New - Wish it were all over

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Welcome! With regard to my upper/lower surgery, When I woke up in my

hospital room, the only thing I had attached to me was the IV. I was cathered

when I

was put under in the OR and it was removed when the surgery was over. I was

also interbated and that tube was removed in recovery by the OS that assisted.

He told I was awake when he did this, but I do not remember it at all.

Trust me, I know how you feel. I had worked myself up to a frenzy prior to

surgery. A lot of it is fear of the unknown and then, of course, there are the

nerves. Just explain your worries and concerns to the OS and I'm sure he'll do

all

that he can to make the surgery and recovery go smoothly for you. Best

wishes!

With regards,

Dale

[Guest guest]

Hey everyone, Just joined the group.

I've been looking through the archived posts here adn already found

the answers to a lot of my questions...impressive! I even found

somone else in Canada trying to get accepted into the RCMP training

program - with this problem!

ANyway, I am having surgery next summer, and its burning me... its

all I think about and dwell on...pretty depressing somtimes. I had

my severly impacted wisdom teeth out a few years back, and at that

time I swore I would never let anyone cut anything in my mouth

again - it was the most painful experience ever, even on pain meds.

Everyone in the group says they felt no pain etc., I find this

pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

(pain meds or not).

ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

time. I don't remember any tubes from the wisdom teeth surgery, but

I dont think I was intubated...I'm pretty sure I was just 'knocked

out' and heavy local anesthetic was used.

My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for me

either.

Anyways, thats my intro/rant. I'm 21, healthy, fit and pretty good

looking (and single..lol) and don't have any visible problems with

my face/jaw, so I am interested to see how much this changes my

looks - other than that the braces will be gone a few months later

(or so I'm told, believe it when I see it)... THANK GOD (Braces are

another rant I'll get on another time..lol, maybe in a different

group).

LAter,

PS> Anybody here go through this with Dr. Pressious or Dr. Lovely

(yeah the names are funny, I know) in Halifax Nova Scotia?

[Guest guest]

>I find this

> pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

> small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

> (pain meds or not).

>

When you come out of the O.R., you're on morphine. That stuff is pretty

good at killing pain. Once pain is contolled, you won't feel a thing. And,

as time passes, pain will get less noticeable. You'll be transfered on

codeine (injection at the hospital, and liquid at home). It works quite well.

> ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

> past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

> time.

You tell this to your surgeon, and he/she'll have some medications

ready to calm you, if needed. But, and most importantly, when they

remove the tubes, if you happen to be like me and get them removed

right at the end of the surgery, you won't remember a thing. They remove

them while you're kind of half conscious. I mean you are ok, you breath

on your own, but most people don't remember the tubes coming out.

> My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

> answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

> with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

> small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

> BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for me

> either.

You won't be put on artificial life support... Tubes are there only

to keep the passage opened, that's all. And the tube that'll run to

your stomach will pump the blood, to prevent nausea. Try to think

of them as your friends.

Ray

[Guest guest]

i didnt have to have a catheder. believe me, with the drugs they have today

then pain is all but nill.

>

>Reply-To: orthognathicsurgerysupport

>To: orthognathicsurgerysupport

>Subject: [Orthognathic Surgery Support ] Re: New - Wish it were all over

>Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 15:16:37 -0000

>

> >I find this

> > pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

> > small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

> > (pain meds or not).

> >

>

>When you come out of the O.R., you're on morphine. That stuff is pretty

>good at killing pain. Once pain is contolled, you won't feel a thing.

>And,

>as time passes, pain will get less noticeable. You'll be transfered on

>codeine (injection at the hospital, and liquid at home). It works quite

>well.

>

>

> > ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

> > past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

> > time.

>

>You tell this to your surgeon, and he/she'll have some medications

>ready to calm you, if needed. But, and most importantly, when they

>remove the tubes, if you happen to be like me and get them removed

>right at the end of the surgery, you won't remember a thing. They remove

>them while you're kind of half conscious. I mean you are ok, you breath

>on your own, but most people don't remember the tubes coming out.

