September 2011 Buddies!!!!

[underbiter]

I went to see my surgeon today and was cleared to start chewing again that was the good news, the bad news was my top jaw has moved back about 1mm, he hopes that the elastics will correct this but its possible i may need to have another surgery in future if it doesnt. The fact that i could chew cheered me up tho (and being such a greedy so and so) i ate my way through a ham sandwich, a piece of cheese, a pork pie a pack of crisps and then later on i had a roast lamb dinner with cauliflower cheese, it took me a while to eat but i enjoyed it so much, the only thing was i felt i had far too many teeth and they didnt feel like my teeth it was like having someones dentures in my mouth!

i wasnt so keen on the crisps despite the fact that ive been craving them like crazy for the past 2 weeks it didnt feel 'right' somehow and i was very aware of the noise but apparently my eating was so much quieter than in the past. I think its because ive got a better airway through my nose now so i dont need to rush my food for fear that i cant breathe properly as ive struggled with in the past. Also ive been told i dont do the weird breathing noise through my nose at night now like i used to, its not snoring its just from the nasal congestion of my cleft and small space in my mouth or something according to my surgeon.

Im very aware of my stitches at the moment and they are really beginning to bug me my surgeon cut one out earlier which was a tad painful but only for a second. I may try the salt water rinse that you describe jeff. Im seeing my ortho on thursday and he'll put me a new brace on and new hooks which is good cos the ones i have at the back of my mouth arent very good and the elastics keep slipping off which is very annoying. Ive been told to keep the elastics on for as long as i can (23 hours a day was his suggestion) so im going to try and be good and do as he says. I told him about my little trip to the pub the other day and his reply was oi i said no alcohol and chocolate for 3 months i said! luckily he was only joking!

Im disappointed that i havent lost much weight, but then i overate the week before my op so ive only really lost that weight, and really could do with losing more. Has anyone found anything that helps the swelling at all? Ive found that if ive been particular active in the day my swelling goes down by the evening alot but annoyingly comes back in the morning.

I havent had an icy cold chin but as thats the only bit of numbness i have left im sure itll come soon enough. I dont have what you all seem to have with the swollen area on your jawbone, most of my swelling is in my cheeks with a little bit in my neck/chin area

Oh and marian happy 2 week anniversary! its mine tomorrow seems a lot longer since my operation than that tho.

[Marian]

Jo, pork pie, cheese, ham sandwiches!!! Did you really have your op 2 weeks ago!!!!!

I have my ortho appt tomorrow - if she says I can't chew like you guys are I'll probably knock her out!!!!

Hubby had pork pie last night and I did pull of a little bit to nibble on - very nice.

Kristy, that sensation on your bottom teeth sounds horrible - do painkillers help with it at all?

Talking about questions that you should ask your ortho/surgeon - we should have got our acts together and supplied each other with a combined list of questions - I'd like to have seen my surgeon's face an hour later when I moved on to Jo or Jeff's questions!!!

I didn't realise the salt water might make the stitches come out quicker - I'll start using that today. (Two of my elastics are supposed to go on to hooks right at the back of my mouth, but with the swelling and me being nervous about fiddling around the operation site I haven't been able to put the elastics as far back as the ortho would like. Hopefully the salt water will help with this.)

Is everyone's smile improving now?

Marian xx

[Marian]

By the way - I'm guessing that I'm an oldy compared to you guys (I'm 42), I wonder if this means that you are healing quicker than me????????

[underbiter]

I know amazing isnt it Marian you probably wouldnt even know if it wasnt for my bit of bruises left on my chin and swelling on my cheeks and the attractive elastics of course! And yes my smile is a lot better even better than before the op because my face is lined up and before my jaw was twisted to the right so i had a crooked smile, and smiling didnt feel comfortable, now you cant stop me smiling and i think im getting a bit vain because everytime i go past a mirror i have to practice my smile!

Jeff im 28 probably one of the younger ones on here hence why my recovery has been so quick.

[gothpenguin]

Just a quick post as I'm at work; I'm 35.

