I'm going to play catch-up and start from the beginning. I got braces when I was 16 and wore them for three years pre-surgery, thus I am 19 now and had surgery on my upper jaw six days ago. It feels so good to finally get it out of the way, after all of that waiting and getting my teeth in the right positions. My teeth were way too crowded. I had an open bite, so my back teeth would meet but my front teeth never touched. This is what they fixed with the surgery. It's hard to describe exactly what they did to my upper jaw; took out some pieces of bone and sort of rotated it like a hing until it met right, then fixated it with screws. I could have had a chin procedure as well, because apparently mine is a millimeter or two off-center, but I decided it wasn't worth it. So now I have an acrylic splint, like a thin wafer, attached to my upper braces which forms a mold that my lower teeth fit right into. Then my jaws are secured with three elastics. Both of these will stay for the complete healing time—about eight weeks.
So, six days post-op all of my original complaints are pretty much nonexistent. The surgeon warned me that my nose would be terribly stuffy for the first few days. This ended up being my biggest complaint so far, as breathing required a lot of conscious effort. My nose would also bleed with pretty high frequency...this wasn't actually coming from my nose but from where they had operated, overflowing in a way. It was more like a semi-constant dripping, which just required a lot of kleenex. I clean my nostrils out a few times a day with q-tips and hydrogen peroxide, take a lot of steamy showers, and use Vicks vapor rub every now and then along with a nasal spray. All of this helped both the bleeding and the stuffiness. But my nostrils have finally cleared and I can breath like normal again. Also, the excess saliva seems to have gone away and swallowing is normal and natural. It's also worth noting that I've had to sleep sitting up, to help the swelling and the nasal drainage. This was never too bothersome when you're knocked out with pain meds. ;)
I was surprised that there was never any bleeding inside of my mouth. I'm also almost completely unaware of the stitches.
My swelling has decreased significantly, with some still around my upper cheeks and upper lip. I would say that probably about 50% of the feeling in everywhere that was numb has returned now. The lower half of my face was, of course, never numb. Ice packs have helped a lot.
As far as pain goes, I would say that actual, sharp pain that you would associate with most injuries was never really an issue. I stayed on the prescription pain meds until day four, so this of course probably helped, but they also helped me to sleep past the annoying breathing, swallowing, and discomfort. Instead of pain there is a lot of discomfort and pressure...to me it feels like I am clenching my jaw a lot of times when I'm not. For this I chose to take some regular Tylenol instead of prescription, which alleviated it just fine and also helped with the swelling and small fever I had picked up as a normal result of recovery. I'm also taking antibiotics. All of this medication has been liquid.
Although I'm still swollen and look like a chipmunk (temporarily!), I wouldn't say that this surgery has changed my appearance anywhere except my bite. Some people have mentioned nose changes, but mine seems to look normal. I also haven't had any voice changes, which other people apparently have experienced. Talking for now is difficult, though, but I'm sure it'll be normal when I can open my mouth again fully.
Finally, food. For the first two or three days I was told to stay on a clear liquids only diet. Anything that you could see through—Vitamin Water became my favorite. From day one I just drink out of a cup like normal. After this, I got to move on to any liquids, and this liquid diet I will be on for a few weeks. I'm only a few days in, so I don't yet miss food too much (knock on wood!), but I enjoy getting to drink milkshakes as much as I want. I've invested in a lot of different ice cream, yogurts, juices, and fruit (along with some protein powder to stay healthy and full) and I've been living off shakes and smoothies. I'm still just drinking out of a cup and haven't felt the need for one of those syringes that you feed to the back of your mouth yet. Good news is that whenever I feel ready I am allowed to take my rubber bands off for one hour, three times a day, in order to eat and brush my teeth. My mouth won't be held closed at all for a few times a day! I tried to do this the other day but the side bands are too far back to be able to see and my swollen cheek doesn't want to let me back there just yet. Whenever I finally accomplish this, though, I'll probably be able to sneak in some mashed potatoes or other real food. I'm pretty excited for that, as well as brushing...the insides of my teeth feel so dirty! For now I can only brush the outside. I haven't really experienced any significant weight loss yet, maybe a couple of pounds, but I never weighed myself before so I'm not sure.
Alright, well, I've rambled long enough. Apologies for the length, but clearly I am willing to share with you all. First post-op appointment with my surgeon is this Thursday, so we'll see how that goes! All in all, though, those first few days were difficult but I feel pretty great now and am only getting better.
