Struggling from surgery Sept10th

October 9, 2004

This is my first posting. I had upper/lower and chin surgery done

at Stanford, CA on Sept 10th and I've had my braces on since May 03.

I went in to my orthodontist to have my teeth straightened and

because my lower jaw was underdeveloped, the option of surgery was

presented to me and I opted for it. Now I am 4 weeks post-op and

struggling emotionally with the change and my inability to get

myself back to normal. I have two little ones, 4.5 and 3 and while

my husband has been working from home since this happened, he'll be

travelling again and I'm trying to find the strength to get back

into the routine of life but can't seem to get there.

My surgery ended up being a little more complicated due to a

hairline fracture in my left jaw and lasted 5 hours, I had heart

palpatations in the hospital with a heart rate of 200 but my blood

pressure bottomed at 60/30 they rushed me to the CCU and had me on

heart and oxygen machines...I was so stressed. My oxygen levels

were low the

machines kept going off, it was horrible. The CCU weren't used to

people with their mouth wired shut and they tried to get me to take

pills, I was going crazy. When they finally administered a bata

blocker for my heart, things started to quiet down a bit and the

next day they moved me to another floor. I was on morphine for 3

days and then vicodin, now bextra (I think that's how you spell

it). The nightmares from the drugs were horrible and I was relived

to stop the heavy drugs. One doc even ordered a blood transfusion

and didn't consult my surgeon who arrived the next morning and

cancelled the second transfusion and finally pulled me off the

morphine. After 4 days I was released and glad to go home. I never

imagined such a struggle lay ahead. Normally, I'm a busy active

person

My little ones will be coming in soon fresh from their bath so here

are a few questions... 1. Can anyone out there offer any advice on

how to get myself re-engaged? Will this depression lift? 2.

Dealing with the numbness, when does it go away? 3. I can only

open my mouth one finger, besides opening and holding my mouth for 3

seconds and repeating this for a total of 5 minutes...what else can

I do? 4. I have a splint and bands but I can take them out for

periods of time, what schedules do other people have? I just want

to take the bands off because I can hardly open my mouth in the

morning.

Help...I've rambled, my husband is getting frustrated with my slow

recovery and I just want to curl up in bed.

Thank you for any advice...

October 9, 2004