Sorry, Should have said February 2014 surgery buddies

[batwing]

Also, it's hard to tell from the one week picture, but I actually had two black eyes. My son had a play that night and my husband and I went, it was my first day in public. My husband was so worried someone would think he hit me!

The worst of the bruising lasted over four weeks for me.

[samoorelaw]

This is my one week post-op face, in all my mouth-breathing glory:



This is my two month post-op face:

Batwing, thank you for your kind words! Your 2-month post-op pic looks great: a huge difference in swelling. I'm hoping the appearance of my nose stabilizes like yours did!

I had my first post-op appointment with my surgeon today and he said that I am healing perfectly and am healing like "a 18 year old," since he expected me to be much more swollen 9 days post-op than I am. I guess all those heat wraps and sleeping elevated in my Tempur-pedic bed made a difference!

When were you cleared to eat soft and then regular foods? My surgeon said I can eat anything I can cut with a fork as soon as my ortho loosens my bands enough to open my mouth. My ortho the other day said he estimates I'll be in these tight elastics for at least another couple weeks. I'm starting to get hungry so I can't wait to eat real food: getting really sick of just smoothies!

My surgeon said to just play food by ear. I really thought I'd be on smoothies, gatorade, and Ensure forever. But by day 10 or so I couldn't take liquids any more. I think that was the day I had my husband overcook some macaroni and cheese and I mashed it up and ate it very, very slowly. It took me about an hour to eat 1/2 cup of macaroni, but it was the best meal of my life. Day 14 was Christmas, and I sucked on a piece of ham (!!!) and ate some mashed up scalloped potatoes. It was hard, but I did it. And like he said, I just played it by ear. I was in tight surgical elastics for five weeks, but the amount I could open my mouth gradually got bigger and bigger and I experimented more and more. By the time I got to my third weekly appointment, my surgeon asked if I had tried soft foods yet, and I had already been experimenting with them for quite a while.

At five weeks I moved out of the tight bands and went into regular orthodontic bands, and also had my surgical hooks removed which was the best thing ever. I had my surgical hooks put on six weeks before surgery because I had just had a baby and didn't have a lot of time to keep coming in, so they just put them on early. So my mouth didn't feel clean for like three months trying to brush around the hooks!

You're braver than I. I'm terrified of even experimenting with soups with soft pieces of veggies in them. But I think I will be ready to try more things within a couple weeks.

When did most of your numbness go away? My nose including above my upper lip and sides of nose, the right side of my upper lip, and right cheek are still numb. I'm thinking between the numbness and swelling in my nose is why I'm dissatisfied with my nose's appearance.

[redwine]

After upper surgery I was also scared to even attempt to chew. After about 10 days I began to eat blended soups etc. and they tasted fantastic! Swelling and bruising really started to subside at about the same time I think, but it was still quite awhile before bruising was gone. And total swelling took about six months, but few people other than me even noticed. I love the way my nose looks now. It took awhile to get used to it, but now I love both form and function.

[redwine]

Oh yeah, the numbness wasn't completely gone for at least 3 months. But it did go away. I would get little "shocks" and within 24 hrs the feeling in that part of my face would come back. After getting past the weirdness, it was kind of interesting!

[redwine]

I have a question having to do with wires/bands: Surgeon says there should be a spot to get food in behind my teeth. Either I have too much bone, or I'm still too swollen because I sure can't find that spot. I can almost get a tiny (catheter size) tube between teeth on one side. Is this normal? Certainly can't get anything thicker than milk through the tube.

[samoorelaw]

I have a question having to do with wires/bands: Surgeon says there should be a spot to get food in behind my teeth. Either I have too much bone, or I'm still too swollen because I sure can't find that spot. I can almost get a tiny (catheter size) tube between teeth on one side. Is this normal? Certainly can't get anything thicker than milk through the tube.

I'm banded shut and there is no space to get food in behind my teeth so it's still pure liquids for me. It's really starting to get old now. I'm also quite disappointed with my results thus far: my teeth still don't touch on the right when I bite down even after surgery and a week of very, very tight elastics. Could this be the best result I'm going to achieve? My teeth didn't touch before surgery and they still don't post-surgery. Sigh....

[batwing]

I have a question having to do with wires/bands: Surgeon says there should be a spot to get food in behind my teeth. Either I have too much bone, or I'm still too swollen because I sure can't find that spot. I can almost get a tiny (catheter size) tube between teeth on one side. Is this normal? Certainly can't get anything thicker than milk through the tube.

I'm banded shut and there is no space to get food in behind my teeth so it's still pure liquids for me. It's really starting to get old now. I'm also quite disappointed with my results thus far: my teeth still don't touch on the right when I bite down even after surgery and a week of very, very tight elastics. Could this be the best result I'm going to achieve? My teeth didn't touch before surgery and they still don't post-surgery. Sigh....

My teeth didn't touch for a long time after surgery. I want to say maybe four weeks or so. Also, I couldn't feel when they WERE touching. So I would go to my surgeon and he would check my bite, tell me to bite down, and then be like, "No, you have to bite down. Bite down. You have to bite down." But I really thought I was and I wasn't! Once I got more feeling back I was able to tell what I was doing and practice biting down- not gonna lie, it hurt for a while to bite down all the way. Not severely painful, but I didn't like it.

redwine & samoorelaw- do they have bands going all the way back? My bands started on my second molars, so I was able to get liquids back there and then eventually soft foods. I also didn't get my bands until seven days post surgery, which I don't think is the norm and I don't know why it was done that way.