>

> > My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

> > answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

> > with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

> > small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

> > BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for me

> > either.

>

>You won't be put on artificial life support... Tubes are there only

>to keep the passage opened, that's all. And the tube that'll run to

>your stomach will pump the blood, to prevent nausea. Try to think

>of them as your friends.

>

>Ray

>

>

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Welcome from another Canuck (although I'm post-op). Here are a couple

of other resources you may find useful:

http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthognathicsurgerysite2/

The first link is a info website I set up and has many links,

personal surgery experiences, FAQs, etc.

The second is another yahoo group, lots of well-organized links,

photos, etc.

I had my lower wisdom teeth out about 8 or 9 years ago (I have no

upper wisdom teeth), one was impacted and the other exploded. I can

relate to the pain & swelling from that. This procedure is different.

I had upper/lower/genio almost 2 years ago, and what typically

happens is that you experience a lot of numbness (I was numb from

behind my eyeballs to the tip of my chin). Along with that there is

typically discomfort, more like muscle soreness. Immediately post-op,

they will likely give you something like Demerol, but this will be

quite short term. I blew my IV the morning after surgery and was

weaned off to tylenol with codeine every 3 hours. This was more than

adequate, and when I got out of hospital, I discontinued the codeine

and just had childrens' tylenol.

What lovely and precious doctors you have (couldn't resist, sorry).

[Guest guest]

Hey -

There is some pain involved, but it's pretty manageable (at least it

is for me) with the pain meds they prescribe for you. So that's

what I mean when I say there was no pain. Actually I have stopped

taking the prescription pain meds (tylenol with codeine) and as a

result there is some muscle soreness/headache which for the most

part can be managed with OTS pain relievers. Today is my 8th day

post-op, but I stopped the codeine last Saturday. I'll keep it

around just in case.

I know it's hard to believe that all these people would say they

didn't have any pain - but most of them took pain meds and got

through it relatively easily. My advice is to start the pain meds

as soon as you get home and keep taking them. Don't wait for the

pain to start.

Regarding the tubes - I never knew I had tubes. I have no idea if I

was catheterized or not. I think not, because I didn't drink

anything after 10:00 pm (I had an 8:30 am surgery) and I was pretty

empty. But anyway you're awake when they start the IV but other

than that you go to sleep and wake up 3 hours later, without any

tubes.

Jay

> Hey everyone, Just joined the group.

>

>

> I've been looking through the archived posts here adn already

found

> the answers to a lot of my questions...impressive! I even found

> somone else in Canada trying to get accepted into the RCMP

training

> program - with this problem!

>

> ANyway, I am having surgery next summer, and its burning me... its

> all I think about and dwell on...pretty depressing somtimes. I

had

> my severly impacted wisdom teeth out a few years back, and at that

> time I swore I would never let anyone cut anything in my mouth

> again - it was the most painful experience ever, even on pain

meds.

> Everyone in the group says they felt no pain etc., I find this

> pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

> small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

> (pain meds or not).

>

> ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

> past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

> time. I don't remember any tubes from the wisdom teeth surgery,

but

> I dont think I was intubated...I'm pretty sure I was just 'knocked

> out' and heavy local anesthetic was used.

>

> My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

> answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

> with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

> small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

> BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for

me

> either.

>

> Anyways, thats my intro/rant. I'm 21, healthy, fit and pretty

good

> looking (and single..lol) and don't have any visible problems with

> my face/jaw, so I am interested to see how much this changes my

> looks - other than that the braces will be gone a few months later

> (or so I'm told, believe it when I see it)... THANK GOD (Braces

are

> another rant I'll get on another time..lol, maybe in a different

> group).

>

> LAter,

>

>

> PS> Anybody here go through this with Dr. Pressious or Dr. Lovely

> (yeah the names are funny, I know) in Halifax Nova Scotia?

[Guest guest]

Drs. Pressious and Lovely -- and you're still scared? Next you'll be

telling us that your last name is Dearie!

Just kidding you a bit.

