June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[Pavlidja]

snapdresser: Its a one piece LeFort and its all to help line up my bite and improve my profile and to add a bit more of a jaw line. He said its the same cut as the SARPE but no cut down the middle teeth. To begin with I had a narrow upper jaw, small lower jaw with an overjet of around 5mm. For my upper teeth I have a slight open bite. At this stage the teeth are now very straight but the jaws don't line up.

I talked at length with the surgeon about the moving the chin fwd but from what i gathered it would purley be for asthetics and because there is no way to predict how my face will change I will wait and see how my face goes after the double jaw. He said I should have very good results from the current surgery anyway.

Got my hooks in, getting one last steak in before the next couple of months of mush. Just want this over with!! Don't like the day before and the few days after but I'm ready!

Also I got told I wont need a splint nor will I be wired shut and apparently I can drink through a straw straight away but we shall see.

[jaime]

Gruntled, I described the first few days as feeling like a hangover, so I definitely know how you feel. I had a few days too where nothing I did made me feel comfortable. Hang in there, it's going to get better real soon!

Pavlidja, that's crazy that you'll be able to use straws right away. That will make things SO much easier, trust me! I can't wait to use a straw again.

One week post-op today, the worst is officially over. Phew.

[Nozzelnut]

Gruntled I hope your recovery continues to move forward and the nausea subsides for you. Feel better! Sleep when you can. Try not to stress...

Pavlidja; that's awesome that you'll be able to use straws immediately! I'm a bit jealous.

Jaime sorry the vid didn't work out as planned. And it's the first I've seen wires used; I usually see plates.

Snap sounds like things are moving forward for you!

I think I have everything set up for when I get home; bed wedge, shakes and broth drinks, chores are done, meds are ready and available....

Well, it's almost time for me to head to the hospital. Just a couple more hours. I'm teetering between nervous/anxious/butterflies in my stomach and just want to get recovery going... Not looking forward to the splint and being banded shut at all. From what I've read it's the worst part of everything, but if it's the reason I only go through this once; I'm ok with it... I guess I have to be.

[snapdresser]

Jaime - hahahaha nice! Post the video!

Gruntled - Jeez, that nausea sounds tough. I wonder how you get more blood in your stomach than others? My nose has been trickling blood ever so slowly pretty much since the surgery. Real slow and sometimes it stops for a few hours, so my surgeon apparently isn't worried. That's walk that they were giving you oral painkillers in the hospital. I got one oral dose right before discharge but the 24 hours before that I was on IV morphine. Never used a cold mask, but the jaw bra is pretty cold feeling too. Didn't use it a whole ton so far, but maybe I should be. I still have a lot of swelling 8 days out. Feeling for you buddy!

Deathorglory - Hey, it's been a while! What's your hard part about chewing stuff? Is it opening wide enough or bearing down at the end of the "chew" or what? I did stop holding my lips together with my fingers a couple days ago and drink normally from a cup now, I just thought the new recoverers might benefit from the technique. I'm only taking the codeine at night now. Trying to go without this morning (when I'm late on my Motrin and it hurts the most). We'll see how it goes. I might consider upping the regular Tyenol during the day... Hmmm... It's probly only low dose Tylenol available in liquid form tho.

Pavlidja - your case sounds kinda similar to mine in that your teeth are fine but you want to improve your profile and whatnot. I have sleep apnea too, and actually moving the chin is supposed to help with that. That's good he predicts good results! That's def what you want to hear I didn't "need" a splint per se but I believe my surgeon used them during the operation. Also, I don't think any of us were "wired shut" in the strictest sense, but we have strong elastics that prevent us from opening much. I'd be real surprised if that's not the case for you too. My surgeon said the reason I can't use straws is cuz she doesn't want me "poking around" in my mouth with them, potentially messing up the sutures. Seems like she should have some faith in my ability to properly use a straw, but whatever

Nozzelnut - Yup! Alea iacta est! The die is cast! Good luck! See you on the other side!!! And enjoy the warm raft. It was incredible for the 10 seconds I had it on before I passed out

[gruntled]

Thanks for all your support, everyone, and wishing anyone will upcoming surgery good luck!

A rather unsavoury topic...Did anyone suffer constipation after their surgery? I think it's giving me more discomfort than my mouth!

[snapdresser]

Yeah, I've been pretty stopped up. Ima try this tea today I think. Not sure I need to resort to anything strong and this point. Just haven't gone as frequently as I like.

[jaime]

I've been drinking that Smooth Move tea and it's done nothing for me, I haven't gone since last Wednesday. I'm not even taking that much Percocet either, about 2 a day. That said, I can't really tell as I'm not uncomfortable. Weird.

Snap, the video and post were up as of last night.

I'm guessing Nozzel is in surgery right now! Hope it's going well.

KaylaChristine and gruntled, hope y'all are feeling good today.

Pavlidja, steak is a great idea! I had one last week before surgery and I'm glad I did.

Speaking of food, I purposely went hog wild with food for the past few months knowing I'd be spending this time wanting food I can't have. As of today, I've lost everything I gained from doing that (7lbs).

[snapdresser]

Jaime - Great video! You always say you're experiencing a lot of the same stuff as me. The chin muscle spasms was one of those. Happened a lot to me the last couple days but it's all but stopped today. Also, I was unaware you only have one elastic on the front! I have literally 10 elastics (5, but they each go up and down) including all across the front of my mouth. Count yourself lucky! I think my surgeon is being pretty OCD with my elastics lol. It doesn't feel good against my lips, but I don't have a wicked bruise like you. I suspect they accidentally pinched you there with a tool during he procedure. At least that's what it looks like to me.

