You are going through the part that I figure will be the hardest to cope with. Having to breathe entirely through your mouth must be so hard. From everything I've read, once you are able to get your nose cleared, things are SO much better.
I hope there is something your OS can do/suggest to open things up a little bit, at least.
Sending positive vibes your way...hang in there, you are on the downside and things will get better soon.
SEPTEMBER 2010 BUDDIES!!
Moderator: bbsadmin
So sorry to hear you're suffering like that. 
I had mine on 14th (Tuesday) and am doing well now. The thing to keep in mind is that each day is another day and each hour is another hour. Its a very hard thing to go through. Count down the days and hours because each one matters. Its another step closer to the end goal. Hang in there. How are you sleeping? I'm basically sitting upright with 6 pillows. I found it helps with drainage. Also, I have only just stopped using ice. It helped with the swelling and I only have minimal bruising now, although still swollen and I won't even go to the shop until its not so obvious. But yeah, every day helps, and every hour helps. Good luck x
I had mine on 14th (Tuesday) and am doing well now. The thing to keep in mind is that each day is another day and each hour is another hour. Its a very hard thing to go through. Count down the days and hours because each one matters. Its another step closer to the end goal. Hang in there. How are you sleeping? I'm basically sitting upright with 6 pillows. I found it helps with drainage. Also, I have only just stopped using ice. It helped with the swelling and I only have minimal bruising now, although still swollen and I won't even go to the shop until its not so obvious. But yeah, every day helps, and every hour helps. Good luck x-
ColoradoGirl
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:01 am
- Location: Santa Barbara CA
You're in my thoughts for sure, Chicago29! Your nasal problem sounds horrible. But, hopefully, (as with the time my brother accidentally cut of the top of his fingerprint with a pocket-knife; less extreme but certainly shocking), it'll make a *very* good story later. 
Hang in, hope it improves rapidly.
And--good luck with the recovery, thongs! Sounds like your attitude is *fabulous*.
Hang in, hope it improves rapidly.
And--good luck with the recovery, thongs! Sounds like your attitude is *fabulous*.
Day 5 (Monday) was a good day. My surgeon cleaned out my nose, and got rid of those awful bands, which let's call them what they are...they are basically wires
I can breathe again, and the first thing I noticed is how much better I could smell. It clogs up frequently with blood/snot/etc (sorry, I'm gross), but I'm happy with the first initial thoughts that I'm going to be able to breathe through my nose much better. I also have blood in my post nasal drip (down my throat), which for those long timers on here will remember lasted forever from my first surgery. I'm really hopeful that clears itself up quicker this time. It's bothersome because it just isn't clear where the source of bleeding is. I've heard others have this issue, and it usually clears up quickly.
Anyway, I'm now in light bands and that makes a world of difference. It is amazing to me the differences in practice with the wires/bands/splints/no bands/eat right away "practices". I guess you have to trust your surgeon, and mine has been doing these for 25 years. And of course, each person's procedure is unique so it calls for varying practices.
The swelling is still pretty intense, and I have all SORTS of odd feelings in my face. I'm bruised to the point of looking like a bat was taken to my face, but I knew that was going to happen and only time will fix that. Pain is manageable with whatever it is they gave me. I'm still taking every 6 to 8 hours on schedule, and think that'll be the case for at least a week more.
The only totally numb area is a spot about the size of a golf ball below my right eye which includes the right side of my nose/nostril. There are some other "altered" spots but more or less I think things are going to fare well in this department. I can feel my lower lip and chin just fine, and I know those are the "danger" areas where we want to avoid numbness.
I'll keep everybody posted - Everything is still a challenge, but I'm in much better spirits now.
I hope all other September buddies are doing well, or are prepping themselves.
Take Care
Chicago29
I can breathe again, and the first thing I noticed is how much better I could smell. It clogs up frequently with blood/snot/etc (sorry, I'm gross), but I'm happy with the first initial thoughts that I'm going to be able to breathe through my nose much better. I also have blood in my post nasal drip (down my throat), which for those long timers on here will remember lasted forever from my first surgery. I'm really hopeful that clears itself up quicker this time. It's bothersome because it just isn't clear where the source of bleeding is. I've heard others have this issue, and it usually clears up quickly.
