overbite-surgery this tuesday!!!

July 25, 2004

Hi everyone my name is marie and im having upper and lower jaw

surgery on tuesday to correct my over bite.

As you can imagine anxiety is begenning to set in Alot of the

posts ive read seem to focus more on under or open bites and i was

just wondering if there are many of you out there who have

previously been in my position. I would love if you can share your

experiences both pleasant and nasty with me as ive been trying to

mentally prep myself for this as best i can.

Marie

July 25, 2004

Hi Marie -

I had lower jaw surgery almost 7 weeks ago to correct my overbite.

Like you I had some anxiety leading up to the surgery because I had

never had surgery before. The things that worried me the most were

a) not waking up from surgery, complications from surgery e.g.

permanent numbness, and c) weight loss from being on a liquid diet.

Well as you can see I woke up just fine, in fact my hospital stay

(one night) was perfect.

As far as weight loss goes I did lose a couple of pounds but my jaws

were fixed shut for only 5 days. During those 5 days I worked

pretty hard at getting enough nutrition even though I was on a

liquid diet.

The first few days after surgery are a little rough. The swelling

is the worst part I think. The pain isn't really bad, as long as

you take your pain meds. I always say this so I'll say it again:

take your pain meds as soon as you get home and continue to take

them for at least 3 days. Don't wait for the pain to come before

taking the pain meds. That's my most important piece of advice.

After that, it's just one day at a time. I had to eat like every

two hours. I was always starving. Eat, eat, eat. That's my other

piece of advice.

I was back to work 13 days after the surgery. It took me a few

weeks to get my energy back, but I was able to do my job (desk job)

with no problems. It was awhile before I was sleeping normally

which contributes to the lack of energy. There's a bit of numbness

but it's getting better all the time.

Last piece of advice: Don't worry - just roll with it and you'll

come out fine. If you're like me, you'll be happy to get the

overbite fixed. It makes a big difference.

Jay

> Hi everyone my name is marie and im having upper and lower jaw

> surgery on tuesday to correct my over bite.

> As you can imagine anxiety is begenning to set in Alot of the

> posts ive read seem to focus more on under or open bites and i was

> just wondering if there are many of you out there who have

> previously been in my position. I would love if you can share your

> experiences both pleasant and nasty with me as ive been trying to

> mentally prep myself for this as best i can.

>

> Marie

July 26, 2004

thanks jay for your input,

well being a girl the weight loss issuse doesnt bother me that much

i see it as an opportunity to lose a few pounds , which ill no

doubt put straight back on im a bit nasaly at the moment which is

freakin me out because im scared of not being able to breathe, that

is definitely my number one conncern at the moment!! i guess the

complications from surgery are a risk we all take when havin this

done so no point worrying too much about that. i cant believe you

were back in work so soon, am i being over cautious?? although I

have a fairly active job, im constantly on my feet and talking. Im

glad to hear your delighted with the outcome, its always been at the

back of my mind that i wont be because its very hard to imagine the

final result when u cant move your upper jaw and can only move your

ower jaw fully out to give so sort of (unnatural) indication

alot of ppl have been talking about blurry vision after when in

hospital? did you experience this? i was hoping to bring a book to

read during my stay but it may be pointless now, anyways im off to

ring the hospital to confirm my bed, i shall keep you all posted on

how it goes

Marie xxx

> > Hi everyone my name is marie and im having upper and lower jaw

> > surgery on tuesday to correct my over bite.

> > As you can imagine anxiety is begenning to set in Alot of the

> > posts ive read seem to focus more on under or open bites and i

was

> > just wondering if there are many of you out there who have

> > previously been in my position. I would love if you can share

your

> > experiences both pleasant and nasty with me as ive been trying

to

> > mentally prep myself for this as best i can.