For what it's worth, the pain I've had from wisdom tooth extractions

was way worse than anything I had after jaw surgery. I had lower

only, and whatever pain i did have was quickly dealt with by the

painkillers.

One reason most folks don't have a lot of pain is that often they're

numb. Those nerves can get bruised during the surgery, and it can

take them a while to come back to duty.

It's not unusual to become a bit obsessive about all this. It's a big

step and a big procedure. But honestly, at least for me and most

others, it's not as big a deal as it seems while you're anticipating

it. There are a few people who have trouble with pain, or with

lasting numbness -- but not many. Of course, that won't help if you

turn out to be one of them, but don't worry about that until and

unless you have to.

As for the catheter and the intubation: I'm female, and I think we

have an easier time of it with the catheter. (I'm assuming from your

name that you're a guy.) For me, it was really a blessing not to have

to get up and stagger to the bathroom while all those fluids were

pumping through me.

As for the intubation, I was frightened and worried about that, I

think, most of all. In actuality, the only way I knew it had been

done was that I woke up with a sore throat.

It did help me to know that the anesthesiologist was a doc I knew and

trusted. He'd done some procedures for me and my family before.

Perhaps if you could ask to meet the person who will be tending you

you'd feel better about it? That probably would have to be closer to

the time, though. In any case, do tell your surgeons about your

fears. There may be something he or she can do to help ease them. (No-

body I've ever known went into this completely unafraid, or at least

I don't remember anybody who did, even those who've had to fight to

get authorization.)

And there's nothing you can tell any of your docs that they haven't

heard before.

Cammie

> Hey everyone, Just joined the group.

>

>

> I've been looking through the archived posts here adn already found

> the answers to a lot of my questions...impressive! I even found

> somone else in Canada trying to get accepted into the RCMP training

> program - with this problem!

>

> ANyway, I am having surgery next summer, and its burning me... its

> all I think about and dwell on...pretty depressing somtimes. I had

> my severly impacted wisdom teeth out a few years back, and at that

> time I swore I would never let anyone cut anything in my mouth

> again - it was the most painful experience ever, even on pain

meds.

> Everyone in the group says they felt no pain etc., I find this

> pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

> small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

> (pain meds or not).

>

> ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

> past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

> time. I don't remember any tubes from the wisdom teeth surgery,

but

> I dont think I was intubated...I'm pretty sure I was just 'knocked

> out' and heavy local anesthetic was used.

>

> My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

> answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

> with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

> small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

> BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for me

> either.

>

> Anyways, thats my intro/rant. I'm 21, healthy, fit and pretty good

> looking (and single..lol) and don't have any visible problems with

> my face/jaw, so I am interested to see how much this changes my

> looks - other than that the braces will be gone a few months later

> (or so I'm told, believe it when I see it)... THANK GOD (Braces are

> another rant I'll get on another time..lol, maybe in a different

> group).

>

> LAter,

>

>

> PS> Anybody here go through this with Dr. Pressious or Dr. Lovely

> (yeah the names are funny, I know) in Halifax Nova Scotia?

[Guest guest]

In the interests of full disclosure:

Ray, you say:

" You won't be put on artificial life support... Tubes are there only

to keep the passage opened, that's all. And the tube that'll run to

your stomach will pump the blood, to prevent nausea. Try to think

of them as your friends. "

I agree, of course, that they are your friends. And the NG tube is

just what you say. But when I told my surgeon I was worried about the

general anesthesia, he answered,

" And you should be. Anytime you turn your breathing over to someone

else -- which is what you will be doing -- you should take it

seriously and know that there can be risks. "

I did not have the least bit of trouble -- not even nausea. The

anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist did a fine job of breathing

for me whilst I was out of it. But that is what my doc said.

Not meant to be scary, just truthful.

One thought that reassured me greatly was the recognition that I

would not give two thoughts to being put under had I been, say, in an

automobile accident or developed an ailment that required life-saving

surgery. So why worry about it for an elective procedure?

