Surgery on Nov 6th!

[jsenigaglia]

Hi All,

I have been reading lots of these posts for the past few weeks in preperation for my surgery this coming Monday. Im having upper and lower done. I have already had upper expansion (I think you guys call that SARPE?) and I didnt think it was bad at all... I never filled my prescription as far as pain meds went, and I was back to work the following week. The only thing I hated was the darn gap in my teeth, but my braces took care of that in no time.

I am, however, nervous about my upcoming surgery, but it is what it is I guess. My Dr. is moving my upper jaw forward 5mm, and my lower back 5mm. So, yeah, 10 mm of moving total... The only real silver lining is that in all of her Surgeries, she has only wired people shut 10% of the time. I still have a chance of not being wired/banded at all. Hopefully the lord hears my prayers at night on that one I am still mentally preparing myself to be wired (for atleast 2 weeks) but I guess my question is, has anyone not had to be wired/banded after their surgery? My only concern is I have asthma, and I have read that so many people have trouble breathing... Asthma attacks are the worst, so I cant imagine having to struggle to breathe after this... Anyway, sorry for rambling, but it sure does feel better to talk about everything

Take care all,

Joe

[Svensk Tiger]

Wow, lot's of luck for Monday! I'm on the 11th, so not long after you and getting a little anxious now. Do you have your hooks on yet? I get mine on Friday, so exciting

Keep us updated, hope it all goes fabulously well.
Katie

[ohmyjaw]

Hi Joe,

I will also be having upper and lower surgery, but not until February. And yes I too will be wired shut for about two weeks. And I also have asthma, and I have not thought about that, until now. How do you use your inhaler if you can't open your mouth? Good question... did your surgeon give you any advice about that?

From what I have read on this board, and elsewhere, it seems that most people are not wired shut at all anymore. It was standard practice years ago, but now instead wiring the jaw shut, most surgeons use titanium screws to hold the bones together. But, apparently there are a few instances where surgeons feel it's necessary to wire the jaw closed as well.

I hope that you are fortunate enough to not get wired at all, but in any case please do post something after your surgery and let us know how things went.

Hoping for the best for you!

[nvcarissa]

the anesthesiologist gave me a dose of a decongestant pre-op

Me too, and I don't have asthma. The anesthesiologist said it was to open my nasal passages for the tubes they were going to have to insert.

[chrisk]

Best of luck with your upcoming surgery. I think the anticipation is worse than the surgery as you tend to imagine the worst. Not worrying is easier said than done (and I'm the world's biggest worrier) but the surgery (and recovery) really isn't so bad once you've got through the initial first few days. I had upper and lower surgery and genioplasty over 11 weeks ago, and really didn't have trouble with breathing. I had a tube in my nose to help with breathing (and suction of blood etc) until about 6pm the first day of surgery (I had the surgery at 8.10 in the morning) and a nasal spray for the first 10 days which kept my nose clear.
I hope things go well for you.

[Joanne]

Best of everything to you tomorrow! I'm getting lower jaw surgery and genioplasty on Wednesday the 8th.
~Joanne

[Svensk Tiger]

Hope it's all going well!

[jsenigaglia]

Hey all,

First off, thank you for all of your well wishes! You guys are the best..

So, I spend two nights in the hospital... Just got home today... Ended up having Lefort I, and a BSSO... Gnarly... Surgery went well... Only lasted 5 hours (they originally thought 7) and best part, NO WIRES or ELASTICS! WOO HOO!

Im really swollen (inside of my mouth scared me the most at first) and my throat is sore from the breathing tube, but other than that, I am just trying to get better... Not used to seeing my face this fat, but hopefully it will all pass soon!

I will keep you updated, and post pics when I can!

Talk to you soon,

Joe

[jsenigaglia]

Hey guys!

My spirits are up much more today. Today is day 4 as far as post op goes... All is not bad so far

Swelling goes down slowly each day, but its still there... I cant wait to be able to feel my mouth again, so I can use these zip n squeeze bags easier... Had my first "food" today. A scrumptions portion of Mashed Potatoes, hehe. Had tons of Gatorade, Water, Milk, Broth... Trying to stay hydrated and keep up and walking around as much as possible...

