Jaw Surgery Forums » Post-Surgery and Recovery Questions

Lower Jaw Advancement - 1st day

(8 posts)
  • Started 1 year ago by Sean_P
  • Latest reply from Brandon
  • 1 Members Subscribed To Topic

  1. Sean_P
    Member

    Hi All,

    First of all; Thanks Brandon for setting up this great site. I found this site about a week before my lower jaw surgery, which was earlier today!! When i first read through many of the postings on this site i have to admit it kind of worked against me and i started to get really nervous. I saw many examples of people who had upper and lower but not may with lower alone so it was really difficult for me to assess what experience I could expect to go through....

    So, just earlier today I got my lower jaw advancement surgery. They moved my lower jaw about 6mm forward. My surgery took less than an hour and everything went well. I was asked to come in at 8:30AM and the nurses started all prep work, asking me questions, taking vital signs etc. My surgery started at about 10:15AM. I remember walking into a room with the main surgeon + his main assistant, and up to 4-5 other nurses for support. I remember laying down on the table joking with the team and next second Anesthesia kicked in and was knocked out.
    I woke up in a different room (recovery room) with a nurse telling me everything was fine and things went well. They kept me in that room for about 1.5 hours and i become more alert and aware...The nurse took some final vital signs, the surgeon stopped by and told me things went great...and the nurse brought liquid pain killer Hydrocodone bitartrate and Acetaminophen(Vicodin) and Chlorhexidine fluconate (oral rinse). I took some Vicodin before i left the hospital (I had a hour and 10 min. drive home). I been home for 4 hours now and have not taken any more Vicodin or any other medicine...I do plan to take my next dose soon.

    My mouth is wired shut and will be for 14 days...so far everything is going great beside my face being extremely swollen. I have more swelling than i expected mainly I think because i really didn’t have a COLD pack of ice on my drive home. After rinsing my mouth few times (and spitting some blood and minor nose bleed) i have started to drink liquid (water, ensure for now) Even with the jaw wired liquid are going down just fine.

    I want people to realize that this is not as bad as it seems from reading some the other posts on this forum. I realize upper and lower may be more difficult, i only did lower. But so far so good...

    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. Nostalgia
    Member

    Believe it or not, the first day is pretty easy since they gave u IV's at antis to ease the pain, the PAIN starts the 2nd day, atleast it did for me, I had upper and lower jaw surgery a few days ago, when i woke up my left eye was so teary.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. Sean_P
    Member

    you are right i expect the pain to get worse tomorrow and the swelling suppose to be worse on day 3...I was just sharing my experience from today. Having my jaw wired for two weeks will not be easy, its just day 1.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. arqlizcarter
    Member

    I'm in day 5 post surgery. I had my upper jaw moved. I haven't had much pain at all, but I have taken my pain medication every 4 hours after since my surgery for the first 3 days. I did it more for the sore throat. recently I have staring to take it every 6 hours and now twice a day! No pain. I'm still pretty swollen and I hate eating with a syringe. Food tastes horrible in pureed. In day 4 I stop using the syringe; for me it is better to use a small glass to put my soup or smoothie in. More food in my tummy makes me happy :X (I'm mouth shut). One of the thing that I don't like about the post op is sleeping time it is really difficult for me to sleep face up. I also notice that my ears are more sensitive. I know this is a long recovery I hope everyone is having a good recovery.

    Have a great day!

    30 years old, women, upper jaw surgery, overbite,gummy smile and more:X
    check my blog http://jawsurgery.rosacarter.com/
    YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/arqlizcarter?feature=mhee
    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. Pablo
    Member

    Great to hear you are after surgery! hope you are satisfied and hope you will post some photos as well.

    25 yo with class II Malloclusion - overjet 10mm+overbite+lower teeth crowded (just perfect smile:))

    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000640946777&ref=ts
    Posted 1 year ago #

  6. Brandon
    Site Administrator

    Congrats on a successful surgery Sean, and keep up that positive attitude, it will help a lot, best of luck with the rest of recovery and keep us updated...

    I'm Brandon, the creator of JawSurgeryBlog.com. I personally had upper and lower jaw surgery on October 30, 2007. Thankfully, everything went beautifully, so I'm trying to make sure everyone else's surgery goes smoothly as well!

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Corrective-Jaw-Surgery/114627165257701
    Posted 1 year ago #

  7. Sean_P
    Member

    Post Op Day 4 - update

    Hi Guys, so its Post op day 4. I feel good overall, as i did from day one. I have been able to sleep pretty good also. I put bunch of pillow's on my bed so could keep my upper body upright. I have not had much trouble sleeping in this position i usually sleep for 3-4 hours at a time, I get up twice at night to change the ice packs and to take some medication. I have gotten pretty used to this routine. My face is still swollen pretty badly, I think there is a slight improvement in swelling from yesterday but it’s hard to tell. My best recommendation so far would be to get good ice packs! I hate the ice bags they gave me at the hospital; they do not seem to get very cold. So I’ve mainly been using ice cubes in Ziploc bags to ice my face. The gel packs they gave at the hospital don’t work very well either and seem warm up quickly. so make sure you have good (thinly isolated) ice packs to prepare for your recovery.

    I had some slight headaches last night mainly i think because i haven't been able to eat much besides drinking ensure, juice, and water. I tried liquefying soups but it clogs the braces and will not go down. I need to improve on liquefying it even more...I do get up and walk around quite a bit (up and down the stairs) I think it should help with the swelling and blood circulation.

    Overall, I feel good. I still got quite a bit of swelling but I’m hoping it will start to go down from here on. Let me know if you guys have any recommendations on how I can start eating better (liquefied soups clog the braces very quick) I’m going to try to make some smoothies this afternoon and maybe some homemade juice.

    If you are planning on having the lower, upper or both jaw surgery and reading this forum to get encouragement; I would say Go For It! Recovery time is not the most exciting time and I know no one looks forward to it but if you prepare well for it in advance you will do just fine…. I’m looking forward to seeing my results and hope things turn out great! :)

    Posted 1 year ago #

  8. Brandon
    Site Administrator

    Thanks again for the update, Sean, these detailed recovery posts are the most helpful to future patients!

    Posted 1 year ago #

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