February 2010 Buddies

Message

#91 Post by **cheekysara** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:04 am

Hey guys this is me just back home now, my surgery did not go quite as well. I suffered complications. A day after the surgery I was pulled back into the theatre as I had a haematoma behind my cheek this caused my face to swell much more than noram. I lost 1500mls of blood and was in intensive care for a week.

#92 Post by **Davide** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:48 am

Hey Cheekysara,
sorry to hear about your complications. If you spent a whole week in intensive care unit that means that your complications were rather serious. A liter and a half of blood loss is really a lot. Where you given a blood transfusion while the surgery was performed or immediately after? On that respect I am so glad that my surgeon required that I donated 2 units (about a liter) of my own blood, just in case I need it. Also I never heard of an hematoma forming behind the cheek as a consequence of orthognatic surgery. Did your surgeon explained to you why that happened?
I hope that now you are doing fine and that you are well into your way to recovery. I also hope that you won't suffer any more complications.
Keep us posted on your progress.

Davide

#93 Post by bb » Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:32 am

Sorry to hear about your hematoma. I hope everything is ok now.
How are you doing other than that?

#94 Post by **cheekysara** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:27 am

Hiya, other than the complications I am fine the same as all of you I guess. Lost some weight which I am not happy about. I knew I would loose some weight but I never thought that i would not be eating for a week. I am sore, my jaws do ache but seem to be okay when I take the meds. I am not banded shut either, but I think that is to dop with the complications, I do not think they could band me shut as that would have restricted my air flow. I see the surgeon on Tuesday, the first time since the op!!!!!!!!!!!! I get elastics on then. I really do not know if this was the best thing for meto do, it's all done now but I really do not see that big a diference in my face at all.

#95 Post by **cheekysara** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:31 am

Oh and I had never heard of this complication arising before either-and I thoroughly investigated then subject, funny how I looked into everything but this never cropped up. I am just a very rare case I guess. The surgeon did not explain what went wrong as I have not seen him. I have seen his team and they can shed no light onto why this happened. I can ask him on Tuesday when I see him but doubt I will get any answers. Oh and by the way he went on "holiday " a day or two after the op, nice to see he cares for his patients eh.

#96 Post by bb » Sun Mar 07, 2010 3:53 pm

You don't see any difference in your face? Wow!

I look like a different person altogether. I don't really like it now but I'm still optimistic that it will be ok.

Had pecan/chocolate pie tonight in the blender- mmmmm!

#97 Post by **maloccluser** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:16 am

sara, really sorry to hear about your complications. my surgery went very smoothly and i had a tough enough time as it was with just the swelling and pain. hope everything heals quickly for you from this point on.

i'm doing well. tuesday will be two weeks for me. the swelling has gone down for the most point and my surgeon changed my elastics to a very light gauge. been eating soft foods like scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. i feel like in general i'm emerging from the recovery 'haze'.

i still haven't gone an entire day without pain meds. i generally make it to the end of the day and then the burning/tingling sensation in my chin really starts to overwhelm me. hopefully it will be just a few more days until i'm med free.

best wishes for the rest of the february crew.

#98 Post by **Jac** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 5:53 am

CheekySara,

so sorry to hear about your complications & hope everything goes well from here on !

i also didn't notice that much of a change in my face to start with, it wasn't until i started seeing friends reactions to me that i realised my face must be different, i'm starting to see it now & don't understand how come i didn't see it to start, i think it was because of the swelling/bruising.

hi to everyone else, hope you are all recovering well.

jac xxx

#99 Post by **cheekysara** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 11:49 am

Those of you with kids how do you cope? I have my friend staying with me at the moment for a week to help me out but I don't know how I am going to cope as he is just a wee ball of energy and I'm scared he is going to knock me. I know we all have to take it each day as it comes though. Let me know how you are all getting on.

#100 Post by bb » Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:57 am

my kids are bigger (9 and 12) and they still occasionally bump my jaw when getting a hug- I can't imagine with a wee one!!

After coming off my pain medication, I'm finding it hard to fall asleep at night. I'm going to try melatonin tonight. Sleep is so important to healing.

#101 Post by **Audra** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:26 am

Cheekysara - so sorry to hear about your complications. A week in intensive care unit is pretty serious. Hopefully things will be a lot smoother from now on.

Looks like everyone else is doing as well as can be expected. I'm enjoying reading everyone's posts while counting down the days to my own experience.

#102 Post by **Jac** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:00 pm

hi all,

hows everyone getting on?

cheekysara, hope you are recovering well & not getting too many problems.

AFM, saw my orthodontist today & was told that i'm gonna be banded for another 8 weeks, apparently os lied when he said it would be 6 weeks ! !
but at least i m now allowed to take them off to eat, harder than it sounds. still i suppose they know what they are doing & it means i'll be de-braced at the same time as i lose my elestics

hope everyone else is doing ok

Jac xxx

#103 Post by bb » Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:08 pm

jac - 8 more weeks banded -ew!! Why? Is your bite not lining up correctly?
Debraced in 8 weeks?? Awesome!!!!

It must be nice to take them off to eat. Can you chew or do you just use a spoon or cup?

#104 Post by **cheekysara** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 3:56 am

Hi guys hope you are all doing well. I saw my surgeon on Thursday. He said I had had a BLAH BLAH BLAH time of it but that the worst was over and that he saw no problems. He said everything should run smoothly and my recovery should now be the same as any one else. He looked at my teeth and banded them up so now I am the same as BB. I can only talk through the bands. Hey maybe we could do a double act lol. The eating liquid food is no fun but I am trying to my best to push in as much as I can through these small syringes. For breakfast I had porridge, I made it smooth by putting it in the blender. Then I had a build up drink which also had raspberries, a pro biotic yogurt and strawberry juice in it. I am tiny enough and don't want to lose lots of weight.

#105 Post by bb » Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:48 am

Yay cheekysara- I'm so glad you're on the upswing! It's really amazing how fast the body heals. Of course while you're in the thick of it, it seems like there'll be no end to the pain and discomfort.

My OS said that mothers do particularly well in recovery because they've already experienced childbirth so surgery is not the first painful experience they've gone through. He said teens and men usually have a difficult time.

Yes, let's get our puppets out and entertain the kids!

In the meantime, my trip down south is in 2 weeks and my OS said I'll still be banded. crap!! He said I could take them off to eat but I still won't be able to chew. I guess I'll be doing my snake impression - eating without chewing!! Of course, I'll be mostly on a pina colada diet down there anyways!!!