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Jaw Surgery Forums » Post-Surgery and Recovery Questions

1. 

   kscott
   Member

   Hello guys!

   I'm Kellie, 21 in the UK and am currently 4 days post surgery. I'm so glad I have found this site!

   I have been told since I was young that I would need to have braces and most probably surgery to 'fix' my long face, gummy smile and protruding teeth. I had braces put on when I was 16 which unexpectedly gave me a really nice bite, to the orthodontists surprise, but the choice was made to continue with surgery. I have had my surgery cancelled 4 times and finally on the 30th of August had it done! However, I think being cancelled kinda made me underestimate what severe work I was having done to my face.

   Specifically what I've had done is a bimaxillory osteotomy genioplasty. My top jaw has been lifted 5mm and moved back 3mm, the lower jaw moved to match the bite and then I've had a new chin created to help make a nicer chin/neck line. I was in surgery for 8 hours and then in hospital for 2 days, I came home on Thursday afternoon.

   The first few days in hospital were terrifying, I needed a lot of reassurance that I could breath and was getting enough oxygen. I have lots of bands on and will have them on for 6 weeks and I have quite a blocked nose.

   This panicking has got better. I'm able to talk myself through any scares about my breathing, swallowing or if i feel like I'm choking. Now I'm home I'm a lot brighter, my bruising is just starting to come out but the swelling seems to have not gotten any bigger yet.

   I wanted to post on here cause I currently feel lost.
   I'm trying to think about this surgery day by day, because thinking about feeling like this for 6 weeks is terrifying!
   I'm worried about eating, so far I've only had some sips of soup and ensure drinks, i'm struggling to swallow and anything too milky has made me feel sick.

   I dont really know what to do with myself, I can't see anything but a swelled up scary person, It doesn't feel or look like me and that is so strange, does everyone feel like that?

   I think I just wanted to know if everyone feel so panicked and worried and consumed by this surgery, and to (hopefully) be told it gets better!
   It's also nice to tell this to someone new, I think I'm boring my family and friends to death.

   So yeah, 4 days down, 5 weeks and 3 days to go, but how can I do it?

   Posted 8 months ago #
2. 

   Georgina
   Member

   Hey :) don't worry you're definitely not on your own feeling like this, I think pretty much everyone feels rough after the surgery and feels quite down. I know I certainly did haha you've just got to remember that things are only going to get better, you wont feel like this for 6 weeks :) i'm now 5 weeks post op and i feel pretty much back to normal and i'm eating mcdonalds again and pizzas that i really missed :) haha as regards to eating, a lot of things made me sick (even my pain meds) lol and in the end you just find things that you can stomach and that you can manage to eat well. I had a really rough time in hospital and once discharged ended up being re admitted for a night which sucked lol but I too panicked about breathing and probably got myself way too worked up, but you just have to remember that its all fine :) its like climbing a hill, things are tough at first, but once you reach the top by making sure you drink plenty and eat as well as you can, and take your pain meds, you get over that peak and from then on things become a lot easier :) I thought whilst in hospital why the hell did I do this, but 5 weeks on, I dont regret it at all and im really happy with the results :) you just have to remember that the swelling will go down, and each day you will notice that :) I was totally overwhelmed by this surgery and I dont think I really understood how tough it was going to be, but trust me it gets so much better :) you just have to stay positive and think of how great it's going to look at the end of it :) hope you have a speedy recovery :)

   Posted 8 months ago #
3. 

   kscott
   Member

   You are so lovely I could cry!

   I really think me and my family underestimated how big a deal the surgery was, it was just that thing I was gonna have eventually, probably best that I didn't think too much or I would have chickened out. After it got cancelled so much it was more a case of using my time to fight for another appointment, let alone going over the details, which seems a bit silly now.

   My mum is helping me through the panics a lot at the moment, we've had a couple of 2am hand holding and breathing moments, I've found that wedging a straw down the side of my mouth helps, it sounds like I'm snorkling or something, so I must be breathing if that's happening! If I didn't have her to go home to I would have had to stay in hospital I think.

   I won't be able to eat until the bands are off and that's 6 weeks away, feels like forever, especially as people keep asking what the first thing I will eat is! At the moment everything seems really sweet, so I'm not quite sure what to try, I've had thin porridge, juice, ensure and milkshake which seems a good start, guess I'll have to keep truckin'

   The pain meds aren't so bad, it's just physically getting them down, it's hard taking in enough liquid as it is, so all the extra cocodamol is difficult.

   I had a moment last night where I was finally comfortable and propped up, I had my straw in and felt like I could breath, I'd managed a whole dose of pain killers and was watching a movie and I felt a little more human.. I'm hoping for some more moments like that, it was nice to just breath.

   I end up feeling trapped in my head, especially with not being able to talk, it's like being boxed up, finding this website is really helpful, the photos people have are amazing, im currently just bruised and swollen, although people can swear they see a difference already.

   *fingers crossed for another good night*

   Posted 8 months ago #
4. 

   Georgina
   Member

   aww, i'll have my fingers crossed too that you have a good night :) nights for me were pretty rough too, i've slept sitting up slightly for 5 weeks now and thats really helped with the swelling :) and ice packs! Ice pack like theres no tomorrow haha they really help :) i'm glad I had my mum to hold my hand too, it helped a lot to reassure me lol are you completely banded shut then at the moment?