[samoorelaw]

I have a question having to do with wires/bands: Surgeon says there should be a spot to get food in behind my teeth. Either I have too much bone, or I'm still too swollen because I sure can't find that spot. I can almost get a tiny (catheter size) tube between teeth on one side. Is this normal? Certainly can't get anything thicker than milk through the tube.

I'm banded shut and there is no space to get food in behind my teeth so it's still pure liquids for me. It's really starting to get old now. I'm also quite disappointed with my results thus far: my teeth still don't touch on the right when I bite down even after surgery and a week of very, very tight elastics. Could this be the best result I'm going to achieve? My teeth didn't touch before surgery and they still don't post-surgery. Sigh....

My teeth didn't touch for a long time after surgery. I want to say maybe four weeks or so. Also, I couldn't feel when they WERE touching. So I would go to my surgeon and he would check my bite, tell me to bite down, and then be like, "No, you have to bite down. Bite down. You have to bite down." But I really thought I was and I wasn't! Once I got more feeling back I was able to tell what I was doing and practice biting down- not gonna lie, it hurt for a while to bite down all the way. Not severely painful, but I didn't like it.

redwine & samoorelaw- do they have bands going all the way back? My bands started on my second molars, so I was able to get liquids back there and then eventually soft foods. I also didn't get my bands until seven days post surgery, which I don't think is the norm and I don't know why it was done that way.

Hello,

I don't have bands going all the way back but with the elastic on the front teeth, I can't open my mouth so nothing other than liquids and yogurt for me. Now I'm also experiencing a loose tooth on the lower jaw where one of the elastics is anchored, and I'm really concerned.

[redwine]

Wired tightly over a splint in front and back. Getting pretty used to Boost, Kefir and gallons of juice. Spice it up with cream of tomato soup and some wonderful carrot & ginger cream soup. Anything thicker and the crevice clogs up and I end up wearing what I was trying to eat. Good news though: I'm starting to get some feeling back in my lips and cheeks! I've graduated from a syringe to a squeeze bottle for eating. Baby steps, right? Swelling in my lips has gone down considerably and I wish they would stay the size they are right now. Still a lot of swelling in my face, but my chin is emerging. Since I didn't have a chin before, I feel like Jay Leno when I look in the mirror. Mostly I avoid mirrors. How is everyone else doing? I can't tell if my teeth touch, but they're touching the splint for sure! I go in on Thursday for another follow up and slight chance of unwiring. Three weeks in so worst case I've got 5 weeks to go.

[samoorelaw]

Just had my second post-op appointment today. Everything is healing like it should and my next post-op appointment won't be until March 28th. I asked the surgeon whether I can graduate to soft foods or if my bands can come off before March 28th and he said no. So I will be on liquid foods for at least another 3 weeks and 2 days so I might as well be wired, too. So depressed, tired, and hungry. My body definitely isn't used to being back at work and I'm just over this. I knew to expect depression about halfway through recovery but I'm feeling just awful.

[redwine]

Wire & splint removed today joy! joy! joy! Tightly banded but at least I can talk now! I feel like I'm making progress finally. Also nice to know I can breathe through my mouth if I need to (my nose is getting a bit stuffy). No changes in diet yet, and I'm still more swollen than I (and my surgeon) would like, but progress is progress.

[redwine]

Yet more good news! Had an Ortho visit today. He removed all the bands placed by the surgeon and replaced them with heavier bands in a different configuration. Not only to it feel more secure, but we're back to actually moving my teeth around already. And Ortho is also very pleased with end result of surgery! Although he commiserated with me regarding the actual surgery and permanent nerve damage. They made a diagram of the band placement and told me I should change them once daily and could brush the insides of my teeth at the same time. I have to find a tiny toothbrush. Even the toddler toothbrushes are too wide to get inside - they're made for adult hands I guess. I may cut the end of the toddler brush off and tape it to something narrow - a pencil, maybe? Does anyone have any ideas?

[redwine]

Sherry - are things going a bit better yet? Hope so. That post-op depression is simply horrible. Worse than the physical pain, to me anyway.

[samoorelaw]

I'm doing much better than I was, thanks for asking. Still cranky because I can't open my mouth still and am so hungry: liquids just aren't filling anymore but I'm trying not to consume too much more because I gain weight easily. I have really only lost about 7 lbs and considering how little I've had, that is disappointing. Granted I don't have much to lose (I wanted to lose 15 lbs), but I thought being on this liquid diet would at least have that advantage.

I hope you get an answer on your question about the toothbrush. I still can't brush the insides of my teeth because I can't open my mouth so I'm relying solely on listerine to get the insides of the teeth and continue to use my baby toothbrush to brush the outsides of the teeth. My mouth still feels so gross, though.

[SoCalUniveristyLed]

Hi,

I think I'm about one week ahead of a couple of you guys..recovery is going slowly, but going. For me, every day is a little bit better than the last.

moorelaw - I totally understand what you mean about the depression. I had that week 1.5-2.5. I will say that I would recommend you make sure you are taking in the proper amount of calories and nutrients. I believe that the body requires 3x as many calories when it's trying to heal, and I do believe that inadequate intake will make you grumpy as you aren't giving the body enough fuel to get on with it's healing. When I was finally able to up my food intake, I didn't really gain much more weight strangely enough. If anything, exercise will help loose the weight you want, and not the muscle that this type of surgery makes you loose. Help your body help itself!

Although I still have swelling, numbness and stiffness, I will say that I am happy with my results. I never thought my teeth would fit so perfectly. Although a long recovery road is still ahead, take joy in all the little achievements. They will too soon be long forgotten : )

Like Madonna says: "If it's bitter at the start, then it's sweeter in the end"

Take care everyone, I wish you a great recovery.