Food & opening width

[Guest guest]

Hi all

6 weeks tomorrow post op from upper/lower and palatal split. I see

the surgeon Thursday and am really hoping he will let me start to

chew. I've been finding it hard to follow the 11th Commandment -

'Thou shalt not covet other people's food'!

I've been so desperate for cakes I've broken bits of muffin and

danish pastries into little bits and soaked them in my coffee or tea

just to get a fix.

At six weeks my opening capability is about one and a half

centimetres. I haven't been given any go ahead for exercises so I'm

presuming that will be next on the agenda. Is this width about

normal do you think? It seems so rigidly stuck at that width - just

enough to get a spoon in, not enough to use fingers to get elastics

in - had to buy a pair of pointy tweezers for that.

I still find speaking a chore because of the numbness in my chin and

bottom lip. I know I look fairly normal when I speak but the

physical feeling is of having to really make an effort to enunciate

and my mouth feels contorted. It reminds me of being one of those

ventriloquist dolls with the stiff bottom jaw.

Still some sore bumpy bits around my top and bottom jaw bones and

some of my teeth are sore and also sensitive.

That's my run down. Will post back with OS report.

By the way I tried to search back posts on mouth opening width. It

only seems to search the current month's archive. You can spend

hours otherwise. Now I see why the same questions are posted again

and again.

Best wishes

Sue (UK)

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue,

I can relate to what you say here! I remember being at my brother-in-

law's one day and getting upset inside because he had put out snacks

(peanuts, pretzels) for us before dinner. I crave salty things, so I

eventually stuck a pretzel stick in, and happily sucked it down to

mush. Where there's a will, there's a way ..... I visited my friend

who had jaw surgery some months before me, and she was doing just

what you are, eating poppyseed cake in little crumbs and bits. She

also told me she'd eaten broiled salmon, any fish like that would be

easy. My first restaurant meal out was fish & chips - I used a lot

of malt vinegar, peeled back the batter, and mushed bits of fish

with my fork, I didn't really chew it, but I mushed it up against

the top of my mouth for flavour. Same thing with the fries, mushed

with a knife and up against the top of my mouth for flavour.

I was stuck at a finger or finger and a half for awhile. Then two

fingers. My ortho got tough with me at the 3 month mark, saying " now

you have to use it or you'll lose it " - it was only at this point

that he gave me specific resistance exercises. He didn't want me

doing anything radical before then. Every surgeon/ortho is

different, and I think you should ask yours what he/she suggests. I

don't think my opening is quite where it was pre-op, in retrospect,

I think I probably opened more than was best for me - certainly I'm

more aware now when I open. My surgeon said not to do any

uncontrolled opening like yawning, he said it's not good for you

even with healthy and normal jaws!

I likened the problems in speaking as if I were drunk, speech is

slower and it's hard to articulate. I had to be careful with every

word, and as I got more tired the more I talked, the more potential

there was to sound drunk. It was stiff feeling too. That will go

away, but it does take a long time, think months for that. I did

facial exercises like smirks, smiles, big wide grins, pouts,

anything to exercise the muscles around the lips. It can be very

entertaining!

Hope that helps. Happy healing!

> Hi all

>

> 6 weeks tomorrow post op from upper/lower and palatal split. I

see

> the surgeon Thursday and am really hoping he will let me start to

> chew. I've been finding it hard to follow the 11th Commandment -

> 'Thou shalt not covet other people's food'!

>

> I've been so desperate for cakes I've broken bits of muffin and

> danish pastries into little bits and soaked them in my coffee or

tea

> just to get a fix.

>

> At six weeks my opening capability is about one and a half

> centimetres. I haven't been given any go ahead for exercises so

I'm

> presuming that will be next on the agenda. Is this width about

> normal do you think? It seems so rigidly stuck at that width -

just

> enough to get a spoon in, not enough to use fingers to get

elastics

> in - had to buy a pair of pointy tweezers for that.

>

> I still find speaking a chore because of the numbness in my chin

and

> bottom lip. I know I look fairly normal when I speak but the

> physical feeling is of having to really make an effort to

enunciate

> and my mouth feels contorted. It reminds me of being one of those

> ventriloquist dolls with the stiff bottom jaw.

>

> Still some sore bumpy bits around my top and bottom jaw bones and

> some of my teeth are sore and also sensitive.

>

> That's my run down. Will post back with OS report.

>

> By the way I tried to search back posts on mouth opening width. It

> only seems to search the current month's archive. You can spend

> hours otherwise. Now I see why the same questions are posted

again

> and again.

>

> Best wishes

> Sue (UK)