November Surgery Buddies!

[sherrifrob]

Not free of the surgical hooks yet crap damnit. Maybe next week though, it would be a christmas miracle.

[EWUgal15]

I was originally told I'd be banded shut for 6 weeks, so that sounds reasonable. Too bad I'm stuck for 2 weeks longer than even that. But I'm hoping for you!

[EWUgal15]

Today was interesting. I have some new sensations in my numb lower lip. The best way to describe it is a burning feeling. And now some strange pulsing in my chin. The orthodontist warned me that there would be weirdness as the nerves start to come back, so I think this is a good sign.

[sherrifrob]

Thats great news, I never lost the sensation in my lips just a bit in my chin, cheeks & top of my mouth. The pulsing is a really good sign. Don't forget that the swelling always causes lack of sensation too so when that swelling goes down you'll get more back from that too. Even with the sensation I still managed to get most of my breakfast all over my face, you must have the precision of a Swiss watch maker at this point.

The lack of sensation inside my cheeks was weird, the hook on the band at the back was rubbing but I would only feel it when it really dug in. The same thing happened on my knees, the nerves go so you don't feel mild stuff but when it gets to a certain point all of a sudden its there.

[EWUgal15]

No precision what so ever with a spoon. I try to keep a mirror nearby to alleviate that. Otherwise I drink meals from a cup. The more I work the muscles in my face, the more pulsing and weird sensations I get in my lip and chin. Thankfully that was the only numbness I suffered.

[EWUgal15]

I've gotten pretty bored with working from home. I can't decide if I should go back to the office on the 28th of this month or if I should wait until January 4. I'll likely be in these crazy elastics until January 7 anyway. I think talking is going to be weird no matter what. With the elastics, I have problems with pronunciation and being understood. I get tired quickly because the muscles can't move freely. Without the elastics, I speak more normally but I can't feel my lower lip so I sometime stumble over words and I drool a lot more. And I likely won't eat in front of anyone because I can never tell if its running down my chin or not. As good as I feel about having the surgery and what its done for my teeth, my jaw, and my profile, I'm more self conscious because of the inevitable side effects. My coworkers are all super awesome, but I'm really nervous about those things. Just because I don't want anyone to feel awkward.

[jaime]

I've gotten pretty bored with working from home. I can't decide if I should go back to the office on the 28th of this month or if I should wait until January 4. I'll likely be in these crazy elastics until January 7 anyway. I think talking is going to be weird no matter what. With the elastics, I have problems with pronunciation and being understood. I get tired quickly because the muscles can't move freely. Without the elastics, I speak more normally but I can't feel my lower lip so I sometime stumble over words and I drool a lot more. And I likely won't eat in front of anyone because I can never tell if its running down my chin or not. As good as I feel about having the surgery and what its done for my teeth, my jaw, and my profile, I'm more self conscious because of the inevitable side effects. My coworkers are all super awesome, but I'm really nervous about those things. Just because I don't want anyone to feel awkward.

Just popping in to tell you to stay at home as long as you can! You'll miss it when it's over, believe me!

[sherrifrob]

I totally understand about the self consciousness. I met a friend at a bar the other night & ran into a colleague, ordering a drink & speaking to someone I don't know that well went fine but I did feel really awkward. I'm staying at a friends next Tuesday because I'm moving out of my current place & flying to Berlin the next day. I'm probably going to have to eat at my friends place with her & her new boyfriend who I haven't met before. I have to say it is a bit daunting.

I'm the same with the elastics, much better without them but still issues with pronunciation. Asking my roommate for scissors this evening took a couple of gos. I've found that the more I talk the easier it gets but after a certain point, just like you, I get tired. By the 28th things will have come along leaps & bounds so you might feel much better closer to the time. I agree that you should put it off as long as you can.