Jeff

[gothpenguin]

Was I the only one here who got a genioplasty? I'm trying to understand my chin numbness with respect to you guys.
Jeff

Jeff

[Kristyar0]

I only got mandibular osteotomy (bottom jaw forward) so I think my recovery is straight forward compared to something more involved!
And PS I'm 26!

[boatsink]

Hey everyone! It's been a while, glad to see your posts; I've been lurking and reading. I haven't had much to update. I guess I got over the hump and things have relatively been stable for me. My main concerns post-surgery are: range of motion and numbness. As for progressing post-surgery, I'm waiting to get the okay to start chewing again (which I think will be at my next appointment - 10/19), yay!

Jeff - I've had a genioplasty, in addition, lower jaw surgery. What question(s) do you have re: numbness? My lower lip and chin are still numb. The sensation I have to both have improved compared to immediately being post-op; however, the sensation is not really there. I continue to get phantom sensations - it is itchy and I can scratch all I want, but the area still itches. I still have twitching and ocassionally sharp localized pain-bursts that lasts no more than 1 second. Also, I want to say the numb area on my lower lip has slightly decreased in size.

Kristy - I'm also 26 =).

Any new food adventures? I discovered polenta/chickpea fries - yum. Doesn't require chewing and reminds me of french fries. Yum.

[underbiter]

I was given a le fort 1 bimaxillary osteotomy plus rotation of my top jaw as my top jaw was twisted (top jaw brought forward 3mm bottom took back 8mm) didnt have a genioplasty either. Swelling taking ages to go down and its beginning to get annoying now im so impatient haha! Ive found that walking seems to help it but in the morning its back to its normal state.

Ive seen an ex collegue today who hasnt seen me since before the op and they were really impressed, said they can definately tell the difference. I also got my hair cut yesterday into a bob, something i wouldnt have dared do before the op because it kind of makes my chin shape more obvious but it looks really good.
Got my ortho this afternoon (3.15) , bit nervous because hes very fast and not particularly gentle and hes refitting my brace and hooks so im armed with painkillers ready for after. Hopefully if i go armed with painkillers i wont need em.

[Marian]

Jo, how did you get on with the brace re-fitting today?

I also went to the ortho today - she changed the archwire on my bottom teeth (pressure on my chin wasn't particularly nice two weeks after surgery!!) and has repositioned some hooks.

The actual time at the ortho didn't cause any pain, but I went to the supermarket afterwards and suddenly had a sharp pain and nearly burst into tears in the bread aisle! Luckily I had some Ibuprofen in my bag so took a couple. To say I was pleased to get home would be an understatement.

Perhaps the pain came because I was walking round the supermarket in a strop - the ortho said to stick to soft food until next Thursday when I would see the surgeon and he will hopefully give me the go ahead. I wanted to say to the ortho "Well if Jo can eat pork pie, why can't I?????"

Right, as the resident oldie in 'September buddies' I'm off to top up my blue rinse.

Best wishes everyone, Marian xx

[underbiter]

oh had very bad news guys, been told that my top jaw is slowly moving back to where it begun so tomorrow i am having my bottom jaw moved back even further and i will be fully wired shut...Frustrated is not the word! Its annoying because right from the start i said to my surgeon i would rather be wired shut to achieve the maximum results and as my top jaw has resisted most forms of moving and traction in the past it will do it again...looks like sadly i was right. I think if he had been quicker with getting my elastics on and getting the strongest possible ones i probably wouldnt be in this position right now. grumble grumble moan moan lol! My surgeon thinks i will be wired shut for 4-6 weeks but he then said 'until im fully' healed so its probably going to be more like 8 weeks which will be fun!


I basically went in to have my braces adjusted, new brackets, new wires new hooks, which was traumatic enough because at one point he lost a hook and went bonkers like 'dont move a muscle' i was like 'why what you done?' thinking he'd cut me or something! it wasnt too bad but he said my surgeon was coming in to see me, and i saw his face (my orthos) and im thinking its bad news his face totally gives it away.

