September 2011 Buddies!!!!

[underbiter]

Lovely to hear from you Danny how many days are you post op now?

Ive finally had my wires put on today about blooming time! The teeth arent in the best position, they are a lot better than they were but ive had days where my top teeth have been right over the bottoms and at the moment they are just touching. My surgeon thinks that the rest of the work is really up to the teeth restoration dentist who will sort my top teeth out for me once ive healed up. He thinks my jaw is already starting to heal and thats why the elastics couldnt pull my bottom jaw back any more. Ive got 4 wires all connected together on my jaws and ive only got the tiniest gap to fit my crushed up tablets through and food through. I got weighed by the nurse and told not to lose much more weight or she'll give me extra fortisips as they dont want me getting ill. The surgeon says that he counts 6 weeks from the second operation i had as when my jaw should be about healed. Im more dubious and would rather have the wires on for 8-10 weeks to ensure it doesnt move back cos id be totally gutted if it did.

[Marian]

Congratulations Jo!! Who'd have thought that you'd be so happy and relieved on the day the wires were fitted!!

I wonder if your ortho would leave your wires on for another couple of weeks for your peace of mind. It wouldn't be any skin of his nose would it?

I hope that you are not in any discomfort at all. Have you got a large syringe to get your medication and fluids down (I remember looking on YouTube at people who have had jaw surgery and they all seemed to be squeezing fluid in through one of these syringes).

I hope you can relax a little bit now and can get a good night's sleep.

Best wishes, Marian

[underbiter]

im managing ok with a mug thanks marian and i can just manage to mix my tablets with water on a spoon. I feel so relieved that i have the wires on, and i may try and ask my surgeon if i can have 2 extra weeks in wires just to be on the safe side. Its a little bit uncomfortable but not painful just a bit annoying when i drink because its like my teeth are fighting to open. Im making the most of being able to eat higher calorie foods to maintain my weight made myself a nice thin brocolli and stilton soup for my dinner and im going to have a peanut butter and nutella chocolate milkshake for pudding. Im going to try lots of different home made soups so i dont get bored.

[gothpenguin]

I saw my ortho yesterday for my 4 week post-op checkup, and dude, my teeth are killing me know.

My teeth are apparently looking good, although my ortho thought she could bring my bite a little bit more forward so my front teeth actually connect(that is a very odd feeling since I've never been able to do that before). So she has two sets of elastics on the sides of my jaw designed to pull my bottom jaw forward. Downside, my teeth meet at the front but no longer at the back Upside, I can leave my front elastic off during the day and only put it on at night. That's good, because its actually painful to have the front one on because it pulls my top two teeth down onto the brackets on my bottom teeth. Either way, the corrected jaw position looks much better than the previous one even though the shift is miniscule. (Also speaking of night-time, for the first time since the surgery I got to sleep lying down.... I'm totally chuffed.) I also had a new wire put in on my bottom jaw with new elastics, I forgot how much that hurt

My ortho doesn't seemed to concerned about jaw excersises(sp?), or what I eat. She's taking a very laid back approach and in essence has given me free reign to do whatever I want as long as its comfortable. I'm still quite a bit nervous, and haven't been able to open more than two fingers


Oh and today's my birthday----a new face ain't a half-bad present

[underbiter]

Happy birthday Jeff! Hope its been a good one and hope you are treating yourself a bit food wise.

Im having a bit of a bad day cos my teeth on the right hand side are crushing into each other a bit, not sure if my jaw is beginning to twist but it really bloody hurts so to be on the safe side im going to try and get an appointment tomorrow to see my surgeon. Just having a bad day in general was feeling a bit sorry for myself and the food adverts on tv are driving me bloody mad id kill for a kfc or mcdonalds lol!

