January 2010 Buddies

Message

#61 Post by **enigma** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:53 am

Hey Ivstinvs,
Just a tip maybe you might find useful I have read on here to try breath easy strips on your nose at night time. Though Im not sure if yours is a congestion problem or not just thought I would share the thought hope everyone is well today.
Crazy hope your holding up ok too

#62 Post by **lfwood** » Mon Jan 11, 2010 3:02 pm

Well its the 12th of January here in Australia - so wishing crazybeautiful and ReneG all the best for today when the world rolls around a bit.

2 more days for me....

#63 Post by **enigma** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:03 am

Thinking of Crazybeautiful and ReneG sending you best wishes calmness lol as much as you can get at least. Catch you both up when your feeling ready hoping the next few days are as comfortable as they can be xxx

#64 Post by **ReneG** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:00 pm

Thanks all! I just got home! It's about 24 hours since the start of my surger!

I was prescribed amoxilin (capsule), metronidazole (tablet) and paracetomol (tablet) ... Do I seriously have to crush the tablets?? YUXK >.<
I opened up the amox and mixed it with apple juice and it's seriously bad stuff yuxk yuxk yuxk yuxk

Ok. Surgery started late at 1pm instead of 11.30am. The person before me having wisdom teeth extractions ran into complications

So I was introduced early to the hunger since I my last meal was at 10pm.

The anesthetist was a very likeable older man - made a lot of jokes to put me at ease. I was relatively calm and cheerful but could not help but feel some dread as I sat on the table and they were prepping the monitors.

For the record, yea I also got the anti-nausea drips with made me ticklish down there

I did NOT say anything!

Surgery took about 2hours 15 minutes. I woke up feel sleepy but ok. My tongue was numb as was my entire jaw. No jaw wrap, no ice. Teeth in bite splint and banded closed with elastics. My tongue was numb I thought the bite splint was an inner wire going behind my lower teeth!

I an NG tube out my left nostril and had two thin tubes from each side ending in mini blood bags. NG tube was removed soon after. Drainage tubes removed this morning (13th) before discharge.

I was moved to a normal ward, high-dependancy ward was not necessary. Given normal paracetamol (crushed and mixed in water which I refused to take for the ugh factor. Thank goodness I have a high pain threshold >.< ) and IV antibiotics and anti-nausea meds.

My lower jaw was advanced at least 10mm. For the first time, my tongue can stretch out in my mouth! Four screws and one plate on each side.

A bit more swollen now than after surgery.

I found out this morning from the other surgeon, that Dr Tay did one side and he did the other side. I was trying to find out who did which side but he was saying it doesn't matter. Well, Dr Tay told him to remove the drainage tubes so he's the junior duh. Which leads me to conclude that he did my left side which is more swollen and has more bruises. I'm annoyed because I do wish I was told earlier.

Ok I'm going to drink my lunch then try crushing the tablets *shudder*

#65 Post by **ReneG** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:16 pm

Oh yea, I was cleared to use my Oral B electric. The other surgeon had no idea what a waterpik is.

But the good thing that came out of that is that he got me a 25c syringe and a long tube that fits the nozzle. I can cut the tube to shorter tubes. This works out a lot better for feeding than the zip and squeeze! Definitely more convenient for refilling and cleaning as the parts are all removable.

The tube is labelled "Ryle's tube (Stomach tube) and the syringe is a 25cc Terumo with a small side nozzle.

#66 Post by **ReneG** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:22 pm

AND I have one neat 'X' stitch on my right cheek close to the jawline and one not so nice reverse '7' stich on my left cheek, where the screws went in.

Also, my skin is RIDICULOUSLY oily!

#67 Post by **ReneG** » Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:39 pm

Right side of tongue was stuck between right side teeth. Had to yank it out. But it was no longer numb about 12 hours after surgery. Only lower jaw is numb now. I can feel my fingers running over the skin, just kinda distant.

#68 Post by **OhioM** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:44 am

ReneG, glad to hear you are recovering and getting things figured out. You must be so relieved to get past surgery! Keep us updated!

