5 Months Post-Op: My post op experience thus far

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#1 Post by **brendan** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:41 am

Had surg April 1st:

April - June:

Lost weight
Lost a shtload of muscle
Eating liquid sucks
Swollen as hell
Numb as hell

July:

Weight slowly comes back on
Eating mushy diet is better than liquid!
Numbness goes except for lower lip and upper jaw [inside]

August:

Eating normal again
Can go to gym
Gained back most of weight

September: Right now

Gained about 5-7 lbs of muscle back on frame from hitting gym during august, crazy how quick it comes back on

Still mostly numb in my lower lip and SERIOUSLY numb in all my upper palate jaw area. Flossing is ridiculously hard because you cant really feel where you are going.

Braces off in a month so im hyped on that.

About 80% of swelling is gone, still a bit in my cheeks

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Anyway, for everyone getting ready for the surgery, heres key things you should remember:

1. The first 2 months f'ing suck. They are not HORRIBLE though or anything like that. Just be ready for at least a month of your social life to be on hold. You look like a monkey for at least the first 3. Also, eating liquid, gets old QUICK. Everyone talks about the blenders and this and that , but the truth is, every time you see some bangin lookin regular food, you are gonna drool! Just brace for that!

2. You are gonna lose some weight, be swollen, and MORE THAN LIKELY [statistically] have some numbness SOMEWHERE for a while. At this point, it is unlikely from my gatherings, that my lower lip will come back fully, however, after about 1.5-2 years post up, I anticipate it should be at least 80%. KISSING IS HELLA ANNOYING. Not having control of your lower lip / feeling whatever definitely throws you off. Its not even that really, its the STIFFNESS of the lower lip.

3. You may not be 1000000% happy, so dont go into expecting a miracle. I am very happy with everything, my breathings better, sleeping better, even my cardio is a lot easier to do [can run longer etc]. But at the same point, it is a lot of money and time and sacrifice. Just make sure when you are doing this, you are completley hyped on it, and are sure you can handle the burden of the first couple months.

4. TIME FLIES!!!!! SO dont stress. Before you know it your back to regular life.

Ciao!

#2 Post by **marycotter5678** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:21 pm

Thanks for the update. It's really good to hear someone talk about the weight/muscle and exercise issues.. I am worried about that but it was good to hear that itcomes back within just a couple of months.

#3 Post by **brendan** » Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:43 pm

marycotter5678 wrote:Thanks for the update. It's really good to hear someone talk about the weight/muscle and exercise issues.. I am worried about that but it was good to hear that itcomes back within just a couple of months.

No problem. I think its important to mention, I never read anything about muscle issues, just vague thoughts about how 'the weight came back'. I was really concerned with how much muscle i lost due to not being able to intake real protein etc. [just whey dosnt cut it in my opinion, but thats a whole other argument].

Anyway, once they cleared me for heavy lifting, i was in the gym 4 times a week throughout august, and i'd approximate i gained back ~5 lbs of muscle.

ALSO- STRENGTH: due to not working out since prior to April, i lost a lot of strength, but muscle memory [thank god] came back. Im about 75% back to what i was lifting before.

Cheers!

#4 Post by **Jason27** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:47 am

Hey Brendan,

Good to hear your recovery process has gone well & your almost done! Exercising/lifting was an issue I was concerned with as well as I try to do one or both everyday. I started lifting really light weights at 3 wks post-op just to get my muscles reacquainted. By 6 wks I was lifting heavier stuff and now, at 8 weeks, I've probably amassed 70% of my former muscle. Muscle memory does play a significant role, as I was pleasantly surprised how quickly definition was recovered after a few weeks of consistent workouts.

Keep us posted on the rest of your recovery, as I also am waiting for swelling/numbness to subside. I guess a negative to lifting post-op is that it may make the swelling flare up a bit; however, I find that running acts as a counter-solution in the fact that I always feel noticeably less swollen after a few miles!

#5 Post by **kylesoccer7** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:11 pm

did you have upper and lower? why? do you have any pics (before & after)?