Surgery Date Nov 4- Double Jaw- Excited!

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Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:26 pm

Thank you for the wishes and blessing!! Tomorrow is it! Finally!! I'm very excited, and not nervous at all! I'll try to post soon! I'll be in the hospital till Thursday late morning, hopefully no later!

See you all on the other side!

Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:56 pm

I've made it to the other side! I've updated my blog with pictures...don't have enough energy right now to write a long post...

http://asmileconnectsus.blogspot.com

#18 Post by **chicago29** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:22 am

asmileconnectsus:

I'm piling on late to your thread, but congrats for making it the other side. I checked out your blog and saw your Day 3 pics that you just posted. You surely are swollen, but you can already tell that your profile is going to be out of this world. I can't wait to see some pics once you are "back to normal".

I wish you the best throughout your recovery!

Take Care
Chicago29

Sun Nov 08, 2009 7:17 pm

Hey all i'm 4.5 days post op now, I can do a little smile! Which makes me really happy. Still having difficulty swallowing...my airways are double the size they used to be, so breathing is sooo easy, but my pallet was also lowered and widened, so my tongue doesn't really know what to do...I've been drinking 2-3 ltrs of liquid a day, along with protein shakes. I am on a no particle diet, next Tuesday I can go onto a blended diet.

Currently my tongue feels SO GROSS. Almost raw really. I don't know how to fix this, I have been doing the rinses my Dr. told me to do, maybe it's just inevitable that is going to be weird in there till i'm able to brush my teeth (next Tuesday).

I am in a lot more pain that I thought I would be in. At one point today I was at a 9 (on a 1-10 scale). My muscles were super tight and mad before surgery, so they are now even more upset...I can only take one muscle relaxer a day with my pain medication (Lortab) which doesn't seem to be doing much at all. I wish I could just be on more muscle relaxers.

I took two walks today only about 5 min. each, but it felt good to get up and moving around, get the blood pumping.

I don't know if anyone has any advice for pain control...I can't use ice, they say it will hinder the blood flow, thus hinder the healing process.

I also have breathing exercises I have to do every hour...these bring up mucus that's settled in my lungs...its always this dark brown color when it comes up, and is really hard to get out do to being banded shut...It also kills my jaw every time I cough that deeply...if I don't do it I risk getting pneumonia, but if I do do it it causes excruciating pain....

sorry i guess I'm just ranting, but my parents are taking care of me out here, and they just don't understand...

Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:11 pm

today I finally got my pain under control! it's still a 6/10, but at least it is steady. Dr.G says he thinks my pain is so bad because of all the bone grafting he had to do. Has anyone else had this problem?

I had my 1wk post-op yesterday and Dr.G was worried about my lungs. I had a lot of fluid in them I was afraid to cough up because of pain. I also thought that if I coughed too hard I could screw up my bite somehow. He assured me that I wouldn't mess up my bite, but it would hurt AND that I needed to do it so i wouldn't get a chest infection. He started me on Mucinex, and since then I have not had a problem! I was really worried I'd have to go in for chest x-rays.

#21 Post by **projo198** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 9:59 am

asmileconnectsus wrote:today I finally got my pain under control! it's still a 6/10, but at least it is steady. Dr.G says he thinks my pain is so bad because of all the bone grafting he had to do. Has anyone else had this problem?

I had my 1wk post-op yesterday and Dr.G was worried about my lungs. I had a lot of fluid in them I was afraid to cough up because of pain. I also thought that if I coughed too hard I could screw up my bite somehow. He assured me that I wouldn't mess up my bite, but it would hurt AND that I needed to do it so i wouldn't get a chest infection. He started me on Mucinex, and since then I have not had a problem! I was really worried I'd have to go in for chest x-rays.

My doc told me NOT to blow my nose, but man I couldn't help it. I wouldn't EXACTLY blow, but would plug one nostril and "breath out quickly" with the other. I always did this minutes following using nasal spray.

I had hardcore nasal congestion problems. If you are the same someone advised I try "breath right" strips and a light coat of petroleum jelly in my nostrils so they wouldn't dry out. Worked awesome!

FOr the pain, theres really not much you can do. I had lingering jaw joint pain because of a radical slant to my jaw post op. I just took the loratab and percocet as I was told. I kept the head wrap icepack thing for awhile after surgery, it helped. I also has a flat icepack I would set against my face to drift off to sleep before it melted.

Although I wasn't told to I also alternated Ibuprofen with my pain meds. It seemed to help. Only way I found to get away from the pain was to keep my head up as much as possible, I even got up a LOT in the night just to walk around and get my mind off it.

Good luck, you'll pull through. I can't open your pics hre at work but it sounds like your doing well!