Is it possible to do a phased return to work? Like go in for a few half days, it'd get you out but you'd be able to go home before you got tired & you wouldn't have to eat at the office. You'd also get all the catch up chat out of the way so by the time you come back for full days you'll be able to put your head down & work without having to talk loads. With the initial I'm back thing out of the way it'd take the tension away & perhaps you'd feel more comfortable eating.

You can also just take things to eat which are the easiest like shakes where you can use a straw & pace yourself. It'd keep you from feeling hungry in the office & you could do the more challenging stuff at home. Between now & the 28th you have Xmas so there will be a break in the boredom no matter what. Family stuff is usually pretty draining so you might fell the benefit of having that time over Xmas & New Year off. It's generally a challenging time of year anyway.

When the swelling goes down more you'll probably be able to speak better even with the elastics on. You can always take them on & off in the office so you can talk as well as possible just not the whoel day. Also don't forget 'sorry I have a broken jaw' is a great way to get out of a conversation so you have an out if you start to get worn out.

[EWUgal15]

I went in for half a day last week because the guy that was supposed to be able to fix my laptop remotely ended up locking me out of it completely. Did my best to avoid the technical description, in case I'm the only IT person here. A lot of people stopped by my desk to catch up and it was really tiring. I have no problem wearing elastics, I just hate having to wear 6 at a time. And somehow, the guy that was tasked with fixing my laptop imagined huge rubber bands going around my head to hold my mouth closed...he didn't even think about my braces being the anchors.

All the talking causes my swelling to flare and kicks up soreness in the muscles in my face...that's the tiring part. Working 8 hours hasn't really been a problem and I haven't had any meetings which is super cool. I've made a few appearances around the office, so most of the people that I work with directly know I'm alive and probably won't get super excited to see me back again.

Just popping in to tell you to stay at home as long as you can! You'll miss it when it's over, believe me!

Thankfully, I can work from home pretty much whenever I want to. I was out completely for 3 weeks and right now I'm on my second week of working from home before vacation next week. I also have an on call schedule that got all wonky from leave, so I've been on call for two weeks. I get a few days break from that and pick back up on call on Christmas Eve to try to balance out the time with my partner. For some reason he thinks I have two weeks of vacation, so I'm letting him go with it even though I'm not on vacation the last week of the year. It's probably time for him to take a vacation.

[EWUgal15]

How are things going across the pond Clare? You're probably pretty busy with the move and getting ready to travel for the holiday. Are you worried about anything happening while you're away?

I'm heading to home to see my parents and my brother on Christmas Day then headed back to home away from home to get back to my regular life. I'm not super worried about the travel (other than the snow we've gotten recently), more worried about chewing when I'm not supposed to. I'm hoping that my dad's prime rib dinner will be ultra tender so I can cut really tiny pieces and swallow it whole. I eat so little these days that it won't take much to fill me up. I'm hoping the random pains I've had in various teeth the past few days aren't too bothersome on Christmas Day. I'm hoping it's just a result of the elastics and that things are ok in there. Everyone always says don't double up on your elastics but my orthodontist told me to which might be doing some harm. I don't know. But I don't like the random pain. Sometimes it's teeth that elastics are hooked to, sometimes it's teeth around where the elastics hook. One things for sure, it's not from chewing too much.

[sherrifrob]

Things are coming along my crazy roommate has moved out so she's out of my hair while I move. She has kindly left all the cleaning etc to me like the gem that she is. Xmas is coming up fast but I feel like I'm in a better place with all the stuff I need to do. I still have work deal which has been in process since end of October & is still not done. I think come Monday I'm going to have to be like 'so it's daily face to face status meetings from the 28th til this gets done...oh & have a Merry Xmas'

I stay with a friend on Tuesday night & then travel to Berlin on Wednesday. I'm staying in a hotel my first night, my excuse was that I get in late but really it's to conserve energy. I had messages from my sister the other night inquiring about what I can eat. It was very much nope on everything except omelettes & mash.

