June/July 2015 Surgery Buddies

[deathorglory]

I'm pretty sure that around the end of week 3 I was pretty normal looking. I was normal looking around the beginning of week 3 if you just didn't know what I looked like normally, then by the end of week 4 I was normal normal looking, and the swelling in my cheeks has continued to go down so now I've got cheekbones again instead of baby fat chubby cheeks. I think it was only until 2.5 weeks that I looked swollen swollen, but it was also partially due to my infection...

I'm in Washington state!

Snap - I went from 2 a/c'd subway cars to a non a/c'd car, and my blood pressure just plummeted. Apparently the first responders couldn't even find a pulse because my blood pressure was so low...

[Nozzelnut]

Snap mine is the left side as well. I have some tingling in my lower lip, but I'd say the numb spot is from the center of my lower lip to the corner of my mouth, and down into my chin. The right side has a lot more "feeling" and sensations in it. Still a bit numb around my nostrils.


Hope everyone's recovery is continuing to move forward!

[Liz192]

Deathorglory- what part of Washington are you from? Do you have much numbness? I'm nervous about the sliding genio cause I know that is the most risk of numbness.

Jamie- I'm sorry you had to deal with that on your 4th. Some people trying to make light of a situation can be torcher for others.

Eek 1 week away!! Cue overwhelming panic attacks!

[snapdresser]

Gruntled - Woah! No more appointments?? You'd think they'd at least want some "after" pictures from when you're totally done. I guess he was more concerned about the surgical aspect and he's convinced your sutures are healed enough that risk of infection at this point is negligible. Is your ortho gonna have to move anything around, do you know? Regarding the nose, I kinda felt that way too. But the swelling in my nostrils has gone down in the last week (4th week post-op) and looks close to how it did before now. It still looks good if I get past the fact that "it's different".

Jaime - Hahaha awwww that sounds like a sucky party, but it's kinda funny to think of. Sorry I have kind of been coming up with ideas for what I want to eat when I can. Probably not cheese curds but pizza, Thai, all these things my family's been eating in front of me every day lol. I even cook for them. I have Ensure but they still gotta eat.

Deathorglory - How long was it before your cheeks finished going down? Or are they still slowly going down? Tomorrow is 4 weeks for me but my cheeks are still pretty puffy. That sounds like a really bad subway trip. And passing out you risk hitting your face on something? Reminds me of when I nearly passed out after a bath on day 2 post-op, but in public. That sounds horrible...

Nozzelnut - The feeling in my nostrils has only just come back in the last week so you should be seeing some improvement there too. Hopefully in the other areas too. Did they poke you with the pokey stuff to test for numbness?

Liz192 - Just don't read any horror stories and you'll be fine The numbness was my biggest concern going in (logically, cuz it's the most common side-effect) but it's mostly an issue when shaving, and you're a girl so...


SO. I got my final surgery costs. Insurance paid out just over $25k. My out-of-pocket for the procedure is $175. Add that to $200 initial consult that didn't get reimbursed, 5x $35 copays, and $150 for hospital pre-surgical testing, and the total was $700. Obv no cost for braces. I meet with my surgeon tomorrow for my 4-week post-op. She says she's gonna drop me down to 2 elastics I THINK I might get my arch bars off at Week 6! I mean, if the elastics come off there's no reason to keep the arch bars on. She said she'll probly start allowing me to have scrambled eggs. I'm gonna ask if that includes other things with similar consistency. I'm reeeeally looking forward to only 2 elastics. Having to poke the mashed potatoes in between 9 elastics is tricky lol. Planning to return to work on Thursday, so 4 weeks off. Hopping on a plane to Nashville on Saturday for a quick day-trip. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[deathorglory]

I'm in Seattle, WA I saw Dr Feldman up here for my BSSO, but I didn't have a genio. I had absolutely no numbness coming out of surgery, though I did have a spot of altered sensation on the left side of my chin (about the size of a quarter). That went away around 6 weeks and I now have complete sensation again.

My inner cheek swelling is still there, but I no longer looked like a chubby cheeked baby around 8 weeks. The inner swelling is still going down slowly but you really can't tell from just looking at me. I know it's there only because sometimes my cheeks will interfere with my chewing, etc and I can sometimes feel the swelling pressed up against my braces. All in all, though...every day life is pretty much back to normal. I'm about 13 weeks out of surgery now, fyi.

Snap - My boyfriend caught me when I fainted. I actually kind of felt it coming on, so I made sure to stand in front of him just in case I fainted...and I fainted immediately after that. It was kinda cool how nice everyone was on the train. I dropped everything I was holding (phone, wallet, etc) and everyone just collected all my stuff and handed it all to my friends. It was kind of funny though...must've looked like my boyfriend drugged me or something while he was dragging me over to a chair...