> >

> > Marie

July 26, 2004

--- Hi Marie,

I'm postop day 20. I had upper and lower surgery along with genio,

septo, and turbs reduced. It was the first major surgery I ever had

thus I was pretty anxious. The surgery went well, lasted approx 4

hours. My entire face was swollen, I had a device to keep in my

mouth to suck out blood and drool, oxygen (humifidied) on, along

with an arterial line and pulse ox hooked up. I was pretty drugged

after surgery and remember very little. I woke up the next day and

the swelling was better (my eyes werent swollen shut anymore). I was

still pretty drugged from all the morphine. They removed the oxygen

and a-line the day before. The urinary cath they removed the

following day. Its horrible to have to pee every half hour

secondary to all the fluids when you are dizzy and drugged and

dragging the IV pole with you. My husband stayed with me and was a

huge help since there was a nursing shortage and he was the nurse.

I ended up an extra day in the hospital (total 3 nights) secondary

to a reaction to Percocet (sick as a dog!!!). The worst was the

first week with swelling, bruising, being unable to breathe through

your nose, pleghm that was gagging me, being unable to sleep,

weakness, etc. After the first week things got better each day. I

took off 5 weeks of work. I was told not to lift anything for 5

weeks. My parents came and have been a Godsend. I have 3 kids

which took some adjustment on their part that mommy was disabled for

5 weeks. I'm also on a liquid diet for 5 weeks with both sides

banded for that duration ( 2 more weeks and counting ) I lost

approx 12 lbs and haven't regained anything yet. I didn't have alot

of pain and avoided narcs, I took plain Tylenol if I needed

anything. I just didn't like feeling wasted and nauseated on the

narcs. I felt the worst part was the nasal congestion and the

phlegm. The phlegm was literally choking me at times and it was

scary. I can now it least spit it out. The other worst part was

the second week when they tried to remove the inside stitches, the

pain and bleeding from that was worst than the surgery. I found the

ones they couldn't remove are dissolvable. Why they bothered to

remove them when they are dissolvable is beyond me!!!! My cheeks,

upper lip, lower lip, chin/neck area are still very numb. I have

gotten used to it. I was told it could last up to a year or be

permanent (doctor states doubts permanent). My swelling is minimal

and mainly in areas of the numbness. I'm glad I had off those 5

weeks of work since I feel tired all the time plus in my job I have

to talk and walk all day. My speech isn't bad but after talking

alot the jaw aches and gets stiff, and just feels weird. I hope

your surgery will go well and you have a speedy recovery.

Take Care,

P.S. I was able to read after surgery. But I was tired, drugged

alot thus I didn't want to read alot.

In orthognathicsurgerysupport , " cookiegirl_ie "

wrote:

> Hi everyone my name is marie and im having upper and lower jaw

> surgery on tuesday to correct my over bite.

> As you can imagine anxiety is begenning to set in Alot of the

> posts ive read seem to focus more on under or open bites and i was

> just wondering if there are many of you out there who have

> previously been in my position. I would love if you can share your

> experiences both pleasant and nasty with me as ive been trying to

> mentally prep myself for this as best i can.

>

> Marie

July 26, 2004

Marie -

I guess that's one thing I forgot to mention: I also was concerned

about breathing, since I have an old nose injury from childhood

(deviated septum), and my nose doesn't work well even under the best

of circumstances.

It turned out not to be an issue at all. When you check in to the

hospital, tell everyone who will listen that you have breathing

problems. They'll give you a humidified oxygen system that really

helps you breathe.

Good luck tomorrow -

Jay

> > > Hi everyone my name is marie and im having upper and lower jaw

> > > surgery on tuesday to correct my over bite.

> > > As you can imagine anxiety is begenning to set in Alot of

the

> > > posts ive read seem to focus more on under or open bites and i

> was

> > > just wondering if there are many of you out there who have

> > > previously been in my position. I would love if you can share

> your

> > > experiences both pleasant and nasty with me as ive been trying

> to

> > > mentally prep myself for this as best i can.

> > >

> > > Marie

July 26, 2004

Hi Jay,

Glad all went well for you, that's so great to hear for you and for us waiting

for similar procedure. Can you tell me how old you are? I will be 34 when I do

my lower advancement surgery and am trying to talk myself out of being nervous

for the next 8 mths or so whilst I wait for the day.

Suzy

Jay jay_little_2000@...> wrote: