June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[jaime]

That's crazy the swelling moved into your chest! I would imagine that's pretty uncomfortable. I've never heard of Arnica Montana gel. I think it's hard to tell if anything is actually helping the swelling or not, the best we can do is hope!

Snap, try out the towel and let me know how you like it!

So I inspected my bite in the mirror and I discovered why it doesn't feel like I'm biting on the left: because I'm not. My left side is SUPER open, just like pre-surgery. I am trying to stay calm but I am also slightly freaking out.

[snapdresser]

Nozzelnut - I concur with Jaime, that swelling in the chest sounds intense!

Jaime - I'll try the towel tonight and let you know Ok, so just how open is "super open"? Can you estimate in mm? If you're super concerned (which it kinda sounds like you are) then I'd give your doc/their office a call tomorrow and see what they say. That's what they're there for and they should be receptive to such concerns. They'll probly tell you "wait till Monday and tell the ortho" but then you at least have some instructions to act on. It's probably just uneven swelling, but if they're "of the school of thought to load up on elastics early" then welcome to the club

Maybe this is a bad time to say that a couple pieces of my sutures came out when I was brushing my teeth. I might be concerned if it was one piece, but two pieces? The time must be right. That went fast... Still a fair bit of swelling in my cheeks and some in my bottom lip, and plenty of numbness (tip of my nose and chin, mostly, but I hear those take the longest to return), but I'm starting to see a face that doesn't resemble a car crash victim or a monkey And that bruise on my left forearm gets more and more wicked. It's kinda grayish with purple looking veins and surrounded by yellow. Wicked. Sore to touch, too. No bueno

[deathorglory]

Arnica is usually used for bruising, but it's not FDA approved for anything as it's a "homeopathic remedy."

The amoxicillin liquid generally tastes better than the pills because it's usually given to children, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have some weird after taste. Also, the flavor you get typically depends on what strength your surgeon ordered/what manufacturer made it. As a general rule, usually the 400mg/5ml is orange or "fruit punch" (which is red!) and the 600mg augmentin is usually a "tropical punch" which has a weird after taste. Not always the case, but it's mostly what I've seen when at work (I'm a pharmie). Amoxicillin is also pretty well known for having the nausea/vomiting/diarrhea side effects...eat something beforehand for sure. Also if anyone is on birth control pills, make sure you use a backup contraceptive while you're on the antibiotics and for a week after you're done whilst engaging in relations...IUD ladies need not need this warning as the IUD creates a "hostile environment" for egg implantation (which I find to be a hilarious description of anyone's insides).

Snap - Liquid tylenol is 160mg/5ml. You can take 10ml for a full adult dose or 30ml for the arthritis dose. Ibuprofen is 100mg/5ml (adult dose is 200mg) if you're taking that, too. My chewing problems are mostly feeling like my jaw isn't fully healed yet (almost to 3 months!) so sometimes I feel like it isn't strong enough to bite into whatever I'm biting into. ...Which is silly. Because I've got plates and screws and stuff. I think it's mostly a mental block, though. Also, my mouth opening isn't back up to 100% yet, so opening up wide to bite down on a juicy burger can still be rough sometimes. ...I get to squish the burger down and slightly angle my face so that the burger will fit into my mouth. Also, more chewing (because now I can!) equals more food stuck in my braces Because before I'd only half chew it and then just swallow it down lol...

Word of advise for all you after surgery folks (which I think is everyone now!) - be sure to take your pain meds ahead of when you feel the full blown pain. Don't chase the pain...anticipate it. When you start feeling the throbbing but not quite the full blown pain yet, that's when you wanna take the meds. If you chase the pain, you'll be in pain for a lot longer period of time.

All you stopped up people...Miralax is a powder constipation medication that adds water into your stool. You stir it into some water and drink it as you need it, but it can take up to 4 days to work. Magnesium citrate is pretty quick (and already liquid) but tastes really sour and you'll be stuck at home for the remainder of the day running back and forth to the bathroom. Senna-S is usually recommended with pain meds (which can cause constipation), but can cause some wicked stomach cramps due to the gut motility effect of the senna (literally, it MAKES you go). Bisacodyl is usually pretty quick (within 1-2 days) and is relatively painless. If cost is an issue, magnesium citrate is cheapest (usually 99 cents) and tastes best cold (lemon lime is least offensive flavor). ...Fair warning.

