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New to forum...Surgery date Feb. 19th

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:15 am
by spartanfan72
Hi all...

I've done a ton of reading and searching the internet for the last few months. This site has really helped answer a ton of my questions.

Just registered and wanted to say a general thank you to everybody for all the info I've found.

I'm having LeFort I to move my upper jaw forward...lower jaw is fine. I've had braces on for just over a year and haven't really had any problems with them. They've straightened my teeth nicely, but i've still got a crossbite and underbite....the surgery is to correct that. My last appointment with the surgeon before the surgery is today at 2pm.

I've run through a range of emotions the last few months, but have finally gotten to a place where I'm actually kind of excited about it.

Once again..thanks for all the info and I'm sure I'll be on here afterwards to post about how it went.

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:54 am
by Stephany
Hey Spartanfan!
I've got my surgery on the exact same day as you! :D

i wish you good luck, and we'll soon have everything behind us!;)

greetings, stephany

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:08 am
by spartanfan72
Stephany wrote:Hey Spartanfan!
I've got my surgery on the exact same day as you! :D

i wish you good luck, and we'll soon have everything behind us!;)

greetings, stephany
Cool!

Good luck to you too.... Mine is scheduled for 7:30am..1st one of the day. I'm excited about that, I won't have much time to sit around and wait.

The one good thing about the upcoming surgery is I've been treating myself to steak just about every night. At my pre-surgery physical my family doctor said, "I'm going to give you some advice I don't normally give out"...."you might want to gain about 10lbs between now and your surgery".

Last night, dinner was a BBQ, Bacon Cheeseburger and fries. That's what will be the toughest for me, not being able to eat the foods I love.

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:20 am
by Stephany
aaaaaw, im so jealous right now!!! :D i got my braces two weeks ago, and then a wisdom teeth pulled, so i already couldnt eat anything solid since two weeks! but no problem, so i could get used to it a bit, and hot chocolate and tiramisu are my best friends now!! :mrgreen:

but its possible to get used to the liquid diet, and there are sooo many possibilities of liquids, actually you can even puree the steak!;)

greetings, stephany

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:39 am
by spartanfan72
Did I say I was "excited"???

Less than 24hrs to go and my stomach is doing flip flops. I'm trying to decide what I want for my "last meal" tonight.

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:50 am
by clairet707
Go for something that needs lots of chewing and tastes good!!

Pressed submit too soon


Good luck for tomorrow, get plenty of rest tonight, and let us all know how both of you get on.....

:-1

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:16 am
by Rach
Good Luck for tommorow spartanfan and Stephany! Look forward to seeing how your doing!

Rach xx

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:04 pm
by spartanfan72
Thanks for the wishes...

I'll post again after the surgery....Hospital just called and confirmed the appointment. I have to be there at 6:30am EST.

I guess my biggest concern right now is the emotional "down" that people describe. My surgeon even warned me about it.

I'm not normally an emotional person. Pretty much in a good mood all the time...well, unless my wife is nagging me. :)

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:46 pm
by loulou123
Good luck for tomorrow the both of you, look forward to hearing from you afterwards :D

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:33 pm
by Andantae
GOOD LUCK TOMORROW SPARTANFAN!!!!!

[IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x265 ... md_clr.gif[/IMG

Let us know how it went when you are up to it!

You will do GREAT!!!

OOO

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:17 am
by spartanfan72
I'm back home....

Stayed at the hospital one night, came home yesterday. I was prepared for some things, but not prepared for the swelling.

I can't imagine the swelling involved with both jaws. I only had the top one done and I feel like the elephant man.

There's not much pain, but the sinus pressure is pretty brutal. I'm able to drink from a cup without making too much of a mess. Used the syringe in the hospital, but haven't had to use it yet at home.

My only concern (besides the sinus pressure) is my teeth seem to be hitting on one side in the back. I had an appointment at the ortho's office on my way home from the hospital. He did x-rays and I told him about my teeth hitting. He didn't seem worried and said that was normal.

One last thing....will taking sudafed help with the sinus pressure, or is it just the swelling?

Glad to be back home, but I think I underestimated the time I'd need off work. I was hoping to be back on Monday (6-days after surgery), but the way I feel right now, there's no way.

