerned. Not too much tho, cuz some of you guys already have permission. I've gotten some comments on how different I look, but I've made a point of not being seen by many of the people I know while I heal. We'll see what they say when I start hanging out with my friends again I agree, it's still strange looking in the mirror. It's gonna take some getting used to. It's nice to have a pleasant surprise when looking in the mirror tho

Jaime - I think I remember you mentioning the honeymoon before. Where are you guys going? You already told your boss you're going back out, right? Maybe it's 6 weeks until we get permission to eat anything soft? Maybe we'll be allowed to progress ourselves to harder foods when we feel ready? Kinda hard to believe from my surgeon tho, considering how specific and conservative she's been about all this stuff I still don't usually sleep fully horizontal. I use 1 wedge now, but sleep on my side again. Sometimes I come off the wedge, but I try not to. Don't worry, you're pretty close to where I am with recovery. Btw, I saw your blog post and it's nuts! I hadn't seen a "before SARPE" picture of you before! Crazy! I can tell why you're already so happy with your results! They're very impressive! Btw, your frown pic is incredible It's good that your numbness is going down below your eyes. Feeling just comes back so slow Does the numbness in your lip seem to affect your eating or anything? Or you only really notice it when you poke it? On the top of my front teeth my surgeon adjusted a wire cuz of that loosened tooth and now the wire kinda sticks out and hurts my upper lip, so on Friday I picked up some wax. So I'm in that same boat. Why are you trying to keep your mouth open? Cuz of that pain? I've kept mine closed pretty much full time since I was first able to close my lips. I think that might have helped with getting rid of any lingering lip incompetence.

Liz192 - I had a lobster roll and homemade root beer from a local highly-rated lobster roll place I'd never been too. It was pretty incredible The only complaint was that I couldn't get one of their microbrews cuz I was already supposed to have stopped consuming alcohol prior to the surgery. I would mind that, too. Some people have post-op nausea issues related to blood in the stomach and it doesn't sound fun. I had a tube in my stomach to suck out the blood, but maybe that's uncommon? I second Jaime's statement, don't get soup