I had those tooth pains too, it kind of felt like when you have an adjustment where they're tender. I actually thought for a bit that my canine was hitting the bracket on the bottom row. It wasn't, it just felt like I must be pushing on something. I found that they did go away the more I chewed. I don't know if it's maybe your teeth responding to being pushed or pulled because it was always right next to where the elastics were. They hurt less with the elastics off or looser than before. When you think about it those elastics are constantly pulling, unlike the archwire they actively pull against you so there's no respite from it.

Apparently the average healing time for a bone fracture is 6-8 weeks, I'm only just at 4 weeks now & I feel like it's more stable but I would not tempt fate. I think you'd have to be really reckless to cause any damage.

Your weather is insane, we've had an unseasonably mild year (57F). How far do you have to go in the snow? In the UK we're totally not set up for now as we don't get much & we don't get it every year. Then we had a couple of bad years in a row & they started to actually deal with it when it happened instead of the whole country taking a snow day...for a week. Are they predicting freezing weather plus snow? That's when things get dicey.

[EWUgal15]

I have about a 2.5 hour drive to my parents house, which is far enough south that they don't get a lot of snow. The freeways aren't really that bad. It's the roads in town that don't get plowed. I live in a city that gets snow every year. Last year wasn't so bad (what snow we did get didn't last) but we got 4 inches Thursday night followed by freezing rain on top of it Friday morning. It's snowing right now so the roads tomorrow aren't going to be pleasant. I can drive in snow but I'm not very confident about it. A lot of people around here either forget how to or flat out don't know how and that tends to cause problems for everyone else. Our weather has been super weird. We had mid to high 60s F until November this year. Normally we're getting frost and nasty cold by mid October. Snow came early compared to the last few years.

I was thinking the same thing about the tooth pain and elastics. What confused me about it is that I am still wearing 6 at a time and when I have them all in, I can't really open my mouth so they don't get stretched. I feel like that would cause them not to pull as actively. But I'm no doctor. For poops and laughs today, I decided to only wear 2 elastics while I ran some errands and I can definitely feel them pulling now (or at least when I speak) and not a lot of tooth pain. Now that I'm home, I'm going to clean up and put 6 fresh ones in until dinner.

Now that I'm allowed to eat without elastics, I've been tempted to chew but very diligent not to because I don't want to hurt myself. I tried using a straw today and it was like I had forgotten how. A combination of my new bite and not having used a straw in a month. It was very foreign to me. Thankfully though, I really only have to worry about one meal with my family. And I hope they aren't offended that I likely won't eat much because I just don't eat much any more. I'm going to do my best though.

That sucks to hear about your roommate. I had a roommate do that to me and you can bet I didn't give them any of the security deposit that was refunded.

What's it like around the holidays over there? I've never actually left the US...not even to Canada which is a 2 hour drive from my apartment...so I have no idea what Christmas time is like everywhere else. I can't imagine it being anything like what we have here.

[sherrifrob]

The kicker with my roommate is that it's the third move since May. Her girlfriend kicked her out so I moved her from there & she ended up crashing in my studio until we got this place together. It's like the groundhog day of living situations. Luckily because I did everything when we moved in, the deposit will come back to me. You're totally right about the deposit. I've had time to do stuff in advance of the move so it won't be an epic, unlike the 6th floor walk up where I used to live.

Because you guys have Thanks giving I think Xmas is probably not as big of a deal. Also we tend to get more holiday time here so people tend to take more time off for Xmas. I'm doing it in Germany this year & for them Xmas eve is the biggest part. Ireland is mostly small towns, we really only have one major city which is Dublin (population 1 million) so traditionally everyone will go back to their home town & run into everyone you went to school with & possibly end up wildly hungover on Xmas day. The airport on Xmas eve is actually lovely, Irish people emigrate A LOT especially during the financial crisis. There's loads of people coming back from all over the world, it's quite nice to see.