   I couldnt stand my pain meds lol they tasted disgusting haha because i had a pretty much empty stomach as i was struggling to get food down, i had this cocktail of different pain killers and antibiotics and i just kept throwin them up and it got to a point where even the smell made me sick lol thats why i ended up getting re admitted back to hospital to be put on iv paracetamol as it became really painful not getting the meds down but they are definitely hard to swallow because they're really syrupy lol

   just think of that final result :) and soon enough you'll start to feel more human again :) the swelling was probably one of the most annoying things for me, as I had it in my head that it wasnt going to go down, but now i've hardly got any and my bruisings all gone :) and people think I look different and i'm glad of that to be honest because I though oh my gosh please dont let me have gone through all of this pain for people not to even notice a difference haha

   Posted 8 months ago #
5. 

   kscott
   Member

   Yeah I'm completely banded up until the end.
   My surgeon said he prefers doing it that way as he thinks the results are better, who am I to argue with that!

   I've not tried ice yet, I have a fan next to me instead, that helps me feel like I'm actually getting some air too at the same time. The meds really are like syrup! I have one that I have to syringe as I cant suck it enough, the other is disolvable, but it still takes a good 45 mins to take it all, then 4 hours later I have to do it all over again.

   If I think about the final result I get disheartened, it is so damn long away.
   6 weeks... It's taken what feels like years to get the end of day 4.

   When do the little steps tend to happen? Like, when did you find you could talk better and when could you sleep through the night? I feel like I need to focus on that at the moment rather than the end result

   Posted 8 months ago #
6. 

   Georgina
   Member

   ah right fair enough :) I've just been given two elastic bands to put in at the moment. and I know it seems a long time away, but before you know it, the 6 weeks are over haha I can't believe how quickly its gone for me, thats my summer holiday gone with the majority of it recovering lol hmm I think I was able to talk a lot better within the second week, and pretty much by the 3rd week people could actually understand what I was saying haha and i'd say by the 3rd week I was able to sleep through the night, but it could be different for you, I kept waking up because I'd find my mouth was filled with blood as the stitches kept bleeding, but that soon stopped :) I hated sleeping upright though it was really uncomfortable at first but now i'm used to it and i'm sleeping like a baby now haha I know it seems like a long time away but it really has flown by for me lol and all i did for most of the time was sit in front of the tv.

   takings the meds was horrible lol i had to have mine through syringes too and i ended up dribbling them everywhere haha do you have any numbness? im still numb on my chin and a little numb on my bottom lip but I can feel some feelings starting to come back :)

   Posted 8 months ago #
7. 

   kscott
   Member

   I am quite dribbly at the moment, I dont notice till it hits my chin/neck cause everything else in between is numb! I am very sexy right now, haha.

   Good news that the feeling is starting to come back for you, that was the biggest fear I had pre surgery, but it's a pretty far off concern right now, maybe in a week or two I will start to worry a bit more.

   That's awful about the stitches. I can see a set of them, the surgeon moved my chin and it's in place with a metal cross plate now, so I'm very aware of it being a delicate part of my face. So will try super hard not to knock that. Waking up with dry mouth really freaks me out at the moment :(

   Posted 8 months ago #
8. 

   Euphobia
   Moderator

   Congrats on the surgery, but the first week isn't nice at all :(

   I came out of hospital 2 days after surgery as well, and wish I could have stayed in hospital as it was so much easier. I didn't have my mouth bound shut, I just have the two elastic bands on the side of my braces, so I can't imagine how much harder that makes it.

   I still had a problem with breathing though, especially during the night. During the first week I was waking up every 2 hours or so while sleeping upright and always had a dry mouth, wasn't nice at all and it was quite hard to drink water with the swelling and numbness.

   Once you get past the first week though, it does begin to get a lot easier, and time soon starts to fly by. It'll be 4 weeks post-op for me on Monday, and it only feels like I had the surgery a week or so ago.

   Posted 8 months ago #
9. 

   xdianao
   Member

   I'm a huge fan of anti-anxiety medications for these types of things. My doctors prescribed them to me on an as needed basis after surgery and they were life savers.

   I highly suggest trying them out for the time being until you start to feel better, if not for anything, but to get a good night sleep.

   You're at the worst part of the recovery process. I know the road looks long and endless, but trust me, after this week you will just get better and better!

   Posted 8 months ago #
10. 

    kscott
    Member

    It's 7 am and I just had the worst night :(

    I woke up with such a dry mouth that I took in too much water and freaked out, tried to open my mouth, spluttered, couldn't breath etc. Absolutely awful.
    I was really due more pain meds, but dozed off after calming down, but now im certainly dealing with it :(

    The sides of my mouth where I put the straws of my drinking bottles seems to have swelled up and the straw can only squirt a tiny bit of water/pain relief in at a time, I woke up drier than ever, so much so that the roof of my mouth felt like it had something stuck to it, I'm trying to get through some water but Jesus... it was horrible. I felt so much better yesterday and everything :(

    This week doesn't seem to want to end :(

    * Horrifically grumpy, sore, unimpressed and scaring her cats*

    Posted 8 months ago #

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