Cammie

[Guest guest]

I am 6 weeks post-op and will give you a quick rundown on my

experience with the whole thing. I had upper and lower done, along

with a palatal split. They told me I'd have a urinary catheter in,

but that it'd most likely be taken out before I woke up. Same with

the nasal tube. Well, I woke up and the catheter was still in. It

stayed until the day after my surgery, but it was actually a

blessing in disguise. With all the fluids I had, I would have been

in the bathroom every 15 minutes, but physically that would have

been really difficult for me. It wasn't really uncomfortable, but I

don't know how it is for a guy....

I also had a tube down my nose which actually didn't bother me too

much. You're just too out of it the first night to even notice. I

can tell you that I was sick to my stomach and actually got sick

before they could give me something. That was kind of icky because

part of it gets thrown up and part goes up the tube. I actually

dislodged the tube so they had to push it back down--I think that

was the worst part of the whole experience for me. That was pretty

uncomfortable, but they pumped me full of morphine when they did it

so I was out about a second after they finished. That tube was taken

out the day after surgery. I also had two IVs in...the one they put

in before surgery and one they put in during surgery because I

needed a blood transfusion (I've been battling anemia so even with a

little tiny bit of blood loss I needed to be transfused). Last but

not least, I had drains in the two incisions for my lower jaw. I

honestly didn't even know the drain was were there until they took

them out the next day. I just knew it was hard to turn my head with

the ice pack and towel under my chin. I was in the ICU the first

night and the nurses were super nice, so it made things easier. I

had a morphine pump, but I didn't use it very much. Morphine gives

me headaches after awhile. As for pain, it honestly wasn't too awful-

-and I had a lot done. The worst thing was just overall discomfort.

Your face is swollen, it's difficult to breathe (at least it was for

me, but that was partially because they had to do some stuff to my

nose). I also was banded shut which made communication really hard--

I couldn't write very well because I was so tired. I stopped taking

pain meds altogether about a day after I came home from surgery. I

didn't even take tylenol. I had zero bruising--I attribute this to a

good surgeon. I got debanded a week later and the splint came off 4

weeks after that. I am now able to chew food, although I am not

eating peanut brittle or anything liek that! :-) I am SOOOO happy I

did this--it's AMAZING how much my bite has changed. It's not

perfect yet--probably another 6 mths of braces but wow! For me, the

entire experience was worth it. Anyway, I said I'd give you a quick

version, and here I am blathering on. Overall, it was not bad at all

for me. I would say the worst pain I had was maybe a 7 on a scale of

1-10 and that wasn't even really pain--just discomfort from the IV,

etc. Of course, I'm saying all of this in hindsight and having had

the benefit of a morphine pump available to me for the three days I

was in the hospital, so I guess you should take it with a grain of

salt ;-)

> Hey everyone, Just joined the group.

>

>

> I've been looking through the archived posts here adn already

found

> the answers to a lot of my questions...impressive! I even found

> somone else in Canada trying to get accepted into the RCMP

training

> program - with this problem!

>

> ANyway, I am having surgery next summer, and its burning me... its

> all I think about and dwell on...pretty depressing somtimes. I

had

> my severly impacted wisdom teeth out a few years back, and at that

> time I swore I would never let anyone cut anything in my mouth

> again - it was the most painful experience ever, even on pain

meds.

> Everyone in the group says they felt no pain etc., I find this

> pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

> small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

> (pain meds or not).

>

> ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

> past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

> time. I don't remember any tubes from the wisdom teeth surgery,

but

> I dont think I was intubated...I'm pretty sure I was just 'knocked

> out' and heavy local anesthetic was used.

>

> My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

> answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

> with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

> small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

> BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for

me

> either.

>

> Anyways, thats my intro/rant. I'm 21, healthy, fit and pretty

good

> looking (and single..lol) and don't have any visible problems with

> my face/jaw, so I am interested to see how much this changes my

> looks - other than that the braces will be gone a few months later

> (or so I'm told, believe it when I see it)... THANK GOD (Braces

are

> another rant I'll get on another time..lol, maybe in a different

> group).

>

> LAter,

>

>

> PS> Anybody here go through this with Dr. Pressious or Dr. Lovely

> (yeah the names are funny, I know) in Halifax Nova Scotia?