Hope everyone has had a much better day than me. I will make myself have a better day tomorrow an im gonna attempt to go to the pub with a friend tomorrow night. Ive got a couple of nights out coming up which i think is why i was feeling down because obviously im not going to be 100% on these nights out will prob be a bit quiet cos its a bit difficult to talk and can ache if i do too much of it. Ive got an 18th birthday night out in a week and a halfs time that includes a meal so im either going to ring the place up and see if its possible to take some soup and a smoothie or just turn up after the meals finished. Also got another meal for my brothers fiancees birthday the week after which im going to try an persuade the restaurant to let me take my own soup in.

[Marian]

Jo, don't be so hard on yourself. You are allowed to feel fed up sometimes. Cheer up ideas:

Buy some lovely flowers to go in your bedroom (to me that is the ultimate luxury)
Buy some expensive smellies and pamper yourself
Go clothes shopping (the weather's getting cold, I'm sure you need some new fluffy slippers, fluffy dressing gown, fluffy anything really)
Do some christmas shopping online and get ahead of yourself
Plan to go out to a bonfire party
Get your nails done
Buy a box set of Only Fools and Horses and watch it back to back (bottle of Cava not optional, it's a necessity)

I could go on all night, but what I'm saying is that you are bound to feel down. Spoil yourself, there's no better time than now

Marian xx

[boatsink]

Happy late Bday Jeff!

Jo - I agree with Marian - get yourself some nice flowers! I'm not a flower guy, but my sister bought me a nice bouquet and interestingly it really helped to brighten my mood with all the colors. It also gave me a sense of purpose - for such a small task I was able to care for it for days before it wilted away. Christmas shopping now? That's an excellent suggestion- beat the crazy crowds doing last minute shopping. Marian has great ideas!

And to answer your question, I'm almost 2 months, give or take 1-1.5 weeks =).

[underbiter]

Thanks guys for your support i went clothes shopping the day before and spent just a tad too much! I had a lot of flowers during my recovery from various relatives and friends which was lovely but it was difficult trying to keep them alive! I did my nails yesterday which made me feel better. As for christmas shopping its a nightmare trying to get my family and friends presents as they are so blooming fussy so wil ask them what they want and start from there. Im hoping to go back to work this week some time i work in a kitchen as a catering assistant in a small mental health hospital so at least i wont have to deal with the public or anything like that, just make salads and sandwiches and liquidise meals for residents, which i should be a pro at now having had to do it for myself!

well my day yesterday wasnt too bad, didnt do much during the day other than play with the dog which was fun, hes getting so big wont be long before we cant pick him up, i can just about manage to pick him up but probably another week and i wont be able to. Hes only 10 weeks but really heavy! Managed to walk into a glass door yesterday luckily i wasnt going very fast but ive left a mark on the glass! u can see my nose and lip shape! Im fine just got a bump on my head im lucky could have done a lot of damage. Went out last night with friends to my local pub really enjoyed it had a few wines but didnt get too drunk id be too worried about someone elbowing me or me falling over. I think i am going to go out on halloween for a couple of drinks and probably bonfire night for a few hours. I think ill feel better once im at work and seeing people again. And its only another 4 weeks until frank can go walkies so ill enjoy that, i want to lose some more weight so hopefully once the wires come off i can get back to my calorie counting.

Danny you must be not far off the 90 days that most people that have had the surgery say it takes for the swelling to go down and most of the healing should be done by then. How is your swelling doing have you got much left? My swelling is really taking its time to go down annoyingly.

[underbiter]

well i was right, despite having titanium wires my bottom jaw has moved forward about 2 mm, so i went to my surgeon today and he confirmed it for me and im going back in surgery on wednesday to have my bottom jaw moved back and the plates put back in to hold it in place and the wires wired up properly whilst im asleep and possibly a metal bar over as well. Im going to have to spend a night in intensive care unit with a nurse watching me with wire clippers in case i choke or something but ive said ill cut their throat before i let them cut the wires lol! Clearly my surgeon didnt think my jaw was strong enough to fight metal but it is despite me reminding him. Hes taking me seriously now though and thats all that matters.