Kenny

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:29 am
by ema27
WELCOME BACK....Sorry i cant advise on post surgery but all the best for a quick and speedy recovery...

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:07 am
by clairet707
spartanfan72 wrote:I'm back home....

Stayed at the hospital one night, came home yesterday. I was prepared for some things, but not prepared for the swelling.

I can't imagine the swelling involved with both jaws. I only had the top one done and I feel like the elephant man.

There's not much pain, but the sinus pressure is pretty brutal. I'm able to drink from a cup without making too much of a mess. Used the syringe in the hospital, but haven't had to use it yet at home.

My only concern (besides the sinus pressure) is my teeth seem to be hitting on one side in the back. I had an appointment at the ortho's office on my way home from the hospital. He did x-rays and I told him about my teeth hitting. He didn't seem worried and said that was normal.

One last thing....will taking sudafed help with the sinus pressure, or is it just the swelling?

Glad to be back home, but I think I underestimated the time I'd need off work. I was hoping to be back on Monday (6-days after surgery), but the way I feel right now, there's no way.

Kenny
Hey spartanfan, good to see you back....

The swelling is worse with the top jaw, as its more 'involved' (I had my surgery almost 3 weeks ago and my sinus area is still swollen a bit now), the sinus pressure will be due to the swelling (and tmi - the blood collected up there). One side of my teeth are hitting more than than the other so I guess its possibly normal

Good to hear you are drinking ok now, thats a start!

Are you taking anti inflammatories - they will help with the swelling a bit, not sure about sudafed though, it might cause back congestion (which you really dont want when you cant blow your nose)

Hope you feel a bit better soon, when is your check up appointment with your surgeon, maybe ask them about going back to work.. :-1

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:19 am
by spartanfan72
clairet707 wrote:
spartanfan72 wrote:I'm back home....

Stayed at the hospital one night, came home yesterday. I was prepared for some things, but not prepared for the swelling.

I can't imagine the swelling involved with both jaws. I only had the top one done and I feel like the elephant man.

There's not much pain, but the sinus pressure is pretty brutal. I'm able to drink from a cup without making too much of a mess. Used the syringe in the hospital, but haven't had to use it yet at home.

My only concern (besides the sinus pressure) is my teeth seem to be hitting on one side in the back. I had an appointment at the ortho's office on my way home from the hospital. He did x-rays and I told him about my teeth hitting. He didn't seem worried and said that was normal.

One last thing....will taking sudafed help with the sinus pressure, or is it just the swelling?

Glad to be back home, but I think I underestimated the time I'd need off work. I was hoping to be back on Monday (6-days after surgery), but the way I feel right now, there's no way.

Kenny
Hey spartanfan, good to see you back....

The swelling is worse with the top jaw, as its more 'involved' (I had my surgery almost 3 weeks ago and my sinus area is still swollen a bit now), the sinus pressure will be due to the swelling (and tmi - the blood collected up there). One side of my teeth are hitting more than than the other so I guess its possibly normal

Good to hear you are drinking ok now, thats a start!

Are you taking anti inflammatories - they will help with the swelling a bit, not sure about sudafed though, it might cause back congestion (which you really dont want when you cant blow your nose)

Hope you feel a bit better soon, when is your check up appointment with your surgeon, maybe ask them about going back to work.. :-1
My next appointment is Feb.26th. If I could cut off my head, I'd feel great. It's weird because usually when you're sick your whole body aches. I feel fine from my neck down. I'm just really looking forward to this pressure letting up.

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:36 am
by Andantae
Kenny~

Glad you're home! Sounds like things went well, but I agree with you that going back to work 6 days post-op might be optomistic. I believe Meryaten had a very fast recovery, but even then she started back part-time, but I don't remember exactly how many days post op that was--and that was BSSO, which as clairet says is a little less 'involved'. 10 days to 3 weeks seems to be more the average range of time off.

Might want to call your surgeon's office and ask as staff nurse about the pseudofed. I doubt it would work on anything other than 'normal' sinus irritation/infection/congestion.

Keep us posted on your progress and CONGRATS!