[snapdresser]

So 4 more weeks till my cheeks are no longer puffy. Oof. Seems like it's already been a long time, and I'm only halfway. I bet the time will pass quickly after I get off the archbars in a couple weeks tho. And soon enough I'll be back to business as usual like you! That's really nice about everybody on the subway. I've often been surprised at how nice individual New Yorkers are. How long was it until you could eat whatever you want again?

[deathorglory]

I looked pretty normal around the 3 week mark, so outwardly unpuffy cheeks aren't so far away for you!

I was given the ok to eat whatever I wanted (or whatever I could fit into my mouth) around the 6 week mark. Did I really wait that long? No. I was chewing at week 4 (really really carefully, and really only half mashing/half slowly crushing with my molars), but didn't really resume chewing without thinking about it until week 8. I resumed food mashing with my molars at week 6 after I was told to stop by my surgeon at week 4, but my jaw didn't really feel strong enough until week 8 to fully chew. That being said, my mouth opening was still no where close to what it used to be at week 8, but now at week 13 I'm almost back up to 4 fingers wide. Almost. I was previously at 4.5 fingers, but I assume that since my jaw was moved forward, I'll never really be able to open that far again. If I can get back up to 4 full fingers I'll be happy... Currently I'm ALMOST able to get a full juicy burger into my mouth. ALMOST... Goals to work towards

[kelse]

Hey July peeps

Thanks for posting - I'm soaking in all your experiences for when I get my op 10th August.

I had appt today with surgical team & they decided on movements. My top jaw will be turning 3mm to the right and 5mm back. Bottom jaw movements I didn't catch but I would think approx 3mm back??

They didn't think I'd be able to go back to work after 2 weeks (I'm a retail manager) so I'm going to plan for 3 weeks cover. I think kaylachristine (?) maybe went back to work after 2 weeks? I'll go back thru the thread to check. How did everyone else feel after 2 weeks? What were you capable of? I work in a quiet shop but I'm not a teenager (I'm 39) so I know I may not recover as quick as someone younger!

All advice or experiences appreciated - thank you.

Hope you're all recovering well x

[Nozzelnut]

2 weeks would be pushing it a bit Kelse. Maybe something like half days would work. Week 3 I feel a lot better than at week 2. Week 2 I was getting tired very quickly still. Week 3 my cheeks are still a little puffy; but I'm guessing 90% of the swelling is gone; but the remaining 10% will take a while to go away. Speaking is still a little difficult for me and I have to concentrate and enunciate my words; it sounds a little like I have a mouth full of marbles...

[snapdresser]

Deathorglory - Ugh, I'm not looking forward to that next struggle, reestablishing full range of motion and strength I want to hit those delicious burgers right away after week 6!

Kelse - I second what Nozzelnut said. I was able to get up and out of my apartment and even drive, but I took a 2-3 hour nap virtually every day because I was so tired all the time. After 3 weeks it's much more doable. I'm returning to work tomorrow, which will be 4 weeks off for me. Truth be told, it's still a little tricky for me to enunciate loudly. I can, but it takes a little effort and the archbars (braces for you?) don't help. If you're a braces person, maybe you're used to it by now tho. For your measurements, sometimes they can't tell you the exact lower measurements because they move it accordingly so your bite matches up. What's the issue you're coming in with? A cross-bite and overbite it sounds like? At 39, I don't think you'll have any issues at all healing up. And we all take like 6 months for all the swelling to go away regardless lol

I just got back from my 4-week post-op!!! I'm officially down to only 2 elastics!!!! That means I can finally get a spoon in my mouth! I'm allowed to eat scrambled eggs and overcooked pasta now Also, I'm allowed to remove my elastics to properly brush my teeth! Which is kind of a big deal at this point My surgeon took off all my elastics and let me kinda hang out for a few minutes. It felt REALLY weird after a month in hardcore elastics. My jaw muscles were like shaking as I opened She also gave me a pair of those little plier things that they use to put on and take off elastics? You guys know the ones I'm talking about. They're like little bent needle-nose pliers. She said I can use them to remove and put on my elastics more easily at home She wants them back when I'm all healed up tho. What a cool doc!

So one issue that's developed in the last week or so is one of my front teeth started getting lower. By my appointment today it was probably 1-2mm lower than my other front tooth. She said sometimes the archbars can loosen your teeth and do that, but she said there's an easy fix and it should be fine. So she numbed me up with some kind of pink topical gel, undid the wire that's wrapped around that tooth, kinda smooshed the tooth back up (which meant not-insignificant pressure on my chin and jaw as she pushed) and rewrapped it higher up on the tooth (above some tooth structure, I forget the name of it). It looks much better now and is pretty dang close to how it was pre-op. Hoping the tooth solidifies back in there just fine and the nerve stays alive and all that

Btw, I can sleep pretty much flat now and my face doesn't feel all that crappy when I wake up now. So hopefully all you other people should be experiencing that soon too!