Anyway, I'm now in light bands and that makes a world of difference. It is amazing to me the differences in practice with the wires/bands/splints/no bands/eat right away "practices". I guess you have to trust your surgeon, and mine has been doing these for 25 years. And of course, each person's procedure is unique so it calls for varying practices.
The swelling is still pretty intense, and I have all SORTS of odd feelings in my face. I'm bruised to the point of looking like a bat was taken to my face, but I knew that was going to happen and only time will fix that. Pain is manageable with whatever it is they gave me. I'm still taking every 6 to 8 hours on schedule, and think that'll be the case for at least a week more.
The only totally numb area is a spot about the size of a golf ball below my right eye which includes the right side of my nose/nostril. There are some other "altered" spots but more or less I think things are going to fare well in this department. I can feel my lower lip and chin just fine, and I know those are the "danger" areas where we want to avoid numbness.
I'll keep everybody posted - Everything is still a challenge, but I'm in much better spirits now.
I hope all other September buddies are doing well, or are prepping themselves.
Take Care
Chicago29
Chicago, glad to hear you're on the mend, it's no fun, for sure, and what you've gone through sounds much worse than what I did.
First day back at work for me, today...still a little swollen and sore but not too bad. Worst thing is how weak and lethargic I feel, due to the all-mush diet...going to try some noodles for dinner tonight, I need something with substance!
First day back at work for me, today...still a little swollen and sore but not too bad. Worst thing is how weak and lethargic I feel, due to the all-mush diet...going to try some noodles for dinner tonight, I need something with substance!
32 years old, total time in braces=30 months
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
DrBlur...glad you're back at work. That'll get you more into the "normal" mode. I recommend you become friends with your blender as that's what it takes to stay nourished. I haven't quite gotten there yet myself, but I'm close. I'm still mainly soup and Ensure/Boost.
A bi-max is a lot more invasive than a SARPE, but I never say a SARPE is easy either. I still say a SARPE is major surgery. Congrats for getting on with some semblance of normalcy so quickly! I wish you continued healing.
A bi-max is a lot more invasive than a SARPE, but I never say a SARPE is easy either. I still say a SARPE is major surgery. Congrats for getting on with some semblance of normalcy so quickly! I wish you continued healing.
Hey chicago, yeah I've been sticking to the soft foods although I'm trying to add more regular foods (soft and small pieces) just for the nourishment!
How are you doing now after a week?
How are you doing now after a week?
32 years old, total time in braces=30 months
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
Hi Everybody,
I made double digits - Day #10 post op! Overall things are better. First and foremost, I have much more energy during the day. I'm not going to go out and run a marathon or anything (not that I could do that normally
), but I do feel much better on that front. I truly believe the adage that it takes 2 days to recover for each hour of anesthesia.
As for how things are, I'm off the pain killers since Wednesday. I still have a lot of swelling, but the bruising is much better than it was after my SARPE/MSDO. Most of the swelling is along the lower jaw, but it definitely is up around my maxillary sinuses as well. My OS said I have large hematomas formed on the bottom jaw. I put heat on them at least 3 to 4 times a day and they've come down some but not nearly enough. They are very hard, but they don't cause any pain or anything. I'm curious if others that have had lower surgery if they noted if their swelling got "hard"?
Anyway, it has certainly gotten easier, but I still want the next 3 weeks or so to fly by. I know I'll be in so much better of a place at that time! I'm not frustrated yet or anything, but I do have to admit the days seem to crawl!
Hope my other September buddies are doing well!
-Chicago29
I made double digits - Day #10 post op! Overall things are better. First and foremost, I have much more energy during the day. I'm not going to go out and run a marathon or anything (not that I could do that normally
), but I do feel much better on that front. I truly believe the adage that it takes 2 days to recover for each hour of anesthesia. As for how things are, I'm off the pain killers since Wednesday. I still have a lot of swelling, but the bruising is much better than it was after my SARPE/MSDO. Most of the swelling is along the lower jaw, but it definitely is up around my maxillary sinuses as well. My OS said I have large hematomas formed on the bottom jaw. I put heat on them at least 3 to 4 times a day and they've come down some but not nearly enough. They are very hard, but they don't cause any pain or anything. I'm curious if others that have had lower surgery if they noted if their swelling got "hard"?
