Re: 14 weeks post-op and photos FINALLY! / Cathy

October 22, 2004

Hi Cathy--Garrett was 11 months old when I had the surgery and I

needed help for probably about 2-3 weeks after the surgery. My

husband and I both work full-time and usually Garrett goes to daycare

so we still sent him to daycare even when I was home. I had the

surgery on a Thursday and went back to work part-time 2 weeks later.

During those two weeks, though I needed help. My husband took from

that Thursday through the following Tuesday off and then I was at

home (Garrett was at daycare) until 2 weeks. I was really tired and

nauseous for the first 10 days or so. I had to have my jaw " tightly

banded " shut for 6 weeks so I was on a liquid diet. I had a hard

time adjusting to the liquid diet (it took about 2 weeks) and that

made me tired.

After those 2 - 2 1/2 weeks I felt better and was able to interact

more with Garrett. Actually, for me, going back to work and getting

back into caring for my child (and one very energetic dog) was a big

help for me psychologically. I was doing other things than just

obsessing about my condition and the fact that I couldn't eat normal

food. My colleagues at work were very encouraging and kept reminding

me that it was only temporary and to take each day at a time.

As for my swelling, I think most of it went down after about 2-3

weeks. I think I was pretty much " unswollen " by about 1 month. I

also didn't have anything done to my upper jaw and from what I've

read from people here on this site, the upper jaw can often cause a

lot of swelling because of the sinuses etc.

Well, I hope that I've answered your questions. Please don't

hesitate to ask anything more. Sometimes, I look back at my old

postings to see how far I've come and it's amazing...what seems like

an eternity when you're going through it really is just a brief

period of time.

Good luck and I'm glad that I could be of some help.

Helen

I

> >

> > Hi everyone. I had my lower jaw setback (vertical ramus osteotomy

> on

> > July 15th) and saw my OS last Thursday who gave me the go ahead

to

> > see my ortho and get the surgical hooks (lugs) removed. I saw my

> > ortho today and I'm officially back just in braces (no surgical

> > hooks, wires, or rubber bands)!!!!

> >

> > I am sore today because some of the brackets came off during

> surgery

> > and a few of my teeth slipped, so the ortho had to add four

> brackets

> > and now my teeth ache but I am still very happy to be in the home

> > stretch.

> >

> > He wouldn't tell me how much longer I would need to wear the

> braces,

> > but at this point I'm just happy to be past all things surgical

> >

> > Anyway, I also finally got around to putting up some pictures. I

> > had a difficult time putting them up on this site (errors with

the

> > ActiveX controller) so here's the link:

> >

> > http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAsWLNm1ctnPQ

October 22, 2004