[Marian]

Jo, a third operation! You must want to bash the surgeon/orthos heads together and say "why the hell didn't you wire me up in surgery before!!!!".

I'm pleased a nurse will be with you in Intensive care, I'm sure the hospital are just covering themselves, but it'll be nice for you to have someone keeping you company (I remember having someone with me when I came round and it made a huge difference to me not feeling on my own).

As I said before, thank God your team are as determined as you to get this right.

You will be in my thoughts on Wednesday, and I will be willing everything to run smoothly.

Big, big hugs and we'll see you back here soon (don't join November buddies will you? We'd miss you )

Love and best wishes, Marian xx

[underbiter]

Haha Marian joining november buddies wouldnt even occur to me but my mum just said when i mentioned it im the only person who could technically join september october and november buddies!!

Yes i could quite easily have throttled my surgeon yesterday when he was all like well we'll have to have you wired up from surgery i was like hello that should have been the case to begin with! Im hoping ill get away without the nose tube again but ill have to see what the anaesthetist says.

Im sure ill probably be greeted with 'oh not you again!' when i go to the ward and theatre not cos im a bad patient but cos i kick up a fuss about my tablets getting sorted early because they take so long to get them sorted in the pharmacy cos i have a list of tablets as long as my arm.

And this time i will not be letting my notes out of my sight they will be staying with me until i go to theatre so they dont get lost at the last minute again!

Im up early this morning was wide awake at 4 o clock, i suspect its a combination of me worrying and the clock changes, but i wasnt the only one, my dad always wakes at 4.30 and gets up regardless if hes got work, and my mum got up at 5.30 and Frank wanted to play so thats it we're all up!

[Minerva]

What does a strong jaw mean, exactly?

Sending you good wishes for your third and hopefully final operation.

[gothpenguin]

Jo, really all I can say is wow. I really hated my face before my surgery, but I don't think I hate it enough to go through 3 operations. I'm surprised your surgeon will put you through that physically. How much weight have you lost?

For everyone else, how's your numbness doing? Im still numb, but much less so than beforehand im regaining proper feeling in the peripheral numb areas. Ecstatic about that. I'm annoyed at the amount that I slobber or spit when I talk. If I bend over while talking spit just drools our :p

Jeff

[boatsink]

Jo - I wish you the best and like always, I know you will pull through. 3 surgeries and still strong. Let us know how everything goes!

Jeff - I'm still numb (had surgery on 9/9); however, the area affected is getting smaller. Also, the numbness seems less? I don't know how to describe it. On the surface layer I can describe where and how my chin and lower lip are being touched, but under this "layer" it is still numb - like the feeling after getting local anaesthesia.

[underbiter]

Minerva when i say a strong jaw i mean one that has the ability to bend a titanium 5mm wide screw like it did 10 years ago when i was fitted with a metal distraction device 3 screws on either side of my head and 2 in my jaw. and this time my jaw has managed to bend metal wires in my mouth.

Jeff- I cant lose weight very easily as i have a very slow metabolism and have probably lost 4 pounds total through these operations and wires. My surgeon didnt really have a choice i insisted on going under again so he could correct the problem as when i start something i like to see it through to the end otherwise it would feel like its been a waste of time. I really hated my face pre surgery didnt like having my photo taken and could only find 1 photo out of 100 of me that i actually liked usually because my chin was slightly hidden.

Thanks Danny and co for your best wishes, im leaving for the hospital in a minute wont be going down to theatre til about 1.30 as far as i know and may have to have a tube up my nose again as my surgeon wont want to risk taking off my existing wires in case of even the slightest movement. Even in 2 days my bottom jaw has moved forward another mm! My surgeon says he will put my bottom jaw as far back as it will go and wire every tooth together to make sure it is secure. I'll update when im out of hospital which will probably be thurs evening or friday hopefully at the latest. See you all later hope everyone else is ok xxx Jo