Anyway, it has certainly gotten easier, but I still want the next 3 weeks or so to fly by. I know I'll be in so much better of a place at that time! I'm not frustrated yet or anything, but I do have to admit the days seem to crawl!
Hope my other September buddies are doing well!
-Chicago29
How are all of the September people doing? I'm doing well, although the numbness won't go away and I dearly wish it would!
Hope everyone else who had surgery in Sept. is doing well!
Hope everyone else who had surgery in Sept. is doing well!
32 years old, total time in braces=30 months
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
Each day is better. I'm now at Day #16. I'm now in light bands and will remain so for another week and a half, at which point they may come off and I will need to start working on opening. I still have:
- Tremendous tightness around my nose and upper lip. It feels like it is sewn to my face and with any movement it really hurts. This is probably my biggest issue right now because it makes any sort of facial expression almost impossible
- Upper palate is still totally numb, but I believe I am starting to get the faintest of feeling back
- Still numb below my eye to the top of my lip on the right side of my face
- My nose sometimes still has very faint blood tainted drainage. I suspect this will last weeks, and I'm not worried about it unless it actually bleeds. I'm using saline spray to keep things moisturized up there
- I can open just over one finger length - I have tremendous tightness coming from the left joint if I try and open wider
On the good side, I feel I have most of my energy back. I don't need to nap during the day, but sometimes I do simply out of boredom. At this point, I feel the rest of these things are just going to take time and patience.
I'm starting to see my profile emerge...Some of it I like and some of it I don't, but again...It is WAY too early to start worrying about these things.
All in all, I'm happy where I am and just trying to be patient.
I hope all the other September 2010 clan are doing well!
-Chicago29
- Tremendous tightness around my nose and upper lip. It feels like it is sewn to my face and with any movement it really hurts. This is probably my biggest issue right now because it makes any sort of facial expression almost impossible
- Upper palate is still totally numb, but I believe I am starting to get the faintest of feeling back
- Still numb below my eye to the top of my lip on the right side of my face
- My nose sometimes still has very faint blood tainted drainage. I suspect this will last weeks, and I'm not worried about it unless it actually bleeds. I'm using saline spray to keep things moisturized up there
- I can open just over one finger length - I have tremendous tightness coming from the left joint if I try and open wider
On the good side, I feel I have most of my energy back. I don't need to nap during the day, but sometimes I do simply out of boredom. At this point, I feel the rest of these things are just going to take time and patience.
I'm starting to see my profile emerge...Some of it I like and some of it I don't, but again...It is WAY too early to start worrying about these things.
All in all, I'm happy where I am and just trying to be patient.
I hope all the other September 2010 clan are doing well!
-Chicago29
-
sarahorsomeone
- Posts: 122
- Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:54 am
Had my surgery on Saturday (so I'm now on day 8 post-op), 6mm-ish impaction to my upper jaw and 3mm advancement of lower, both with some a-symmetry correction. Well on the mend now;.still very swollen but not as bad as I was. According to my surgeon I ended up with pretty much the worst-case scenario result when it came to my swelling, and that's despite them pumping me full of steroids to try and help. Probably going to be banded tommorow which will be interesting (couldn't be banded any sooner due to the amount of swelling)...
Results look good so far, and appearance wise I think I actually like my apparance better now than pre-surgery even WITH all the swelling. Only think is erking me is the fact that it looks weird when I smile, but I think that's more down to the fact my lips can barely move at the moment. Nose also looks a little strange sometimes, but others it doesn't, so I'm going to put that down to swelling too. Did anyone else get a lot of swelling in their nose? When I first woke up it was one of the worst affected areas which surprised me.
As for feeling, I never lost any feeling in my lower jaw, the feeling in my upper lip and nose returned on my right side on the day of the surgery, the feeling on my left side (lip and nose) is slowly returning and about the only part left totally numb is the roof of my mouth; which my surgeon is pretty confident will gradually return.
Too worn out to go into anymore detail!
Results look good so far, and appearance wise I think I actually like my apparance better now than pre-surgery even WITH all the swelling. Only think is erking me is the fact that it looks weird when I smile, but I think that's more down to the fact my lips can barely move at the moment. Nose also looks a little strange sometimes, but others it doesn't, so I'm going to put that down to swelling too. Did anyone else get a lot of swelling in their nose? When I first woke up it was one of the worst affected areas which surprised me.