#69 Post by **sauerkraut** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:38 am

Congratulations, ReneG. I'm always impressed to see folks back and posting so soon after surgery. I was kept in for 4 days just for SARPE! Thanks for giving so many details. I'll be getting my lower jaw advanced... some day

... so it's always good to get an idea of what to expect. Hope your recovery continues well. Sounds like you're doing great so far

#70 Post by **ReneG** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 11:15 am

OhioM and sauerkraut: yes I am definitely glad to get past surgery!

I'm glad that my postings help others. In other areas I refrain from posting since there are so many other knowledgeable posters. But there are so many variances for surgical cases and I'm too lazy to blog

Just went out on a 1 am run to get more ice. I don't have a freezer so I borrowed a coleman cooler for store-bought ice. Since it was a 500m walk, I also stocked up on more preservative free 100% Apple juice and soya milk with extra calcium. The walk back with about 6 kg of stuff (they only had 5kg bags of ice!) took me 15 minutes with a couple of rest stops. Feeling the exhaustion now but I guess I'm doing ok, considering.

On hindsight, it was good to go at this late hour. There were just a handful of people all round and only the cashier at the store gave me funny looks.

Just to complain some more about the other surgeon... my right side just looks as if I gained some weight. The left side is a definite chipmunk with LOTS of acorns! grrrr

Lips and chin are desert dry and I ply them with vaseline. Forehead nose and upper cheeks are constantly oily. what gives??

#71 Post by **enigma** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:10 pm

Forehead nose and upper cheeks are constantly oily. what gives??[/quote]
From what I have read on here this is your skin over compensating for when its stretched so much with the swelling it may start eventually to go dry too glad to hear your doing so well at the moment xxx

#72 Post by **lfwood** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:31 pm

Thanks all! I just got home! It's about 24 hours since the start of my surger!

WOW - You're home already!! Thats fantastic ReneG!!

I have 30 more minutes to eat. My surgery time has been changed from 1:30pm to 4pm now. Oh well. Have already been to the shops and my husband is about to do the groceries with the kids.

I will definately be in hospital for 2-3 days - I guess that is just what they do here in Australia. I have my magazines, spammer spammer, hey I'm a spammer so please report me ds and a good book to read. At least I will be in air con - its summer here at the moment and looking at a couple of fairly hot days 30 - 33 degrees C. The neighbours are also renovating and sanding their floors - hope that is done by the time I get home (sigh).

Well am going to go and eat some more bread and fruit.

See you all on the other side.

Leonie

#73 Post by **OhioM** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:37 pm

Leonie - Good luck - can't wait to hear how things go! We'll be thinking about you here and hoping for a speedy recovery.

#74 Post by **ivstinvs** » Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:34 pm

enigma wrote:Hey Ivstinvs,
Just a tip maybe you might find useful I have read on here to try breath easy strips on your nose at night time. Though Im not sure if yours is a congestion problem or not just thought I would share the thought hope everyone is well today.
Crazy hope your holding up ok too

I actually started using them a few days ago and found I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep without them. The funny thing is that now I'm having the opposite problem--my nose is always running! I got rid of the humidifier after a couple of nights and now a significant amount of swelling has gone down already so sleeping is actually getting easier. The only problem I'm [still] having is sleeping upright. I wake up about five times each night with my chin in my shoulder and a sharp pain in my jaw. It's not pretty.

ReneG, it's great to hear that you're doing well and that you're home already. I wish I were so lucky. It seems you're waking up experience was a little more pleasant than mine. My tubes actually caused me to gag and I thought I was going to choke on my tongue (which still had complete feeling) because it had actually been pushed back lol.

Hoping to hear good news from crazybeautiful soon.

I hope all is going well for lfwood! Not sure what the time difference is, so you may already be in surgery...

#75 Post by **enigma** » Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:50 am

Thinking of you Ifwood wishing you a speedy recovery catch up on the other side xxx
Throwing out good thoughts to Crazybeautiful too hope to hear from you soon xxx