So I didn't have any of the Smooth Move tea since Jaime said it didn't seem to work, but I think I'll be ok. Things have been moving along on their own from time to time. Also, my congestion's gotten much better today! I've been tired again during the day but my symptoms are pretty good. Swelling still isn't changing much from day to day. My bottom lip is still novelty sized, but it may now be possible to go outside and not get stared at, necessarily. My boss called me today and was happy to hear the surgery went fine. Not sure how many more weeks I'll take off. Once my cheeks and lip go down I wouldn't have an issue going back. Heck, I could probably drive now if I hadn't taken the codeine recently. I'm concerned my 4 weeks leave will be up and my lip will still be swollen tho The bruise on my forearm seems to be turning a nice purplish color, but it's kinda the least of my worries. My surgeon wants to see me AGAIN tomorrow. She says she wants to check my bite and tighten my bands again. Fun fun Oh yeah, and my teeth now rest fully together

[gruntled]

48 hours in and I'm not sure I can physically get more swollen. The skin is stretched so tight it hurts

I was saying yesterday how my actual mouth doesn't hurt, just feels funny - well, that's changed, haha! I have gotten pretty much all of the feeling back in my mouth, and boy I am feeling this now.


Struggling to keep up with taking the antibiotics. They taste like arse! So far 2 out of the 3 times that I've taken them I've thrown up.

[jaime]

Gruntled, were you given amoxicillin? That's what I got. I had to make sure there was lots of water in my mouth when I took one of them (I got pills) because they taste horrific. I am also pretty sure they're what caused my nausea on Sunday and Monday, leading me to vomiting. I take everything after eating now and it's helped a lot.

I also would wake up with a HORRIBLE, smoky chemical taste in my mouth and it would return whenever my stomach was empty. Anyone else experience that? It was awful, easily one of the worst parts of this experience so far.

Day 8 now...days 5-8 have been pretty much the same. Getting slightly easier to talk but the muscles in my chin ache after talking. Picked up some laxatives and took some last night...no change to my situation yet.

[snapdresser]

I'm telling you guys, get a scrip for the pink liquid amoxicillin! It tastes like candy! Seriously tho, it does.

Jaime - Not sure about that taste. I frequently notice a gross snot/blood smell, but no strange tastes. Good luck with your "situation"! Hey, your teeth are coming together now, right? Do they all come together at the same time or do some teeth touch before the rest? Seems like my right side molars touch first most of the time. My surgeon's gonna tighten my elastics AGAIN today and I suspect it's normal cuz I'm still swollen, but just wondering what you've been experiencing.

[jaime]

Update: my situation (I am tempted to add an h after the s) has changed. I took a different kind of laxative and it had an immediate effect. Thank you, bisacodyl.

Pro-tip: if one type of laxative doesn't work, try another.

Snap, maybe we are describing the same taste? I'm not sure what it was, because it wasn't like normal morning breath.

As far as my bite, I can feel my right side touching. My left side is more numb and I can't hear or feel my teeth touch over there, but it's possible? I have 2 elastics in my mouth, both on the left side so you'd think I'd be biting there instead. And yes, I know how lucky I am to only have 2 elastics!

I am going to my ortho on Monday and I'm excited to see what they say. I'm always secretly paranoid that something isn't right, and I have to tell myself to trust my ortho and surgeon because they've both been doing this for a long time (I think 30+ years each).

[gruntled]

I got the yellow liquid amoxicillin! Looks, smells and tastes like sulphur!

Dilemma, guys - I had two elastics but have somehow lost one. One side of my mouth isn't anchored down now. What should I do? It's Friday evening!

[snapdresser]

Gruntled - Contact your surgeon stat! If you have their personal phone, use that, or else call their office. That's an important one I bet, especially if you're now lopsided. My surgeon gave me spare elastics in case I broke some, and I have like 10 lol. Those scissors for cutting the elastics are "emergency only" and as such I'd treat this seriously too. Let us know what the office/your doc says!

Jaime - Congrats! Quite a relief, I'm sure. Honestly, I have no idea what my breath smells like. My nose isn't working as well as it did. I brush and use the anesthetic mouthwash right before bed tho so maybe that's preventing it? I figured you did the same tho. Good luck with the ortho on Monday!

So I met with my surgeon AGAIN today. She said she wanted to tighten my elastics but apparently it was a miscommunication. She thought ONLY my back right teeth were touching. So she just cleaned my teeth and sent me home, no charge, but the trip wasted like 5 hours of my life Anyways, she seems unconcerned that my back right teeth touch first. She only cares that they're all touching, which they are. Coincidentally, she ran into my previous surgeon (a total pro who does hundreds a year) at the LIJ Resident graduation and discussed my case with him. He said his "school of thought" is if all teeth aren't touching fairly soon after the surgery, to add a bunch of elastics to lock them down. So that explains why my surgeon was a bit squirrelly. But he clarified that the reason we can't close our jaws for like a week after surgery is cuz of swelling in the TMJ. It's completely normal.

[Nozzelnut]

Well I'm alive. Feel like sesame. Completely swollen. But on the recovery road.