June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[jaime]

I've been dreadful at keeping up so here's a few questions:

1. Is anyone still experiencing some numbness? My top gums are sort of 70% feeling and have been for the past 3 months. I suspect they'll never get better.

2. I feel as though my upper jaw is still "loose" from my skull. It's been 4 months so I would have thought it would have healed up by now. If I use my electric toothbrush I feel as though my whole skull is vibrating because of my more loose upper jaw. It's better than June but still not great. Anyone else?

3. I can open my jaw about 4 fingers now but I still have to open my mouth carefully and consciously because the joints arent quite right still. Is this normal in your experience?

4. I feel as though my gums receded quite dramatically thanks to this op and my inability to brush properly afterwards. I'm concerned that they won't ever make a return. Has anyone had good experience with gum regrowth?

Thanks for being my support group when I'm panicking!

1. The front of my chin is still numb as is the front half of my palate, and probably part of my gums (it's hard to tell).

2. I have not had that but I suspect it'll go away.

3. I'm with Kayla...I can only open 2 fingers.

4. I got nothing, sorry!

[snapdresser]

gruntled - Thanks! I'm curious to see your own before and after pics! Tho I understand not wanting to share such personal info. Jaime put it all out there, but I think most of us aren't quite THAT comfortable about it Yeah, I hate posting on here from my phone too, which is why I usually don't post in the evenings/weekends

1. I still have a lot of numbness in my gums. I have a little feeling in all of it, but it's very desensitized all over. I try to be careful not to burn myself with hot food/coffee. My surgeon assured me that the sensation at least on the top will come back 100% eventually, and I'm sure that's the case for you too. I agree, it seems to be progressing at a snail's pace

2. I don't feel like my jaw is "loose", but I take any transference of vibrations from a bone that was sectioned to the rest of my skull as a positive thing. If it's transferring vibrations, it must be attached pretty well and not flopping around lol.

3. Wow! 4 fingers?! That's impressive! I am still pretty "aware" of my joints when I open wide, but I don't feel like I HAVE to be careful.

4. This was me too! I felt like my gums had receded, especially right after my arch bars came off. Over the following weeks they seem to be roooughly back to where they were pre-op. I'm not entirely convinced they're not some fraction of a mm more receded, but it's pretty close, and they might still be regenerating. Except where that chunk of mine got the blood supply cut off and then it fell off. That still hasn't really come back. Looks better tho.

KaylaChristine - I think the feeling coming and going is pretty normal. I get strange and varying sensations. It keeps things interesting

[EWUgal15]

I've been following along with this thread as I prepare for my own surgery in November...and I was just wondering: what supplies did you buy that you didn't use at all and what supplies were your absolute lifeline? Jaime, I caught up on your blog and saw the sports bottle you bought, so I'm planning to pick that up...but I also saw that you were planning on buying the jaw bra from Lynn's site. Did you end up buying that and using it? I don't want to go crazy buying stuff I won't ever use...

[snapdresser]

EWUgal15 - I also got the jaw bra from Lynn's site, but I probably only used it maybe 10 times. My surgeon told me that after the initial swelling went down after a week or two that it wasn't really necessary, the remaining swelling would go down very slowly regardless of whether or not I use ice packs. My absolute lifeline was the small syringes I used for medicine. I know some people on here had a lot of difficulty getting their medication and the syringes made a huge difference. They also made it MUCH easier to consume fluids the first couple of days. Plastic disposable cups, a big pack of like 100, so I could drink Gatorade every day and not have to worry about washing cups every time. Also, I'm not sure if people have mentioned it or not, but I used compression socks for the first 4 days or so when I was basically bed-ridden. My wife swears they made a huge difference for me Maybe she's right? Towels to catch the blood and drool when I sleep or just during the day, those were critical. I used two wedge pillows for the first few weeks and just one for a few weeks after that. I think it made a big difference in the swelling going down. My face always felt better in the morning if I slept on my back on the wedges than if I accidentally turned on my side or something. A TV in the bedroom, but that's not super easy to rig up if you don't already have it. I bought a Roku so I could watch TV in bed since I was lying there all day anyways. I got more than my money's worth out of the Roku box

So, lay in bed in my compression socks lying on two wedge pillows with a dark towel under my chin watching TV shows on the Roku with occasional breaks to take medicine from a syringe and chasing it with Gatorade from a disposable cup or an Ensure. Yup, that sounds like my life the first week post-op!

Also, some people here got medication in pill-form (the antibiotic, in particular, IIRC). They had some issues with it, so I'd recommend trying to get what I had, which was the liquid version of the antibiotic.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

[jaime]

I've been following along with this thread as I prepare for my own surgery in November...and I was just wondering: what supplies did you buy that you didn't use at all and what supplies were your absolute lifeline? Jaime, I caught up on your blog and saw the sports bottle you bought, so I'm planning to pick that up...but I also saw that you were planning on buying the jaw bra from Lynn's site. Did you end up buying that and using it? I don't want to go crazy buying stuff I won't ever use...