#22 Post by **enigma** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:13 pm

Hi there,
I have just found your blog this week from archwired. I just wanted to say a big congratulations on your achievement you have done amazing.
And a HUGE thank you for your openess and honesty in your blog writings.
Im due to have both upper and lower surgery in Jan. And have been glued to your progress. Cant seem to post to your blog at the moment!
But thanks again you inspire and give hope.
Happy recovery and keep smiling however wonky at the moment!!! xxx

Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:01 pm

Projo- my doctor also told me no nose blowing or sniffling in because it can cause an infection in the bone grafts that are by my nasal passages. This is hard to remember (it's such a natural reflex!), but he gave me one of those little blue bulb things they use to clean out baby's noses. I put it right at the edge of my nostril and it works really well! As far as Ice goes, I'm under big orders NOT to use any ice. They say it disrupts the healing of the bone graft. I have used a cold (not freezing) wet washcloth on my face a couple times, just to cool it down. Dr.G just gave me the go ahead to take Tylenol in between my doses of Oxy. this seems to be helping quite a bit!

Enigma- I'm glad my blog is helping you out! that makes it seem worth it! i don't know how else I could get through this whole process without blogging...it's the easiest way to communicate through all the banding and pain!

#24 Post by **Marisama** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:39 pm

I appreciate the blog too! I check 2 or 3 times a day to see what the new updates are. I would love to chat about this once you are feeling more capable. Good luck with healing.

Ryan

#25 Post by **projo198** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:02 am

asmileconnectsus wrote:Projo- my doctor also told me no nose blowing or sniffling in because it can cause an infection in the bone grafts that are by my nasal passages. This is hard to remember (it's such a natural reflex!), but he gave me one of those little blue bulb things they use to clean out baby's noses. I put it right at the edge of my nostril and it works really well! As far as Ice goes, I'm under big orders NOT to use any ice. They say it disrupts the healing of the bone graft. I have used a cold (not freezing) wet washcloth on my face a couple times, just to cool it down. Dr.G just gave me the go ahead to take Tylenol in between my doses of Oxy. this seems to be helping quite a bit!

Ok, cool.. Thats weird about the ice; I was never told that.. I'm glad I'm past that stuff finally.. Now my biggest issues are the numbness and ackwardness talking and chewing, 2 issues that are going to suck at Thanksgiving. I do see improvement evryday though, and these problems are becoming more like a nuisance.

Fri Nov 13, 2009 7:08 pm

I totally feel you on the talking! I am not yet at the chewing stage, but I know it is going to be reallly weird chewing with a bite that actually fits!!

Today I had a scare with pneumonia and had to go to the ER, it turns out I just have acute bronchitis...but it was an ordeal...it shows the importance of doing breathing exercises after surgery! I went into great detail on the whole ordeal in my blog, so if you want you can check it out...

http://asmileconnectsus.blogspot.com

today has been exhausting, and I have never been in so much pain as I was earlier today....

Even though today has been anything but easy, I still have no regrets about my surgery

#27 Post by **enigma** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 3:06 am

If your not too tired can you tell me more about what you mean when you say grafting? Haven't heard of this term before!
Thank you.
Your looking amazing xxx

Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:11 am

What I mean by grafting is bone grafting. Because they moved my jaws forward so much (10mm top/ 14mm bottom) they needed something to fill in the gaps. For this they using different types of bone grafts. The bone grafts will eventually heal so they are like my own bone, and some of them already are made of my own bone (bone harvest from behind my cheek bone on the right). The plates and screws hold my natural bones together with the grafting in between (I think...). It takes time for the grafts to heal with your own bone, for some people it isn't painful, for others (like myself) it is very painful. They use bone grafting whenever they need to add bone. So when I had my implant done several months ago, they also had to do some bone grafting because my jaw bone is so narrow the implant wouldn't fit unless the bone was widened using grafting.

Here is a link that talks about what grafts are: http://www.dental--health.com/faq_bonegrafts.html

I hope this helps

Also, I would like everyone to check out my blog because my swelling has come down SO MUCH!!! I am almost in shock it happened overnight! I am still in pain (6-7 on a 10 scale) but am so pleased with the results under the swelling! Still some swelling to go down, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel now!

#29 Post by **srs** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 5:44 pm

you have to be sure to stay well medicated against pain so you can cough well and deep, otherwise you risk this bronchitis turning into pneumonia. Take deep breaths and drink lots of fluid.

Sat Nov 14, 2009 6:58 pm

So true!! I was having difficult coughing as needed because of the pain while coughing. My chest is clear now, and the pain is under control. I was very good about taking in 2-3 liters of liquid a day and doing deep breathing exercises every hour...My best advice too (on top of the liquids and breathing) would be to cough through the pain because you need to get the mucus and blood up! Obviously if you're having a problem coughing talk to your doctor!