Metal Mouth Message Board

I'm asking b/c my husband travels for work and can only take 2.5 weeks off after my surgery before he has to leave again. I stay at home, but I'm concerned about taking care of our kids who range in age from 3-12. I'll be getting kids to school, lots of homework help in the pm, taking care of my 2 littles, cooking, cleaning, driving kids to lessons and practices. I don't feel that this is ideal at all, but don't have someone to just swoop in and care for us. My parents are across the country and not too understanding, my sister has her own 4 kids to care for, my in-laws are here but they are OLD and can't just move in with us.

Am I setting myself up for disaster? What was your pain level at 17 days post - op? What about energy level? Would you have been able to get up at 6am and make breakfast for 6 kids, get backpacks, uniforms ready, and drive kids to school? Thanks!

hey man, i'm not even close to 2.5 weeks post op but i just had a lefort 1 done (no genio) 5 days ago. From what i've read and experienced, the first few days are brutal but it gets a lot better after that, especially when you're in the clear for soft foods.

For the first week, i think you should take it slow and easy

Hi ohio mom,
I had upper, lower and genio July 22nd with a slew of post-op difficulties but was able to take care of my kids within the first week. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the help from husband and family. After the first week I let my kids, 3 of them, 16, 13 and 12 all have a friend to sleep over. I had to make sure all kids were forewarned though regarding the appearance of my face and head! You should be fine-it was described to me as more uncomfortable than painful and I found that to be true. I didn't need any pain medication after 2 days in hospital. Keep benadryl on tap though if you are having upper jaw surgery. Breathing was a pain prior to utilizing benadryl. Driving wasn't a problem either-again-my appearance was more difficult. I had to pick my son up from a sleep over at 3 weeks and told him to be outside and ready so no one would see me and you know children-he had to go to the bathroom and his friend's dad walked out to say hello. The shock on his face when he saw me as he didn't know I was having surgery, was tough. I found myself to be very emotional afterwards as they say the anesthia has effects that are evident for weeks afterwards. Good luck and god bless on a speedy and easy recovery.

hi ohiom,
i am just over 2 weeks post op top and bottom jaw. I have a home daycare and look after 5 kids daily all under5 years old, I took a month off of work. there is NO way i could have gone back to working tomorrow. my husband took 2 weeks off and works out of town and just went back today. there is no way i could have done the mom stuff here without him!!!I had and still have very little energy, starting to come back now that i have graduated to soft foods but it is a slow process. my own kids are 6 and 10 and i am thankfully that all week they will be in school full time as tending to them all day would be hard for me. After 2.5 weeks i am sure you will okay but you need to remember that you need to rest to heal and if you push yourself you will have setbacks.
is there anyway you could hire someone to help you? Or perhaps ask a friend to even do some of the ectra stuff like running the kids to after school activites?
feel free to PM me if you have any questions