April - June Surgery Buddies

[HikaRiku2]

I wanted to start a post for those who's getting surgery quite soon or has already had it in April who needs surgery buddies to get through it together

I'm getting Lefort 1, IVRO Lower jaw and genio surgery on May 24th.

I'm pretty nervous because IVRO is less common and I have found maybe a handful of others with this surgery.

[snapdresser]

Oooo an IVRO case, eh? Very cool Welcome to archwired!

[Elucidation]

Good luck! I had mine early March a month ago so can't be there with you, but I'm there in spirit

[HikaRiku2]

Thank you guys! Nervous and excited for treatment. Elucidation, you're welcome to share any pointers for pre and post surgery.

[jawregret1]

Hi!

I'm looking towards getting surgery in early June. It'll be my second jaw surgery. My first was June last year.

My initial surgery resulted in overimpaction of the upper jaw, so my surgeon is planning on bringing it back down in the second surgery.

[HikaRiku2]

[quote="jawregret1"]Hi!

I'm looking towards getting surgery in early June. It'll be my second jaw surgery. My first was June last year.

My initial surgery resulted in overimpaction of the upper jaw, so my surgeon is planning on bringing it back down in the second surgery.[/quote]

Anything from your first surgery that you felt was really helpful that you can share? Maybe pre-surgical or post things to do?

[HikaRiku2]

I'll be going to my pre-op appointment with my surgeon on Thursday! I'm making a list of things to ask him for my surgery.

[Lala082008]

I'm scheduled to get my surgery in mid-June, though my insurance hasn't approved it yet so it could get rescheduled. I'll be getting a BSSO and maybe genioplasty, to be decided at my preop. I'll be glad to get the surgery over with -- I've been waiting so long!

What's IVRO?

[QQvine]

[quote="HikaRiku2"]I'll be going to my pre-op appointment with my surgeon on Thursday! I'm making a list of things to ask him for my surgery.[/quote]
Hi, I saw you date was close to mine. I had mine on 5/24 with the IVRO method. The first day in the hospital was horrible, but I felt much better after the 3rd day. I was able to drink liquids from a cup at the 4th day, and I didn't need any pain medication. I took Asian medicine to help stop bleeding in my nose. Currently, I don't feel any pain and have no trouble with eating or sleeping. I hope everything will go smoothly when they open my wires on the 6th week. I wonder what the chances are for revision (a second corrective surgery). How was your experience?

[HikaRiku2]

Lala - I'm glad your surgery is in the works! I hope they approve the surgery cause it's tough for some insurances to allow it. IVRO is a surgery type different from BSSO in which the lower jaw is cut a bit further back than what the BSSO is. It also more than likely will avoid the mandibular nerve and will lessen the chance of being so numb for so long/nerve damage. Your surgery is coming up so I hope to hear good things from you!

QQvine - I'm glad to hear that someone is doing IVRO around the same time as me! Unfortunately for me I had some complications with insurance so my surgery has been pushed back hoping to have my insurance working and ready and will have the surgery in a couple months.
Happy to hear that your experience is going well! If you don't mind, do you have any before and after pictures or blog of your journey? I'm interested in learning your experience since ours is similiar and it's rare to find IVRO cases. What Asian medicine did you use for the bleeding? I'm Vietnamese so I may know which one you're talking about or can purchase it!
I was able to go to my pre surgerical appt with my surgeon and he told me I didn't need to ice much after the first day or so. He was very nonchalant about it but I want the swelling to go down as much as possible. What did your surgeon say/your experience with it?

[QQvine]

[quote="HikaRiku2"]Lala - I'm glad your surgery is in the works! I hope they approve the surgery cause it's tough for some insurances to allow it. IVRO is a surgery type different from BSSO in which the lower jaw is cut a bit further back than what the BSSO is. It also more than likely will avoid the mandibular nerve and will lessen the chance of being so numb for so long/nerve damage. Your surgery is coming up so I hope to hear good things from you!

QQvine - I'm glad to hear that someone is doing IVRO around the same time as me! Unfortunately for me I had some complications with insurance so my surgery has been pushed back hoping to have my insurance working and ready and will have the surgery in a couple months.
Happy to hear that your experience is going well! If you don't mind, do you have any before and after pictures or blog of your journey? I'm interested in learning your experience since ours is similiar and it's rare to find IVRO cases. What Asian medicine did you use for the bleeding? I'm Vietnamese so I may know which one you're talking about or can purchase it!
I was able to go to my pre surgerical appt with my surgeon and he told me I didn't need to ice much after the first day or so. He was very nonchalant about it but I want the swelling to go down as much as possible. What did your surgeon say/your experience with it?[/quote]
I don't have any blog. I had a class III underbite and had braces for 9 months pre surgery. I found out that you really have to compare cases on the type of surgery and see how severe your underbite is. The recovery so far is pretty smooth, you have to prepare the first and second day post surgery. I felt nauseated in the hospital with bleeding from my nose. I felt better after I vomiting three times and let it all out. Shower at home also made me feel better. I did not need pain medication, but I took it for first 4 nights before I went to sleep for precaution. The Chinese medicine is Yunan BaiYao, and you can google it. I only took that after surgery and the taste is really bitter since I opened the capulse to drink it with water in syringe . The chinese medicine doesn't like cold food after you intake two hours, so you have to watch your diet, I really think the medicine helped stop bleeding in two days. I will have my two week check up tomorrow, my first week check up was 5 min sine I don't have any pain and seems I have good recovery . I had IVRO because my surgeon was skilled and recommended having my jaws wired together to have the best recovery while having less damage done to the nerves. I heard some surgeons opt to do the BBSO because it is easier to operate while more riskier to the nerves.

