January 2010 Buddies

[crazybeautiful]

Good luck OhioM!

Also about the intensive care unit- they told me that if I were to have the splint I would be put in the intensive care unit. I think it's just so they can monitor you more closely in terms of breathing, etc. Again I'm not from the US like lfwood, and there seems to be a tendancy for slightly more 'cautious', shall we say, behaviours round the rest of the world.

Today I got some elastics too. Soooo disappointed that I need them, but of course I can't be so lucky as to not need anything at all. I don't know what they are but they are just in a box shape and don't feel very tight. Certainly tight, but I can still open my mouth the same as before. I haven't had a proper look yet, and am dreading having to change them tonight. But, nevermind; if my ortho could find space to get them on, I can (though it would help if I were an ortho myself I suppose, since I'm sure she's quite used to putting them on )

My swelling is still going down, and I have some patches of bruising where my drainage tubes were and on my neck, but it's bad. I'm more of a sweller than a bruiser, I think

Also, haven't had any pain meds today. I've been having only one of my meds (I have a paracetamol-type on and a stronger one) for the last fews days, maybe twice a day instead of four times, and today I've been fine without. The only pain I have is in the stitches, but is only an issue if they are exacerbated *. I think I will take some at night still, just to be sure I sleep undisturbed.

* ReneG- did it hurt when the stiches were taken out?

PS- I really could eat a steak right now

[crazybeautiful]

Photos are on my blog below. Will post on here when have time

[ORTHO12]

CrazyB

Good to hear your doing well.. I was wondering where you got to!!

I didn't really take pain meds either, I don't thinK the pain from the surgery is that bad it's more the discomfort oh and I am allergic to paracetomol so just did a week of ibruprofen before eating, sleeping was no trouble.

As for the stitches, won't they just drop out? Mine did after about 2 weeks they all came out within two days of eachother when I did my mouthwash...dread having to think of having to have them taken out as the incision site is tender.

Looked at your blog...looks like they did a good job in terms of balancing the jaw structure and profile and your teeth meet nicely looking good ...hope it makes you as happy and functional as you wanted to be...Happy Healing

[ORTHO12]

I meant Ibruprofen after eating by the way

[lfwood]

I am having my lower jaw advanced on January 21.

I got my surgical records done last week and will be getting my surgical hooks on January 4.

Goodluck swinger04

We are getting to the end of the January buddies now

[crazybeautiful]

Well I assumed they would be disolvable stitches anyway, they just don't look like the same ones I had with SARME. They haven't showed signs of dropping out yet, though

[crazybeautiful]

Ok a bit more of an update- it sucks that currently I have little internet access, so even though I want to update I can't. But, anyway.....

My upper lip is a bit taut becuase of the stitches, so you can see my teeth when I'm at rest, so I'm feeling a little mousy, or vole-y, or like some type of burrowing animal. Because the underbite is quite a masculine trait, my face just seems very sort of 'meek' looking. Not something I have a problem with, because it's too early to see your new face shape yet.
Also the swelling has 'fallen' now to the bottom of my face and my cheeks. My ears no longer feel swollen! (odd feeling that was!). My nose is still swollen too, so I can't really comment on how that has changed.

My chin is totally numb, however the nerves 'surge' sporadically which is a good sign. My lower lip is also numb, but the actual flesh of it feels almost tickly when I touch it. Still, it makes drinking without dribbling difficult. Also because of the swelling they is quite a big dip between my lower lip and chin, so I hope that goes. But of course with the swelling it could take a while.

As for eating though, I think I'm going ok. I've been eating pasta, potatoes, tuna, sausages, ice cream , yoghurts. I'm not chewing, just moving around with my tongue and then swollowing.

The bands are slightly aggravating for me. My stitches are quite taut so getting in there to stretch my face wide enough is painful. But I'm managing to get them on. I seem to be able to do my left side better. Because I'm left handed, I can't really hold the appliance the correct way to do my right side because the hook part of the appliance is the wrong way round, so I can't hook the elastic on and pull it backwards. So when I do my right side I just have to move the elastic around a bit and hope it catches onto the correct bit. I get quite a swet on when I'm doing it

Here's my photos then:













PS- also I had an exam at uni this morning that I couldn't change, so had to go. Anyway I got 74% which is ok considering. If I did badly I was just going to play the ill card

[crazybeautiful]

Also sorry forgot to add- I think my pain meds were giving me bad dreams *, or at least dreams that were more bad than good (I did dream about Torvill and Dean one night )

I hardly ever dreamt before the surgery, and all last week I had vivid dreams every night. Not nightmares because they weren't scary per se, but the subject matter was negative. As such, I'm glad to be off my medications now

* Now some of you might believe Freud's theory of dreams, but as a student of psychology myself, I personally don't buy dream interpretation What I do think is that the stuff I've been on has effected it

[OhioM]

Can we talk hygiene? I am adjusting to archbars as well as recovering, and my mouth is so sore. The arch bars are imbedding themselves in my swollen cheeks and it is very difficult to get fluid to the back of my mouth. I used a water pik on the lowest setting last night and I rinse and swish with water and some of the rinse they gave me for "debrining". Hmmmm....wonder what that word means? What else should I be using?

[ORTHO12]

OhioM

They say warm saltwater is good to keep inside your mouth clean and help with inflammation. I did notice a difference when I did it. Things just felt a bit more clean and a bit less tight.

[crazybeautiful]

Yep- the hygeinist who came to see me told me to rinse with warm salt water, and also to brush during the day with the mix too. I dodn't do it as often as she told me, but it does feel...refreshing almost.

Also even though it sounds odd- really the best way to get fluid to the back of your mouth is naturally, by gravity. By this I mean literally take some fluid and tilt your head over and to the side so the fluid just drains to the back of your mouth. Then do it on the other side. I do this to swill out foods particles after I've eaten

[OhioM]

If my surgery was Wed. 1/20, does that day count as day 1 or day 0? I'm getting desperate for the swelling to subside, but so far, it hasn't. I am like a huge puffer fish and it's keeping me up at night. My OS said that I was a big "oozer" the whole surgery and afterwards, so maybe that has something to do with it.

When can I expect the swelling to get more comfortable? I don't need it to go away completely, I would just like to wind down on the pain meds and right now I'm so swollen, it's very painful. So I'm either on Day 4 or Day 5, depending on whether or not the day of surgery counts as Day 1 or not. Anything I can do in the meantime? I'm up and about more, drinking fluids as much as possible.

[OhioM]

One other thing that I forgot to mention before to my buddies: Afterwards my OS told me that he fixed my deviated septum during the surgery and that it had been really messed up. Is that so unusual, and will my nose look different?

[ORTHO12]

It should make you nose look straighter if it was not before, and it should help you breathe better through both nostrils.

You nose would prob look slightly different anyway due to having upper jaw surgery.

He did a good thing anyway...all for your benefit, some surgeons just leave it deviated...or even make it deviated without realising.

[ReneG]

* ReneG- did it hurt when the stiches were taken out?

For my cheek stitches, there was a tugging feeling when they were cut, and it stung when the thread was pulled out. There was slight bleeding but that's from the scab that had formed.

Before the stitches in my mouth were removed, my surgeon applied a numbing cream. Again, there was a tugging feeling when the stitches were cut but not when they were removed. There were seven on each side. The numbness (and awful taste) lasted most of the day.

According to my surgeon, the stitches in my mouth are supposed to come out on their own, but it does take a while. However she said at this point I would heal better without them in so she opted to remove them.