Christmas day is the same as you, presents, a turkey which takes years to cook, eating too much & falling asleep in front of the TV. The 26th, we call St. Stephens day, that's usually family obligations & leftover turkey. Not much happens between then & New years eve. It can really drag. By the 27th me & my sister have reverted to being teenagers. Christmas is surprisingly similar all over, we do have a few gross festive foods which you guys mercifully don't, like a pudding marinated in booze which gets set on fire.

I have to drive my mums car home from the airport on the 27th & I'm dreading it. My van engine blew up 2 months ago & it was vintage, driving that & driving my mums Audi are very different. I'd rather not have to refresh my memory in airport traffic & on the motorway. I'm sure it'll be fine..kinda. It's a Sunday so traffic won't be bad. It's hard though because in the UK the speed limits are in miles & in Ireland they're in kilometres so I'm never sure if I'm speeding.

The elastics tend to loosen over time but then you brush your teeth & change them so they're tight again. I can open my mouth the same amount with them on. I don't know if its the resistance they create or the pulling but it's definitely less comfortable with them on. You're not missing much with the chewing. It takes a while for your muscles to remember how to move food around your mouth so you don't taste much. I can get my mouth open a fingers width so even when you're chewing its tiny pieces of things. Poached eggs & avocado where a nice break from soup. Tortellini are good cos they're soft & the pasta is thin but it does take half an hour to eat half a bowl of it. I have literally craved soup some days because you can eat it kinda normally & while it's still warm.

You're totally right on the chewing, it's like the cleaning. You'd love to do a big epic clean as soon as you can but realistically you slowly build up to it. How are you finding the gym? It's only really this week I feel like I can do physical stuff like I used to & not get light headed. I don't normally do naps as they mess up your sleep cycle but now I can sleep better I've been nodding off mid afternoon.

[EWUgal15]

The gym has been really great. My surgeon told me I can't lift anything over 25 pounds so I've just been sticking to the elliptical. I'm really glad to be getting back to it and I'm excited to start weight training again. The first week or so, I was easily exhausted. Week 2, I was pretty restless and ready to start building up my activity again. I was determined to get back to normal as fast as possible. I've lost 23 pounds since surgery and I'm worried that it's been more muscle mass than fat. It's funny. I've never been really concerned with my weight (even though I'm probably over weight) but I've always been very conscious of how my body looks. I kind of see this jaw surgery as a turning point. It's been a great opportunity to eat smaller portions and lose weight. My boyfriend and I have decided to change the way we eat when I can start chewing again.

I'm so glad other countries don't have the Black Friday madness that we have here. Maybe as I've gotten older, I've started outgrowing the materialistic lifestyle. This year, it's been more important to me that I get to see my family than give and get gifts. The day after Christmas here is much like the day after Thanksgiving. Except instead of mobs of people buying things, it's mobs of people returning gifts they don't want. This boozy, flaming pudding you speak of...is it any good? Clearly I'm not well traveled. Maybe that should be a New Years resolution.

[EWUgal15]

5 weeks post op tomorrow. Somehow it doesn't seem real. Hopefully, in a little over two weeks I'll have my surgical wires out and away from 6 elastics at a time. I'm really trying not to break the chewing rule. I know I'll be in soft chew first so I've only considered being a delinquent with soft chew things but the thought is still terrifying.

Numbness has been weird. I've gotten used to it and the weird sensation of the nerve repairing itself. There are numb spots I didn't notice before that are more apparent now that feeling is coming back. That's the really strange part. I have a front lower tooth that went rogue with the surgical wires...it's not aligned like it should be but it should be a relatively easy fix (I think). That tooth gets weird shocks through it when I brush my teeth and when I touch certain spots on my chin...which tells me its associated with the nerve but I didn't realize there was any numbness inside my mouth. The elastics seems to be doing their work because I feel every second of their pulls.

I know everyone is gearing up for the holiday and busy...I'm mostly just putting this out here to vocalize what no one else wants to hear, mostly because they're tired of me talking about it.