July 2011 Buddies?

[ramirezmu8]

hey guys hang in there! the first week is the toughest, it gets much easier after that. i wouldnt worry about not having bowel movements. if i remember correctly i had my first bowel movement about 10 days post op. in total i have gone to the restroom 3 times and its been 20 days since my surgery!

[danoobsminion]

I was allowed to use a straw from day 1. It makes eating 100x easier than using a syringe. My swelling is still present in day 6 here. I'm getting my elastics removed tomorrow as well at my first post-op visit. Don't let the swelling get you down anna! It does get better! Stay strong and remember that you will without a doubt be a happier person in the future.

Every time I go to sleep I wake up with a lot of discomfort. My sleep schedule has been pretty wonky. Sometimes the pain meds make me tired and other times they don't. I'm hoping to see some drastic reduction in swelling come week 2 here. I'll of course keep everyone updated on my progress .

[annafaith]

Day 4 - feeling a lot better as the swelling has gone doown quite a lot in the last 24 hours and I no longer feel so pressured on my face. I feel like I've turned the corner into recovery now appointment with surgeon tommorow - finger crossed.

[IamSam12345]

Good luck to w0nnie tomorrow!! I'll be thinking of you, stay calm! so good to hear that everyone's doing well so far

[Rizzie]

FYI, constipation can be awful after surgery. With the opiate pain killers, general anesthesia, inactivity, and a liquid diet, you will probably need something to get things going. Don't wait too many days to try prune juice or a mild laxative. Save yourself some misery!

[trc]

Totally agree with Rizzie! Make sure you have something to help with it. I couldn't stomach the prune juice so I used suppositories instead (I couldn't put anything down my stomach for a week post-op without feeling completely nauseated). Don't wait too long because all the toxins from the drugs can build up in the bowels and then they get reabsorbed into the body if not eliminated in a timely fashion. It can make you feel so much worse than you already will feel.

[Lucia07]

Hello everyone! I'm on post op day 2. I'm still in the hospital. Hopefully will be discharged today. Surgeon said all went well during surgery and he only took 3 hours in surgery as a opposed to the 4 1/2 he thought. He did the lefort 1, three piece, no bone graft, and the BSSO. I also have a splint wired to my top teeth under my hard palate. Surgeon said it may come off in three weeks

Recovering has been a rollercoaster ride. I did pretty well pain wise bc i was on a drip pain medication for a day and
a half. Then yesterday they only wanted me to take liquid hydrocodone every 3
hours and i've been in pain more but
nurse has been really good and gives
me pain med usually before the 3 hours
are up and the intake is more too.
Nausea didn't get too me too much.
One Tuesday, when i woke up from
surgery they asked me how i felt and
my husband says that i relpied "i am
hungry" jejeje. I took like three sips of
apple juice on tuesday and then
stopped bc of nausea. On
Wednesday
morning i was better and it took me like
two hours to finish chicken
broth and in the evening i had some
mushroom soup. I couldn't eat applesauce really well, made my jaws hurt a lot. I also have nosebleeds everytime i stand up to use the bathroom but the nosebleed doesn't last long. I too haven't had a BM and RN told my hubby to buy me "kolase", i think that's how it's spelled.

Anyway, hopefully i will get discharged today from the hospital. Hope to keep in touch with all of you.

[danoobsminion]

Day 8, by far the best day yet. Swelling has gone down a HUGEEE amount. I have 0 discomfort and just take a precautionary Advil every few hours. Don't have to ice my face, eating is easy. Take out my elastics to finally get to BRUSH MY FREAKING TEETH. I'm liking the results thus far, so god knows I'm going to be ecstatic when all of the swelling goes away. Hope everyone is doing great, and I hope everyone has successful and painless upcoming surgeries.

[TitaniumAdded]

I thought most of my swelling had gone away a bit after 2 weeks, but depending on the person it can extend into a few weeks, months, etc.

Anna, the point of heat is to help stimulate the area with bloodflow and perhaps speed up nerve recovery. Here's a link simply explaining heat vs. ice.

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sportsm ... orheat.htm

[annafaith]

Titanium - thanks for the info.

Danoob - sounds like everything is going so well for you, that's great

Lucia - congrats on your surgery, good luck with the recovery, hope it goes quickly for you.


Day 5 update - arrrrgh! So I went to my clinic appointment today and found out that my chin has broken off from where the pin was holding in it and has moved back to it's presurgery position This means going back for another surgery to correct it in the next couple of weeks. What a headache... and not looking forward to the all the swelling again. My bite and jaw are all okay though, thank goodness.

[Lucia07]

@annafaith, oh no another sugery, so sorry to hear that. But like you said,it's good that your bite and jaw are ok.

I still don't have elastic bands on. My surgeon said i'll get them tomorrow at his office appt. I don't like all this pressure i'm feeling. But it's good to know from you guys that it goes down soon. Swelling is bad too. I wish i could forward time already so it would be less.

Good luck to all who have upcoming surgeries. All will be ok. God is with you

[dexter7188]

Day 8 update:

I have to agree with Danoob; day 8 feels good, bro. Still have some swelling here and there. I got unbanded today and am now on 2 elastics. I can only open my mouth a small bit. I can't even fit a spoon in, but I had a few spoonfuls of shaved ice today by resting the spoon on my bottom teeth and tilting my head to slide it in. Haha. I can finally speak coherently too. Haven't taken pain meds all day. Day 7 was the turning point for me. Everything's been smooth sailing since. Surgeon kind of hinted on the splint coming out a little earlier. Also, no more bowel issues

Anna, that sucks D: It won't be as bad this time around though, right?

[w0nnie]

Hi all. Just a quick update from my phone.
Had surgery yesterday and the surgeon is happy so far. Should be going home tomorrow. That's 2 nights all up. Had no real issue with nausia so very happy with that. Onto juice and yogurt now.

Will update more when on a pc.

Anna: best wishes with ur genio, shouldn't be as bad 2nd time round without bsso.

[annafaith]

Thanks guys - no it definately shouldn't be as bad the second time around, as the bone is already cut they just need to re attach it, and should only take half an hour. Very weird feeling though as my chin free floating and if I press on it it kind of moves - gross . It's the general anaesthetic and another night in hospital that I'm definately not looking forward too... I suffered really badly with nausea... Anyway, feeling better about it today, my jaw swelling is going down and I can now eat properly off a normal teaspoon.

w0nnie - yay, good luck with the first few days of swelling it definately gets better from day 3/4 so hang in there.
dexter - looks like you're recovery is going really well
lucia - I know what you mean about the pressure feeling. I'm refusing to go back to my ortho until i get the genio re-done as I can't cope with the existing pressure, plus elastics, plus second surgery!

[w0nnie]

Glad to say I'm home now . Still using my phone to type. Been banded now and will be for 6 weeks apparently . Right now just hoping to get some good rest, I'm sure u all agree how hard it is to sleep in hospital with all the noise, beeps and changing of drips. Having my meds through the drip was much easier though.

Hope everyone is doing well.