Don't forget, guys! Day 3 is the worst for swelling! Ibuprofen will help, but make sure there's something in your tummy first You'll make it through...!!!

[deathorglory]

Oh, and Snap... Around week 3, I managed to snap a suture line in my cheek. It was meant to dissolve into my cheek tissue but was kind of close to the surface and when I was stretching my mouth opening as wide as I could, it snapped. ...I couldn't feel anything other than less tightness in my cheek, but all of a sudden I had this weird string thing hanging over my braces. ...Which I then immediately thought was some food item stuck on my braces and I tugged on it. ...Didn't hurt TOO bad, but omg don't tug! It sure stung more than I thought it would... My surgeon just shortened the suture to where it wasn't hanging and I couldn't play with it with my tongue and sent me on my way with a "Yeah sometimes it happens". O_o

The rest of my sutures dissolved in my mouth, but I can still see where they sutured my chin/bottom lip back up. I've got little white scar lines if I pull my lip down. Btw, guys! All of my feeling is back now and no more altered sensations anywhere!

[gruntled]

Deathorglory, it sounds like you're well versed! I absolutely hate the amoxicillin and can't wait until I don't have to take it anymore. I'm also on Metronidazole at the same time, which doesn't taste as bad but is really thick and lingers!

I can't wait to have my first proper poop never thought I'd be so excited!

Swelling is starting to go down for me, woo hoo! Can't wait to be able to do stuff for myself. Contacted the hospital about my missing elastic, was told to just not open my mouth too wide...so I've been trying not to yawn, haha.


Snap, when did you start to brush your teeth ? I can't wait !

[Nozzelnut]

My surgeon wanted me to "brush" after "eating." His idea of brushing was peridex applied to teeth using a toothbrush. He said to take it easy and take my time.

Getting calories in, is as much a pain now as when I had my tonsils out; for different reasons. Everything is by squeeze bottle right now and is starting to bug me.

[snapdresser]

Deathorglory - I haven't started taking any additional liquid Tylenol yet. I forgot to ask that at my last doc appt. I was too distracted having found out that the trip was basically unnecessary lol. I could text her about the Tylenol tho, I guess. When did you notice that the swelling in your face had pretty much gone? How long did that take? I'm like Day 11 and I'm wondering how much swelling is left. My cheeks (and lips) still look puffy to me. Btw, you know a LOT about amoxicillin lol. Thanks for the info! That sounds pretty distracting having that string hanging down in your mouth. The parts that came out for me were the tied ends of the sutures. Came off when brushing. That's awesome that all your feeling is back now!!!

Gruntled - Haha don't open your mouth too wide. Fair nuff I get concerned when I yawn. I feel like I'm gonna break an elastic. Actually. I finally had the need to replace one last night. It popped off when brushing. It was a bit of a pain to replace. Tweezers don't grip it tight enough. I ended up using a manicure tool that's like a long pointed thing, but there was a learning curve involved lol. I asked about brushing at my second post-op appt. so like day 5, but from her answer it kinda sounded like I could have started brushing even earlier than that. The baby-sized toothbrush is key. Regardless of whether or not Mickey Mouse graces the handle

Nozzelnut - Give it a couple days and you'll be able to drink from a cup just fine. For the last few days I've just been hungry nonstop. Chugged 5 Ensures yesterday plus some soup and stuff. The issue isn't getting it in for me now, it's just kinda lame chugging so much liquid. Seems somehow unfulfilling, I guess? I dunno. And the tastes unfortunately don't vary much. Need to get some more kinds of soups and a strainer.

[gruntled]

My family had steak for lunch today in celebration of father's day

I was so jealous next to them with my little bowl of soup that I kept spilling all over myself...this liquid diet is getting tedious! On the bright side, at least I've lost some weight

Got hold of some prune juice, all I can say is that it is truly vile stuff! But it's done the job at least, so that's one less pain in my ass...literally...

[jaime]

Wow, the prune juice worked fast for you, Gruntled!!

Sorry to hear you had to be in the presence of steak. I know how that is, my husband ordered pizza my first night home from the hospital.

Nozzel, did you buy any of those Zip N Squeeze bags? They work really well. It's not too late to order something like that if the squeeze bottles annoy you.

Snap, I'm waiting! How was the towel?