Yup, I bought it! I found it useful. You only need ice for a few days before switching to heat, so I'd recommend getting the type of gel pack that can be used hot or frozen.

On my blog I have a list of what I bought. The bed wedge and the sports squeeze bottle I would say were the MVPs of my surgery recovery! I still use the sports squeeze bottle as my main water bottle when I'm home.

Snap, I tried muscle relaxants last night but it didn't really do anything beneficial except make me drowsy!

[snapdresser]

Jaime - Yeah, the muscle relaxants made me sleepy too, but suppooooosedly with continued use they'll help loosen up the tight TMJs. I only used it a few times since I seemed to be making decent progress opening wider without them. Still, I try to use them on weekends (cuz they make it hard for me to wake up in the morning on weekdays) if I remember. Any progress so far with the strong elastics?

[jaime]

Jaime - Yeah, the muscle relaxants made me sleepy too, but suppooooosedly with continued use they'll help loosen up the tight TMJs. I only used it a few times since I seemed to be making decent progress opening wider without them. Still, I try to use them on weekends (cuz they make it hard for me to wake up in the morning on weekdays) if I remember. Any progress so far with the strong elastics?

The elastics are smaller but weaker than the Bummer ones I have. No progress yet. I did a new video today though!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiAcJij7IO4

That's interesting that the relaxants may need continued use. I thought it was tough to wake up today. I did notice a sliiiiight difference after I took them, my jaw did feel more relaxed but it could also be a placebo effect.

[gruntled]

And they're off! Feels very odd. They didn't end up putting a permanent retainer behind my top teeth because my bite meant there wasn't enough space. Still a bit worried about my wobbly tooth but my ortho didn't seem worried about it so I better trust her.

I tried to attach pics but it won't work!

[snapdresser]

gruntled - Congrats!!!!!!! You have everything off now, right? I agree, it's an odd feeling. It's STILL an odd feeling for me and I've been out of my archbars for a couple months now. It still feels weird where it transitions to partial numbness. My loose tooth took a solid few weeks to tighten up but in the meantime I tried my best not to chomp down on anything hard with it. I'm not sure that I was particularly successful, but it did still tighten up eventually. I also had a hard time posting pictures on here. When Jaime posted her x-ray, I tried to do the same, but the file was too big, I guess. I resized a post-op portrait and posted that on here a while back tho. It was kind of a pain lol

Jaime - I watched your video yesterday and I noticed you have an Apple Watch! How much do you like it? You find yourself using it all the time, or still using your phone for everything? One of my best friends just got one a couple weeks ago and he's trying to talk me into it. Also, the chin tightness feeling must be really common; I have it too. I agree that it's probably due to the numbness we have. Btw, I wouldn't have noticed you were wearing the same shirt again if you hadn't said anything Maybe that's cuz I'm a guy tho? For the muscle relaxers, my surgeon had actually suggested I take them every day if I want. At least that was the deal for the ones I was prescribed. Maybe yours are a type that you're not supposed to take that often

[jaime]

YAY GRUNTLED!!!!!

Congrats! I said it before but I'm super duper jealous!

It's probably a blessing that you don't have the permanent retaining wire. I don't want one but I'll probably have to get it. You've been in braces for so long that hopefully the chance of your teeth shifting is less.

Snap, funny somebody finally noticed my watch. I've worn it during most of my videos as I got it when they first came out in May. I recently swapped it out for the rose gold one (the cheapo rose gold one, not the $$$$ one).

My husband bought it for me as wedding present and I do like it. But if I had to give it back, I'm not sure I would miss it enough to buy one with my own money. I don't really use any of the third-party apps except Shazam and ScoreCenter. Its real value is in getting your notifications right away. I never miss a text or phone call. I also really like glancing at my wrist to see the weather.

I can get more in-depth with my thoughts if you're interested...didn't want to write a novel as I tend to do...

[snapdresser]

Jaime - Yesssss please get more in-depth with your thoughts! It's hard to determine if it's right for me

[jaime]

I'll send you a message on FB sometime this weekend about it. Probably best not to clog up this thread with off-topic stuff. We already have 700+ posts here!!!

[snapdresser]

Haha that's fair Jeez, that many posts already. Seems like just yesterday I was perusing this forum for the first time saying "Wow! I didn't realize something like this EXISTS for orthognathic surgery!"

[gruntled]

Y'all adorable! What's your FB? I'd love to add you and keep up with you all

[jaime]

Y'all adorable! What's your FB? I'd love to add you and keep up with you all

Forgive me but I'm going to spell my last name phonetically so hopefully it won't ever pop up in a Google search...

See eye eh* tee tee eye (*like how a Canadian says it)

You know my first name already. I'm the only person on FB with my name so I should be easy to find.