hi guys! just thought i would briefly share my experience! i had double jaw surgery and genioplasty on 19/11 due to an open bite and overbite. i first met my surgeon a few months ago where he discussed both my wisdom teeth removal and the jaw surgery. I got my wisdom teeth out the following week (in early august) under general. i had a follow up appt in his rooms but with a dental nurse about 10 days later and everything was fine. i didn't see my surgeon again until the monday prior to the saturday operation. this was like a 2 and a half hour appt! he went over the whole operation again and took tonnes of measurements and moulds and whatever. then i saw him again on the friday afternoon before getting admitted to hospital ( i went in the night before) and he went over everything again and made sure the splint fitted and all the angles were all good. he also told me that i was more complicated than he anticipated and my 6 hour surgery would be more like 7 hours! anyway so the day of surgery i get woken bright and early at like 5.45 by a nurse to shower with some antiseptic soap, get that disgusting numbing spray up my nose and have some other medication. then i get changed into my gown, hat, stockings and those vibrating leg things and wait! i get wheeled down to pre-op at about 7 where they ask you about a million times what you are having done and what your name is. the lady next to me was going in for a c-section which i thought was pretty exciting! anyway, i get wheeled into the OR soon enough and meet up with my anaesthetist and 2 other people( i met with my anaesthetist about 6 weeks before surgery and he ordered a whole bunch of blood tests and went over all the medication side of things). i slid onto the operating table and the anaesthetist startedan iv straight away. i can't remember much else other than that i had the giggles from the earlier medication.
so surgery ended up going for 8 hours (7.30-3.30) and i didn't go to recovery , i just went straight to the icu. no idea what time i woke up properly or anything! i had a naso-gastric tube in one nostril and some other tube in my other nostril that helped open up my airway and was also used to suction stuff out of my mouth because i was banded shut. i also had a catheter and heart monitor and an o2 mask. i didn't notice any of it i was that zonked out! the next morning i was more alert and i think sometime after the dr did his rounds and chopped the bands keeping my mouth closed (which i have absolutely no recollection of!) i had a shower. must have had the catheter and tubes removed before that too because i wasn't connected to anything while showering but a nurse checked on me so many times. i actually think she was just standing outside the door! anyway the swelling was starting to get pretty big by now and so i didn't spend much time looking in the mirror haha. made it back to bed and was absolutely exhausted and so ready to be hooked back up to the fentynal button and go back to sleep. later on in the day, i think before lunch time i went up to the ward. don't remember anymore of that day apart from getting a heprin injection in my tummy and having about 2 sips of powerade and a spoonful of pumplin soup for dinner.
day 2 post-op i am still very hazy as i still have my trusty pca! today swelling peaks (i can tell from the picture my mum took!), i got another heprin injection in my tummy and i move into a private room. i would have had a shower and seen the dr but have no recollection at all. i can't remember eating anything either.
day 3 post-op was tuesday. i actually remember things now! dr came and checked all the inside of my mouth and gave me exercises to do. he also encouraged me to eat and drink lots because my iv and pca needs to come out. i was all motivated for about 5 minutes but i had absolutely no energy by this stage and was feeling rotten. i might have managed a mouthful of something for breakfast and then i got disconnected to have a shower. for some reason i bled through the cannula when i was disconnected from the drugs and saline and that made me feel even worse but i decided that a shower would make me feel better. it didn't at all. i was so close to passing out the entire time and getting dressed was such a struggle. when i finally walk out of the bathroom my mum has arrived and the nurse and student nurse are all in my room. i start gagging and the nurse gets a bowl and i spew up all my stomach lining. that hurt my jaw and my nose and my throat and my tummy. definitely eat and don't go through that! so i hopped back into bed but didnt get connected back to the pca or saline. they gave me panadol and oxycodone and 2 other antibiotics and apart from a dietician coming to see me, i sleep until lunch. woke up, still felt like shit. don't know if i bothered eating anything then went back sleep until dr and the anaesthetist both came in. so the dr got pretty angry at the nurses as i obviously was struggling big time. not really sure what else they said as i could barely keep my eyes open but i got reconnected to the iv, got more painkillers and mum got me a juice and made me finish it (took about 3 hours haha). started feeling better after that. i think i woke every 2 hours that night which was good compared to the other nights.
day 4 post-op was a wednesday and i finally got the cannula out in the morning. i was still feeling pretty crap but managed something for breakfast and mum bought me another juice! the dr came and was really happy with how my face looked. my swelling had gone down heaps and the only bruising i had was under my chin and down my neck and around my collarbones. he said that if i eat well at lunch and keep my fluids up and feel good then i could go home later on in the afternoon. well i barely touched lunch so that didn't happen but it was really hot that night so it was prob good that i was staying in such i nice airconditioned room, unlike my room at home! i sleep for 2 lots of 4 hours that night wooo!
day 5 is home day. i left at about 8 in the morning because i was so desperate to go home! i didn't leave the house at all and had 2 2-hour naps but i ate a bit more and drank almost 2 litres because it was so hot!
until about day 8/9 i felt really weak and sleepy. just a combination of drugs and lack of food but after that i started feeling better. i am now one mouth down and am back to normal energywise but my diet is pretty up and down. i think because it takes so long to wash my mouth out that eating isn't very appealing. also i don't get my splint out for another month which makes chewing and talking such an effort. i have been doing spin classes and pilates at the gym and i have been walking lots but i haven't run or swam yet. my face doesn't feel secure enough yet even thoughi know it fine. my nose and cheeks are still achey at the end of the day and in the morning but i stopped taking any painkillers just over a week ago. i am still using ice packs when i am at home though. so glad its over with and i can't wait to get my splint off and bite into something properly for the first time! time has gone so quickly and i have absolutely no regrets. i have a chin and my teeth actually come together wooo!
so that is my experience! feel free to ask me anything. i am in australia by the way.
just one question that someone who has had the surgery may be able to answer- everyone always talks about how there nose changes shape but my surgeon told my he stitched the inside of my nostrils so my nose wouldnt flare or change shape. why dont all surgeons just do this? it seems so simple!
