Re: 9 weeks post op and still miserable

[Guest guest]

Sorry to hear about your slow recovery...

i had a simple lower jaw advancement and i had swelling for an

extended time too... i tried everything,but the only thing that

helped was time and patience...

at some point the swelling starts subsiding at an exponential

rate... the swelling will go down..

you're done the difficult part...all that is left is now recovery...

hang in there! :-)

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> I have been reading what everyone has been posting for the last 5

> weeks and decided to share my story a little. I am 46 years old

and

> have been in braces for the last 3 years. 9 weeks ago I finally

had

> my surgery (upper, lower, genio and palate widened using hip bone

> graft), and I have to say it has been the hardest thing I have

ever

> gone through.

>

> I have great faith in my surgeon, he is from San Diego where I

live,

> and does these surgeries all the time, but during my surgery the

> blood supply to my gums went away and as a result I may lose some

> teeth. I was fortunately enough to be able to do hyperbaric

> treatments to aide in healing, I did 30 treatments - that took 6

> weeks. I went back to work after 2 weeks, but really should have

> stayed home longer. It was very rough and also I looked so

terrible

> one of my co-workers cried.

>

> As of today, I am still swollen, although not as bad as I was.

I'm

> still numb in places on my face and my upper gums and roof of my

> mouth are totally numb. When I speak it looks very stiff, and I

am

> working on getting my mouth to open more.

>

> When people ask if it has been worth it, I can honestly only

answer

> that I hope one day it will feel like it was worth it because it

> doesn't right now. Maybe in 6 months when my braces are off and I

no

> longer look weird I'll be happy I did this.

[Guest guest]

Hang in there, Lauri! I'm so sorry to hear about your complications.

I'm having a slow recovery too, though other than losing an unusual

amount of blood during my surgery I haven't had the extra factors

you've been dealing with. It's been close to 6 weeks since my upper

+ genio and I'm still bruised and swollen too (and numb in weird

places too, like the roof of my mouth, etc), though that's starting

to budge a little more now. I took extra time off from work, so that

helped a lot -- I can't imagine going back at 2 weeks, though there's

so many other people here who say they've done it! Hope you've

caught up on your rest since then.

I went through cancer treatments about 7 years ago, and I have to say

that the recovery for this has honestly been tougher in some ways.

Some days I feel confident that it was all worth it, but others I'm

not so sure -- I feel like I was pretty well-prepared emotionally for

the immediate difficulties of recovery in the first couple of weeks,

but this longer haul sure gets tough, huh? I know what you mean

about hoping to be able to say in the future it was all worth it --

some days I can really conceive that it really was the best choice,

but other days I feel so down and wonder what I've done and if I'll

ever look normal again. But just remember that you're not alone, and

every day really is a step forward -- even if just a small one.

Also, are you feeling up to doing any exercise? I haven't been able

to practice much yoga because I threw my back out a few weeks ago,

but I did take a nice walk this past weekend (I live in southern CA

too) and it really helped boost my spirits.

Take care,

Sara

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> I have been reading what everyone has been posting for the last 5

> weeks and decided to share my story a little. I am 46 years old

and

> have been in braces for the last 3 years. 9 weeks ago I finally

had

> my surgery (upper, lower, genio and palate widened using hip bone

> graft), and I have to say it has been the hardest thing I have ever

> gone through.

>

> I have great faith in my surgeon, he is from San Diego where I

live,

> and does these surgeries all the time, but during my surgery the

> blood supply to my gums went away and as a result I may lose some

> teeth. I was fortunately enough to be able to do hyperbaric

> treatments to aide in healing, I did 30 treatments - that took 6

> weeks. I went back to work after 2 weeks, but really should have

> stayed home longer. It was very rough and also I looked so

terrible

> one of my co-workers cried.

>

> As of today, I am still swollen, although not as bad as I was. I'm

> still numb in places on my face and my upper gums and roof of my

> mouth are totally numb. When I speak it looks very stiff, and I am

> working on getting my mouth to open more.

>

> When people ask if it has been worth it, I can honestly only answer

> that I hope one day it will feel like it was worth it because it

> doesn't right now. Maybe in 6 months when my braces are off and I

no

> longer look weird I'll be happy I did this.

[Guest guest]

Thanks so much to those of you who responded to my posting. It does

help to hear that it will not always be this way, and that I am not

going through it alone.

I agree that excercise does help, but I have had problems with

motivation and need a kick start. Prior to surgery I did a

significant amount of cycling, and plan to start training for a

century with Team in Training this weekend - feel that will change my

energy, and take my focus off of my face

Again, thanks, and good luck to everyone who is going through this!