Then after he'd done torturing me he asked me to sit in the waiting room as my surgeon was on his way, surgeon then turned up looking a bit serious, and asked me into a private booth thing in the ortho room, had a look at my bite and basically said 'im sorry but its not looking good the elastics are not working like id hoped we can carry on using them and hope for the best but to be honest the best thing is to redo part of the original surgery' he asked when was it 2 weeks post op to which i said it was yesterday, and he said 'right okay sooner than i thought itll have to be tomorrow then'

He explained that he couldnt move my top jaw any further because of my cleft being affected, plus even if he did, it seems to be the scar tissue that is causing the problem not so much the muscle growing over. He plans to move all the metalwork in my mouth he put in in the last 2 weeks as apparently it will make it much easier to stretch things on my bottom jaw.

So a bit of a set back but hopefully it wont be too long before im back recovering plus this time ill have a dog to play with, the puppy is arriving on sunday

Hope everyone else is doing a bit better x

[boatsink]

Jo - I'm so sorry to hear you have to go through another surgery. You are holding up so strong. I don't know if I could immediately go through a second surgery right after the first. I hope everything gets resolved after your second procedure. It also sucks to read that you'll be wired for 4-6 weeks, possibly 8??? You'll make it through. Glad to hear that your puppy is arriving Sunday - you two can take care of each other. Let us know how it goes. Wishing you the very best!

[underbiter]

Thanks Danny. Im up and awake couldnt sleep any more plus i wanted to have some water whilst i still can. I forgot to mention with the wires i apparently wont be wired shut when i wake up, the surgeon says because i have some complications with airtubes (which is why i had to have it put down my nose when i was awake last time and not sure if theyll have to do it again today) he will have to make sure i come round safely first and that my breathing isnt an issue before putting the wires on, hopefully he wont leave it too long because otherwise it will have been a waste of time.

I think he plans for my ortho to put them on as hes a perfectionist and will probably do a better job, so im expecting that when ive been thru recovery theyll whisk me off to my orthos clinic in a wheelchair presumably so he can do his bit of torture. Im sure thatll frighten any potential patients he has lol!! My surgeon did say that chances are i probably wont need to stay overnight in hospital as long as theres no complications with blood loss, breathing and pain control, so chances are ill be home later, dont think ill be reporting til tomorrow tho think ill be too tired. See you all later xxx

[Marian]

Hi Jo, I hope everything went well today. I'm looking forward to hearing that you are ok (as I'm sure all your september buddies are).

Thinking of you. Marian xx

[underbiter]

Hi everyone just to let you know im ok, and have arrived home thankfully. It was very straightforward today apart from the fact that i had to wait til 1.30 to go down to theatre which was a pain and i was starving and thirsty, at one point i was worried it would be cancelled, but no it went ahead. Had a panic on just before going down to theatre as someone managed to lose my medical notes luckily 10 mins later they were found. Thankfully didnt have a tube forced down again, i was given gas this time which i preferred less stress of them trying to find a vein that is like looking for a needle in a haystack on my body.

Came round a lot more tired this time and kept dropping off to sleep i think they may have given me different painkillers or something, because i still struggled to keep my eyes open most of the afternoon. My surgeon said all had gone well, and he had moved the metal in my bottom jaw because he needed to be able to let it go loose then stabilise it with really strong elastics, not wired fully shut until tuesday as he needs the bottom jaw to pull back as much as he can before puttin it in the final position on tuesday with the wires.

Have only got a tiny gap to fit thru and ive been told strictly liquid diet now, either thru a syringe or a cup/cup and straw. Im not eating today as not hungry whatsoever but will eat tomorrow, have had a lot of water and several cups of tea. This time ive been given tramadol in addition to the paracetamol and ibruforen as the elastics will be painful as they are really tight and pulling. Oh forgot to mention i didnt come round with elastics on, my surgeon came to my bed about 2 hours after the op to fit them, it didnt hurt because i was quite numb but definately felt a lot of pressure, so shortly after had morphine administered thru a syringe in my mouth, which helped. I have a lot of medication on a normal day to day basis so its going to be very fun getting them down as well as the new ones. Some of my medication i cant get in liquid form so it will have to be crushed and watered down in a syringe so thatll taste nice... not!

Right im off to drink some more tea and rest up hope everyone elses recovery runs alot smoother than mine did xxx