[kelse]

Thanks for th replies nozzelnut + snapdresser. It's so great to be able to get advice from people who are going thru this right now.

Iwould only have gone back part-time anyway - literally 9am to as long as I could manage 11, 12, 1pm? But I think I'll plan cover in for the 3rd week, then I can still do an hour here & there as I want/need to. maybe I was being a bit too optimistic!!

I might even pop in and collect the paperwork and do that at home a few minutes at a time.

I have a class 3 malocclusion - underbite gap is now about 7mm I'd guess. On my top jaw , one of my 2 front teeth is on the centre, hence the need to turn my top jaw to centre the midline.

Thanks for confirming about the bottom jaw measurements - that makes sense.

Sorry for totally crashing your July thread - it's really helpful tho, so thank you!

All the best x

[Nozzelnut]

Kelse anytime we can help; more than happy to!

Had my week 3 followup appointment. Dr says to stick with a no chew diet for another week than we'll add soft foods at week 4. I asked him why and he said something to the effect that upper jaw movement and flexing from chewing would lead to scar tissue forming where bone should be growing. If that happened, he'd have to preform another surgery and remove the scar tissue and re attach the upper palate. Sounds good to me; no chew diet for a little while. I only want to go through this once. He also said feeling and sensation can take up to a year to return in my chin. I also asked about why my jaw only opens so far. He said I'm currently only using the hinge motion of the jaw. (For me that's about 1.25".) He said the lengthening of my jaws stressed the tendons that allow further opening. Those will relax and allow full motion and the disks to move as well....

He did remove 2 of the 4 elastics so that's a bonus! And I can set up an appointment with my regular orthodontist in 2 weeks too!

[Liz192]

Had my pre-op appt today! They told me I may not have to have elastics but have my surgical hooks just in case. I've already tore up the inside of my lower lip. (Thank god for wax) haha They said I am on a liquid diet for the first 1 1/2 weeks then on soft foods after that if I am improving. They said I should be almost back to normal by the end of the second week. They also said I wouldn't need to use a syringe at all. Craziness I know! I was surprised. Only 6 more days. Eek!

[deathorglory]

I took a full 4 weeks off work - I also work in retail, but I work in pharmacy so not as much heavy lifting, etc, but I feel like there's a lot more running around and talking to people on the phone. At 2 weeks I was taking care of an infection, so I wasn't exactly ready to go back to work. By the end of week 3 I felt about 85% back to normal but didn't feel completely ok with going back to work until about week 4. By then I was bored out of my mind. The first couple of days back I was tired, but nothing too crazy. I don't think 2 weeks would've been enough even without the infection, though, mostly because I couldn't eat very many solid foods to getting enough calories in was still a challenge at that point, especially if you're going to be running around a lot.

As of speaking with people...I had a lisp for a full 2 months before my tongue figured out how to make normal sounds again.

[snapdresser]

Nozzelnut - Haha well, at least NOW you know about the scar tissue thing. I wonder how they'd even know that scar tissue had built up instead of bone? I wonder what the symptoms of that would be. That's good to hear about the feeling in the chin. I seem to recall reading somewhere that someone had some numbness in their chin that suddenly became all tingly one day and then over time all the feeling came back. Not getting my hopes up about that tho lol. Thanks for letting us know about the effect of the jaw lengthening on how wide you can open. I was surprised at how little I could open when all my elastics came off Congrats on getting some elastics off! Your bite's coming together perfectly all the time now?

Kelse - It sounds like you have a good plan worked out for returning to work.

Liz192 - You might not have to have elastics???!! Wow, that'd be pretty crazy! I think everyone on here had elastics with the exception of KaylaChristine, and that's cuz she's wired shut... If no elastics, then I guess you'd just have to train the muscles yourself so that your bite comes together correctly. Soft foods after 1.5 weeks, etc? Teeechnically I might not have "needed" a syringe at all, since I learned to drink from a cup very slowly and carefully but dribbling a lot while still in the hospital, but syringes just made it so much easier not to dribble medicine. I only used the syringes for medicine. Sounds like you have by far the most easy-going surgeon of any of us lol.

deathorglory - Yeah, my tongue still moves around a little strangely now that my palate is like half a cm forward. Swishing, swallowing, and spitting all feel kinda weird cuz the back of my tongue runs along that bump at the back of my palate. I do talk kiiiinda normally tho. Kinda feels like I have braces on again. Flashback to 8th grade