9 weeks post op and still miserable

[Guest guest]

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.