As for feeling, I never lost any feeling in my lower jaw, the feeling in my upper lip and nose returned on my right side on the day of the surgery, the feeling on my left side (lip and nose) is slowly returning and about the only part left totally numb is the roof of my mouth; which my surgeon is pretty confident will gradually return.
Too worn out to go into anymore detail!
16 days post op after having Genioplasty on my chin. The swelling has gone down, some numbness in the chin and tightness in the lower mouth, but the worst thing for me at the moment is a bad breakout of spots haha. I havent broke out this badly since i was back in school! Fingers crossed it'll subside in the coming weeks.
Hi Everyone,
Tomorrow I'll be 4 weeks post op. Been back at work for a week now and feeling great.
All of the swelling and bruising has gone and realy made up with the results of my surgery.
Still on a soft food diet but I've got an appointment with my Ortho tomorrow and hopefully they'll tell me I can start to chew again.
Following all my instructions to the letter as I want to get my braces off by the time I go on holiday in December, just doing the fine tweeking now to get the perfect bite.
Hope all September buddies are doing well, would be good to get an update from Stephie as we had surgery at near enough the same time.
Tomorrow I'll be 4 weeks post op. Been back at work for a week now and feeling great.
All of the swelling and bruising has gone and realy made up with the results of my surgery.
Still on a soft food diet but I've got an appointment with my Ortho tomorrow and hopefully they'll tell me I can start to chew again.
Following all my instructions to the letter as I want to get my braces off by the time I go on holiday in December, just doing the fine tweeking now to get the perfect bite.
Hope all September buddies are doing well, would be good to get an update from Stephie as we had surgery at near enough the same time.
-
**Stephie**
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:04 pm
- Location: N.Ireland, UK
Sorry I haven't been posting much on here really. As for my update all the bruising I had has now completely gone so I defintely look normal now. Swelling is nearly almost totally gone too, just a tiny little bit on the left side and I'm pretty sure the stitches still exist on that side too.
I had an appointment with my orthodontist about a week ago or so, he managed to take my elastics off and he was really pleased with the result the surgeon got. Was a happy bunny when his assistant kept giving me compliments on how different everything looks etc! So for now I have only two elastic bands on, one on each side just to get the midline back in place.
Food - First week was the liquid diet and that did get really really boring, second I was onto my mushy food and third week added little pieces of food etc in to try to chew as long as its soft. Right now I am eating most of what I used to before the surgery and I can actually chew properly now!
Still a little bit of tweaking by the orthodontist to get the bite looking more normal really but hopefully it won't take too long.
I had an appointment with my orthodontist about a week ago or so, he managed to take my elastics off and he was really pleased with the result the surgeon got. Was a happy bunny when his assistant kept giving me compliments on how different everything looks etc!
So for now I have only two elastic bands on, one on each side just to get the midline back in place. Food - First week was the liquid diet and that did get really really boring, second I was onto my mushy food and third week added little pieces of food etc in to try to chew as long as its soft. Right now I am eating most of what I used to before the surgery and I can actually chew properly now!
Still a little bit of tweaking by the orthodontist to get the bite looking more normal really but hopefully it won't take too long.
Top Brace On - 2nd July 2009
Extractions - 16th September 2009
Lower Braces on - 1st October 2009
Mandibular Osteotomy (Lower Jaw) Surgey - 4th September 2010
Braces Off - 14th March 2011
^good to see everyone is on the mend...keep up the good work!
As for me, I was given the OK last Friday to stop expanding and let the bone heal for 6 weeks, so I've not had to do anything except keep eating soft foods. I still numbness/tightness in my gums/teeth/palate but I feel as though I'm starting to get the slightest bit of feeling back so we'll see how it develops over the coming weeks...
As for me, I was given the OK last Friday to stop expanding and let the bone heal for 6 weeks, so I've not had to do anything except keep eating soft foods. I still numbness/tightness in my gums/teeth/palate but I feel as though I'm starting to get the slightest bit of feeling back so we'll see how it develops over the coming weeks...
32 years old, total time in braces=30 months
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12
-Braces and palate expander on 4/15/10
-RPE Surgery 9/15/10
-Expander removed 3/11
-Braces Removed 9/7/12
-Retainers in 9/7/12