November 2013 Surgery Buddies

[riley3245]

I think I can eat in a couple weeks. That is when my splint is getting removed. Hopefully I can get these braces off in a few months and be done with all this.

Does heating pads help. I know ice does not help with swelling after a certain time, but I do find it soothing.

[survenant]

Good to hear from you Riley.

If you're lucky you could have your splint removed in 2-3 weeks (as it was for me).

[riley3245]

Thats what the doc said. 2 weeks until splint is out. I have to say that for me these first 4 days were rough. I think it is starting to get better now.

[kimnmoody]

Hi, I know I'm late to this thread but I had my surgery on Nov 8th, I'm 3 weeks post op today. I had lefort 1, they moved my top jaw forward 7mm and up 3mm. I've looked through so much stuff online! It's really reassuring to see so many people are going through the same thing. I was just wondering if any of you were worried about the swelling around your nose? I know everyone says don't judge your appearance until at least like 6 weeks post op but I can't imagine how many nose is going to 'reduce'… if you know what I mean. I feel like it's really wide now compared to pre-surgery. Also how are people getting on with their diets? It's been all mash, eggs and pasta for me! And only recently have I incorporated the pasta.

[Alicia110613]

Riley - At some point, ice to your face will no longer "feel good" (esp if it's cold in Nov where you are). At that point, I do find using heat pads help with the swelling. I started using heat pads on Day 7.

Kim - welcome to the thread! Sorry I can't really answer the nose issue since all my swelling is around the lower jaw bones, but when I touch my jaw line I can tell which part is "swollen" and which part is "normal". I wonder if you can tell w/ the nose too? Also I started chewing cake yesterday, but haven't really had anything harder than that (cake, egg, mashed potatos). I'll update when I make some significant progress on my diet, but prob won't be too soon!

At week 3, I can tell that my jaw is still "unstable". When I bite down, sometimes parts of my teeth touch first before others - and sometimes not. Also my bite tends to shift a little when I chew w/out elastics. But with the elastics on my bite seems to go back to where it should. Also I tend to bite my [fat] cheeks when I chew since I'm still swollen. Not very pleasant..

[kimnmoody]

Thanks Alicia, I think you're right. I can feel the swollen areas around my nose and cheeks, looking forward to all the swelling being gone! How much swelling do you have left?

[Alicia110613]

Hard to say - perhaps 10 - 20% residual swelling?

More so than the swelling, I can't wait to get my surgical hooks off!!! They are such a pain and very unsightly...

[kimnmoody]

Oh yeah, tell me about it! Can't wait to get them off but hope it doesn't hurt. I'm nervous about my first orthodontist appointment next week, hope he doesn't go prodding around too much!

Are you still wearing elastic bands?

[survenant]

Hi Kim,

I've had my jaw moved forward 7 mm and upwards 3 mm too on november 7th (along with a genioplasty, lower jaw surgery to correct a 4mm asymetry + unilateral patalal expansion on the left side).

About the swelling, I'd say I have 20% left. People who don't know me much say the swelling is not bad, but I can still feel it. I look about 20 pounds heavier than I really am. I'm still wearing elastic bands for at least another 3 weeks.

[kimnmoody]

Hi survenant,

Sounds like you had a lot more done than me. Hope you're feeling okay with it all. With the swelling, would you say it has made your nose wider?

Also, can you feel the bands pulling your bite into the correct position? I guess because we didn't have a correct bite before we won't know what it's supposed to feel like but when my mouth is relaxed I can't tell where the bands want my bite to be. My jaw muscles are relaxing into a position they are used to and my bands are pulling my bottom jaw into what feels like an unnatural position. Does that make sense?

[survenant]

It has made my nose a little bit wider, though I'm pretty sure it will revert to its normal width in several weeks.

The elastics definitely pull my bite in the correction position, because of my previous lower jaw asymetry, the muscle on the right side of my face are shorter and tend to pull the lower jaw back to its original position, i.e my lower jaw tend to be tilted on the right-hand side. The elastics bands correct this effect.

it's the same thing for the other "axes". Our muscles in general want to move the jaws back in their original position and the elastic bands are there to reeducate the muscles, at least that's my understanding.

[Alicia110613]

I'm still wearing 2 elastics, and prob. will be for another couple of weeks.

[survenant]

I just went out for a 5-km run in the Québec cold and snow (-5oC approx). What a great feeling! It feels so good that things are almost back to normal.

[Alicia110613]

I had a quick ortho appt today and my orthodontist removed (i.e. essentially sawed off) my front surgical hooks. I still have a couple on the sides but they are not too visible. Such an amazing feeling!!!

Survenant - 5 km run in the Canadian winter is quite impressive! I'm sure it'll be great for your metabolism which should speed up your recovery as well. =)

[kimnmoody]

Survenant - Cool you're getting back to normal already. I'm so bored of sitting around the house but every time I go outside I'm weary of people seeing my chipmunk cheeks!

Alicia - ergh, that 'sawed off' bit gave me shivers! How did he take them off? When my ortho put mine on they just kind of popped onto my brackets. Did it hurt? I've got my first ortho appt on the 5th, I think he's going to hurt me…

Also, did you all get dissolvable stitches? Now that I can move my top lip more, if I make a weird duck face I can see two little thin white strip things. I can't quite see the incision but that's where the white strips are coming from. Are they the ends of the stitches? I thought they'd have dissolved by now. I'm pretty sure it's not an infection because nothing is burny and it looks fine, plus I didn't see my surgeon long ago so he would've seen an infection.

Has anybody else had a look inside? What can you see?

Sorry for all the questions.