I would like to assure everyone who has a surgery coming up, the wait is much worse than the actual surgery! Honestly! Take it one day at a time, and slowly but surely, we will all get through this!

Talk to you all soon!!

Joe

[jsenigaglia]

Wow, my stomach is a mess right now... I am assuming this is normal, since there has been nothing but liquids going in there for this last week... Anyone else have a weird stomach for a while after their surgery? Gosh, I cant wait to get some semi normal food down (pastas, etc...)

Today is Friday, so its the 4th day after my operation... I slept a little better last night... I notice the swelling seems more at night than during the day... Its weird, and also disrupts my sleep... I also notice my nose drains blood into my throat (I dont mean to sound gross) but I cough a lot at night too... I cant seem to get comfoartable... I want to just lie down in bed on my stomach (like the good old days) and sleep When will I get to sleep kinda normally again?

Still dont have much pain... Im getting all kinds of tingles in my lips, lower jaw, around my nose, etc, so Im happy about that... Pain is good in my book, as it means things are trying to get back to normal... My lips are really chapped right now, cause I still cant keep my mouth closed how I want to... All in good time though, yea?

I kinda hit a little wall last night... A brief moment of frustration, but I got over it... Dr said that would probably happen a few times... I hope its the only one!

I will update more when I can

See you all later,

Joe

[jsenigaglia]

Hi Meryaten You have been awesome this whole time... I really appreciate it...

I think the stomach thing is just as you say... All these meds, and liquids right now are just doing it to me... Its really the only thing that is bothering me right now

Im assuming I can start on soft chew foods as soon as I can close my lips My lower lip still feels huge, and I cant really open my bottom jaw too well right now, so it would be a pain to try and shovel food in there... Im hoping it improves by the weekend!

My swelling is continuing to go down slowly but surely, and I am figuring out how to talk better too, hehe. Did you ever feel like a lot of the swelling went into your ears and they felt clogged? I feel that a bit, and Im assuming its just fluids in my sinuses!

Today was much better... Im starting to feel tightness in my lower jaw, so that can only be a good thing I assume!

I will write more as I progress,

Talk to you all soon,

Joe

[chrisk]

Hi Joe,

Great to hear that things are going well for you. Post-surgery I had my cough for about 3 weeks. It did clear up so hang in there.

Sleeping-wise I found that I slept propped up on pillows for about 2-3 weeks (on my back) and was elated when I felt comfortable sleeping on my side (at about 4-5 weeks post-op.) Prior to this I felt that my face swelled up too much if I slept on my side. I also found that one sleeping tablet for those uncomfortable first two weeks helped enormously. I didn't take one every night (they were prescribed by my surgeon) just when I had trouble falling asleep.

For the dry lips, my surgeon prescribed Sigmacort ointment and I felt that worked really well.

I had 2 brief episodes of frustration and tears when I clumsily spilt my soup over the computer keyboard, and another episode when I spilt soup all over the dining room table. I think it is as much due to the anaesthetic working its way through your system as anything else.

Keep your spirits up and remember that every day from now on will get better and better.

[hoca]

I know when I was recovering from double jaw surgery (not that I'm not still recovering, haha), I found light exercise to be a god send. I had trouble with my digestive track, and found walking to be a great help in getting everything back to normal. Of course, I was on mashed and soft chew foods 2 days after surgery, so that probably helped too. I also found that over the counter medications worked really well to aleviate any bathroom concerns.

The ear thing may continue to haunt you for awhile, but it's manageable. At 7 weeks post-op mine are getting to the plugged feeling, but I find it more manageable if I make myself busy to distract myself.

Don't worry about coughing up blood, I hear it's pretty normal. When I was doing it I would notice it everyday, and it wasn't until about 3 weeks post-op that I realized I hadn't had to cough up blood in a week. One day you will honestly wake up and probably feel like your head has just cleared itself of a bunch of extra fluid and pressure - and it feels great!

Good luck. It does get easier everyday.

[smile2006]

I second the advice of mild exercise to get the system moving along. Another little thing I found was if you take high fiber dry cereal and blend it with milk (a little less milk than if eating it in a bowl) not only does it still taste like cereal still but it gets some fiber in your body to keep things moving. I had a problem there too initially. The blended cereal really worked (I liked plain old bran flakes blended with something sweeter like Life cereal or Honey Nut Cheerios).