Metal Mouth Message Board

hi all, i've just had surgery 2 days ago and i've got some questions to ask. Mainly questions for those who have had surgery already.

1. How effective are the cold packs in reducing swelling? Are they more for pain instead? Should i stick with them for a week or more? Should i give warm packs a try instead?
2. How long were you on a liquid diet for before moving to a soft food diet? I'll be wired shut for 4 weeks.
3. I'm always feeling a little dizzy or light headed is this normal and a result of lying down for too long?
4. Dark, blood-like stools, how long is this evident for and am i the only one experiencing these problems?

That's all for now, thanks in advance.

Lefort 1, BSSO, and Genio on 11/2010.

1. After about 2 to 3 days of the cold packs they really don't help. The best way to reduce swelling will be to sleep upright. Also, try to walk around the house and outside if you can.
2. 3 weeks
3. I believe that is the result of the anesthesia still in your system and your pain meds. I felt the samy way.
4. Not sure on that one, I did not have that issue.

Rodney008 wrote:Lefort 1, BSSO, and Genio on 11/2010.

1. After about 2 to 3 days of the cold packs they really don't help. The best way to reduce swelling will be to sleep upright. Also, try to walk around the house and outside if you can.
2. 3 weeks
3. I believe that is the result of the anesthesia still in your system and your pain meds. I felt the samy way.
4. Not sure on that one, I did not have that issue.

Thanks for your response though your answer to question 4 worries me! Hopefully im not the only one.
Also, on what day(s) was your swelling at its peak?

pa1n wrote:hi all, i've just had surgery 2 days ago and i've got some questions to ask. Mainly questions for those who have had surgery already.

1. How effective are the cold packs in reducing swelling? Are they more for pain instead? Should i stick with them for a week or more? Should i give warm packs a try instead?
2. How long were you on a liquid diet for before moving to a soft food diet? I'll be wired shut for 4 weeks.
3. I'm always feeling a little dizzy or light headed is this normal and a result of lying down for too long?
4. Dark, blood-like stools, how long is this evident for and am i the only one experiencing these problems?

That's all for now, thanks in advance.

My take...

1. Personally I found the ice packs really helpful for swelling, also I found cold gel packs comforting when I was having some pain
2. I've been on a liquid diet for 2 weeks (surgery was 2 weeks ago today) and I've been given the go-ahead for very soft "real" foods
3. I'm dizzy/lightheaded a lot too. IMO the amount of nutrients you get from a liquid diet are so so, you don't get a lot of "bang for your buck" with them as far as feeling vital and strong goes. Take it easy, but do try to get up and move around. I've been nauseous a lot too, so I've gratefully relied on Gravel suppositories to be able to function
4. Ugh... yeah. This too. The day after my surgery I had a rather embarassing moment with such bloody (in my case liquid) stool. I thought I was all over it, but this past Tuesday night proved that wrong. Not bloody, just dark and unpleasant

Hope you're feeling rightly soon!

Also, my swelling seemed to peak on day 3. Big ole moon face!

Congrats on getting to the other side! Things will only get better from here .

1. I used ice packs for 3 days after surgery and eventually switched to heat. That's what the PA told me to do and so I did it. Swelling peaked at day 3-4 and went down afterwards.
2. I was on a liquid diet for 2 weeks. Unwired, then, 4 week soft-no chew-diet.
3. I experienced dizziness and lightheadedness after my surgery for some time when I got up too fast. I don't have hx/o orthostatic hypotension, but definitely could be d/t several etiologies r/t surgery. I don't experience this anymore.
4. No bloody or dark stools. Are you on iron supplements (new)?

boatsink wrote:Congrats on getting to the other side! Things will only get better from here .

1. I used ice packs for 3 days after surgery and eventually switched to heat. That's what the PA told me to do and so I did it. Swelling peaked at day 3-4 and went down afterwards.
2. I was on a liquid diet for 2 weeks. Unwired, then, 4 week soft-no chew-diet.
3. I experienced dizziness and lightheadedness after my surgery for some time when I got up too fast. I don't have hx/o orthostatic hypotension, but definitely could be d/t several etiologies r/t surgery. I don't experience this anymore.
4. No bloody or dark stools. Are you on iron supplements (new)?

hi boatsink,
i am on iron supplements, something called Accomin. that explains it! i thought it would have been all the blood still from surgery.

pa1n wrote:hi all, i've just had surgery 2 days ago and i've got some questions to ask. Mainly questions for those who have had surgery already.

1. How effective are the cold packs in reducing swelling? Are they more for pain instead? Should i stick with them for a week or more? Should i give warm packs a try instead?
2. How long were you on a liquid diet for before moving to a soft food diet? I'll be wired shut for 4 weeks.
3. I'm always feeling a little dizzy or light headed is this normal and a result of lying down for too long?
4. Dark, blood-like stools, how long is this evident for and am i the only one experiencing these problems?

That's all for now, thanks in advance.

1. I wore the ice packs religiously for the first five days, and intermittently for another five days after that. I never used heat. This helped the swelling immensely, and I was back to work after a week and a half.

2. The liquid diet is a process. I was on pure liquids only for a couple weeks, but started to move to mushy foods shortly thereafter. Your jaw will let you know if you are pushing the limit. It took me about two months before I felt unrestricted. I wasn't wired either - I had extremely strong rubber bands. Then again, I had lower jaw surgery, which seems a lot easier than what some of you are going through.

3. What kind of pain meds are they giving you? I was given Roxicet, and found that was the reason I felt dizzy.

4. Can't help you with that one.

glad it was the iron pills, and nothing else. Happy sailing through the recovery process .

i was told by my surgeon (arnett) that im not allowed to use ice packs after the surgery. i guess it would mess with the grafts or something? im just concerned how im going to deal with the swelling.