I'm back home in Ontario now as my husband has to go to NYC for 2 weeks for work (this isn't the vacation I was talking about before). I live in an apartment with my dad and for a myriad of reasons, this is a crappy place to be confined. My husband offered to let me recover at his house while he's away, but I don't know how much more of the sitting around watching Netflix and TV for 12 hours a day I can handle. At least here I can go visit friends or other family.

In short: I have reached peak boredom with this recovery. Send help.

[Nozzelnut]

I do have those zip-n-squeeze bags. I've found the squeeze bottle ok for the protein shakes. Might try them out when I move on to pureed soups and stuff. I still haven't found a good protein shake though. Some are better then others; but theyre all just ok.

I'm soooooooo ready for a bacon double cheese burger and a huge order of fries. Might as well make them chili cheese fries. I didn't really have a last meal. So I guess I have a first meal to look forward to.

Everything would be good to go if I didn't have this huge amount of swelling; minimum pain and probably wouldn't have that if I wasn't so swollen.

[snapdresser]

Gruntled - My family was nice enough to go without all that stuff Actually, they took me out for Mexican food before the surgery to celebrate cuz they knew I'd be on a liquid diet Ahhh prune juice! Good thinking! I don't think it really tastes THAT bad

Jaime - The towel worked great! I'll definitely be keeping that up I hear ya about the boredom. For me everyone is home on summer break so that keeps things... Lively. Still, it's a lot of the same and I'm not fond of being cooped up. I look normal enough now tho that I might start going out. I still need a nap during the day tho. You watching The Wire??

Nozzelnut - I hear ya. I may need to invest in a better blender so I can't have a dang cheeseburger

So my arch bars cut off circulation to a little triangle of gum between my teeth, maybe 1-1.5mm on each leg of the triangle. It got kinda white colored (which is how I noticed it lost circulation) and I noticed today that it's gone. I THINK that sort of thing grows back... But rest assured arch bars are not doing great things for my gums

[jaime]

Snap: Yikes, white spots don't sound good. Hopefully they're okay. If it's any consolation, my gums were all kinds of messed up from my palatal expander and it went away within 24 hours. I think stuff in our mouth is pretty resilient!

Nozzel: oh I didn't realize you had the Zip N Squeeze bags. That's what I've used for shakes/smoothies and I thought it worked well. The only caveat with those bags is that you can't get any food on the ziploc part or they won't seal. Don't ask me how I learned that lesson.


I have an appointment at my orthodontist tomorrow so I'm going to ask about why my bite is so open on the left side. I am way, way more freaked out about this than I was for the surgery. I'm not the type of person who worries but I can't stop worrying I'm going to need to get another surgery. I don't understand how my x-rays looked great on Tuesday and now the one side is so open. It's the side with the elastics, too. Tomorrow at 11am can't come soon enough. God I hope I'm not the small minority who need another surgery.

In better news, I made a recipe for a blended potato cheese casserole that I got from the book Dinner Through A Straw. It turned out really good and the recipe made A LOT so I will have yummy pureed potatoes and cheese for a long time.

I also meant to about the idea of 5 Ensures in a day. I can barely choke down my daily breakfast bottle, let alone 4 more!! You must really like them!! haha

[Nozzelnut]

Jaime love the new video! Keep the cloth handy for the next one...

How many elastics can be broken before I call the surgeon? (No pain at all from them being missing) Surprised at the amount of movement I have...

[jaime]

They didn't give you any spares? I got an envelope full of them from my surgeon.

And thanks, Nozzel! That one is a few days old now. I'll probably do a new video tomorrow since I need to shower and look presentable for the ortho.

[deathorglory]

Doubt you guys are drinking alcohol, but absolutely no alcohol with metronidazole (you'll land in the ER with uncontrollable puking if so).

I had an infection on one side of my jaw around 1.5 weeks, so I wasn't entirely normal looking until about the middle of the third week...so maybe 18 days? I also only had one jaw done, so if you had 2 jaws moved, there may be swelling for a decent bit longer as there was more trauma to the tissue.

I also got a baggie full of elastics from my surgeon after my first visit...He told me to change them every 4-6 hours, too! Then the other surgeon said omg that's a lot, you don't have to change them that often :T

I noticed that some mashed potatoes went over well with me when I was still on the soft diet. I managed to load it up with heavy cream, cheese, bacon bits (chopped up REAAAAAL SMALL), and even some chives to load up on calories. I was happy with it for maybe 2 meals before I couldn't stand to eat it anymore...