[Guest guest]

Hello, !

I, for one, did not have pain... I also did not take pain medicine. I was numb

in my cheeks, chin and nose and around my eyes and my neck I was sore from being

swollen, but nothing " painful. " It was about as sore as a bruise. I was not

able to sleep and took a Lortab and it made me sick, so I didn't do that again!

I did keep ice on almost religiously. I bought a Cool Jaw Wrap from the

Zip-N-Squeeze folks, and it felt great, so I didn't take it off. I kept spare

ice packs in the freezer and just switched them out.

The hardest part for me was being totally drained. No matter how much I ate, I

couldn't get enough! I was not wired, either. I would get tired of eating half

way through a meal... just tired... hard to explain.

I couldn't do much on my own til week three. I couldn't even shower alone at

first (no, it wasn't as exciting as it sounds!) I would get up and try to do

something for myself, but would get very light headed and dizzy.

That's okay, I stayed in bed for three weeks, I'm great now. I am 6 weeks

post-op and still have some swelling, but the numbness is almost gone.

Good luck on your surgery!

~Cathy

Re: New - Wish it were all over

Hey -

There is some pain involved, but it's pretty manageable (at least it

is for me) with the pain meds they prescribe for you. So that's

what I mean when I say there was no pain. Actually I have stopped

taking the prescription pain meds (tylenol with codeine) and as a

result there is some muscle soreness/headache which for the most

part can be managed with OTS pain relievers. Today is my 8th day

post-op, but I stopped the codeine last Saturday. I'll keep it

around just in case.

I know it's hard to believe that all these people would say they

didn't have any pain - but most of them took pain meds and got

through it relatively easily. My advice is to start the pain meds

as soon as you get home and keep taking them. Don't wait for the

pain to start.

Regarding the tubes - I never knew I had tubes. I have no idea if I

was catheterized or not. I think not, because I didn't drink

anything after 10:00 pm (I had an 8:30 am surgery) and I was pretty

empty. But anyway you're awake when they start the IV but other

than that you go to sleep and wake up 3 hours later, without any

tubes.

Jay

> Hey everyone, Just joined the group.

>

>

> I've been looking through the archived posts here adn already

found

> the answers to a lot of my questions...impressive! I even found

> somone else in Canada trying to get accepted into the RCMP

training

> program - with this problem!

>

> ANyway, I am having surgery next summer, and its burning me... its

> all I think about and dwell on...pretty depressing somtimes. I

had

> my severly impacted wisdom teeth out a few years back, and at that

> time I swore I would never let anyone cut anything in my mouth

> again - it was the most painful experience ever, even on pain

meds.

> Everyone in the group says they felt no pain etc., I find this

> pretty hard to believe - you are being cut open, jaw broken and

> small screws screwed in to hold it in place....how can it not hurt

> (pain meds or not).

>

> ANother huge fear I have is bein intuated/cathetered. I know from

> past experience if I wake up with tubes in me, I will panick big

> time. I don't remember any tubes from the wisdom teeth surgery,

but

> I dont think I was intubated...I'm pretty sure I was just 'knocked

> out' and heavy local anesthetic was used.

>

> My first consult with the OS is in July, so hopefully the OS will

> answer to some of these fears of mine. How did everyone else deal

> with the intubation/catheter thing.... i know its prolly somthing

> small and minor, but tubes runing into and out of my body scare me

> BIG TIME. I'm not to hot on the idea of a machine breathing for

me

> either.

>

> Anyways, thats my intro/rant. I'm 21, healthy, fit and pretty

good

> looking (and single..lol) and don't have any visible problems with

> my face/jaw, so I am interested to see how much this changes my

> looks - other than that the braces will be gone a few months later

> (or so I'm told, believe it when I see it)... THANK GOD (Braces

are

> another rant I'll get on another time..lol, maybe in a different

> group).

>

> LAter,

>

>

> PS> Anybody here go through this with Dr. Pressious or Dr. Lovely

> (yeah the names are funny, I know) in Halifax Nova Scotia?