[HikaRiku2]

Lala - I'm glad your surgery is in the works! I hope they approve the surgery cause it's tough for some insurances to allow it. IVRO is a surgery type different from BSSO in which the lower jaw is cut a bit further back than what the BSSO is. It also more than likely will avoid the mandibular nerve and will lessen the chance of being so numb for so long/nerve damage. Your surgery is coming up so I hope to hear good things from you!

QQvine - I'm glad to hear that someone is doing IVRO around the same time as me! Unfortunately for me I had some complications with insurance so my surgery has been pushed back hoping to have my insurance working and ready and will have the surgery in a couple months.
Happy to hear that your experience is going well! If you don't mind, do you have any before and after pictures or blog of your journey? I'm interested in learning your experience since ours is similiar and it's rare to find IVRO cases. What Asian medicine did you use for the bleeding? I'm Vietnamese so I may know which one you're talking about or can purchase it!
I was able to go to my pre surgerical appt with my surgeon and he told me I didn't need to ice much after the first day or so. He was very nonchalant about it but I want the swelling to go down as much as possible. What did your surgeon say/your experience with it?

I don't have any blog. I had a class III underbite and had braces for 9 months pre surgery. I found out that you really have to compare cases on the type of surgery and see how severe your underbite is. The recovery so far is pretty smooth, you have to prepare the first and second day post surgery. I felt nauseated in the hospital with bleeding from my nose. I felt better after I vomiting three times and let it all out. Shower at home also made me feel better. I did not need pain medication, but I took it for first 4 nights before I went to sleep for precaution. The Chinese medicine is Yunan BaiYao, and you can google it. I only took that after surgery and the taste is really bitter since I opened the capulse to drink it with water in syringe . The chinese medicine doesn't like cold food after you intake two hours, so you have to watch your diet, I really think the medicine helped stop bleeding in two days. I will have my two week check up tomorrow, my first week check up was 5 min sine I don't have any pain and seems I have good recovery . I had IVRO because my surgeon was skilled and recommended having my jaws wired together to have the best recovery while having less damage done to the nerves. I heard some surgeons opt to do the BBSO because it is easier to operate while more riskier to the nerves.

Sorry for the late reply, I've been busy and haven't been checking up on the forum lately.
How were you able to vomit if your mouth was wired shut? I'm guessing since usually we don't eat for 12 years before surgery it was mostly just liquids coming out, which wouldn't be a problem..
How is your recovery going? I was finally able to get my insurance to go through and my surgery was rescheduled to August 2nd, but I'd love to still hear from you from your experience and share where I can as well. My doctor told me I will need a 1 week followup, a two week follow up after that, and two or three week follow up for removal.
My surgery is to help with how I had a cant on my upper jaw and how my lower jaw had underdeveloped at some point, making my right side of my lower jaw shorter than the other. My doctor did xrays and saw that IVRO was best for me. He says after he does the work up of my surgery at my upcoming pre-surgical appt, he may or may not recommend genio. I've been in braces for 1 year as of two days ago.

[QQvine]

NP, I was waiting to reply you back after my wire remove in next week so that I can share my experience. I did a practice on how to vomit with wired shut before the surgery, so it helped me not to get panic during recovery time. It's all liquid and don't worry about it. I made sure I did't eat or drink anything 12 hours before the night of surgery, avoid some foods that can cause stomach upsetting and I copied those link in here.
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/1998/19 ... study.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/32972 ... e-surgery/
The recovery is good except the first two days, and I am not sure it's because of my mouth is in wired-shut, but I will find out next week when my wire is removed. I visited my surgeon on the 1st week for x ray, 2nd week to check how I was doing for 5 min, 4th week for x ray to see progress, 5th week may cut wired.I did not realize until now that surgery experience can be different by age, sex type, surgery type (IVRO or BBSO), procedure type ( underbite only, Underbite with open bite, Underbite with sleep apnea, or so on), so don't get too worry with what others experienced. The key will be finding a experienced surgeon since IVRO is more difficult to operate.

[HikaRiku2]

QQvine-

My insurance and everything finally pulled through so I was scheduled in August, but then the office called and said there was an opening July 5th so I took it! My surgery is in less than 2 weeks away, so we'll be a little more than a month difference in having IVRO (with the addition that I'm getting Lefort 2 piece).
Thank you for sharing how to vomit with being wired shut! When I did the paperwork, I was advised to have wirecutters. I think it's suppose to help with incase there's additional breathing issues in addition to the vomit. I read in a post here that icing like crazy after surgery for 3 days helps with the swelling so I might do just that.
I went to another presurgery appt today and I was talking to the residents that works with my surgeon and they told me that my surgeon prefers to do IVRO over BSSO so he does it quite often, so that was interesting and a relief to know. He does surgeries once a week.

How has being wired shut been for you? What did you do to pass the time and have you sorta attempted to speak or mutter words?

[HikaRiku2]

Qqvine, after the surgery, how often and how many days did you take the Chinese medicine? I bought a box online with 16 capsules. Did you use 1 on the first day after coming home from surgery or multiple times a day for multiple days?