Survived my Jan 17 upper lower chin surgery

[Guest guest]

Hi all. I am almost a week post op. I feel not so great. My

surgery was 1pm on the 17th. I couldn't stop crying at the hospital

and almost chickened out. The hospital staff was nice and seemed

surprised that I was so upset. When I woke up I had trouble

breathing and don't remember being in recovery much. When in my

room I was told by my surgeon that I was wired shut. I had upper

and lower and wasn't supposed to be wired or splinted but he said he

has never seen an upper jaw so thin. He said when he cut it it was

like an eggshell and he could see through it and it started

crumbling (just what I wanted to hear) so now I have larger plates,

more screws and am not wired shut with a splint (I think I'll be

wired for 2 weeks, god I hope not longer). I had a nasogastric tube

which didnt' help with the vomiting b/c I vomited for hours and they

had to call the dr. to come see me and they had to remove the tube.

The vomiting was a nightmare, my husband I was told had to walk down

the hall away from me b/c he couldn't handle it. Once I finally

stopped I was so dizzy, couldn't keep my eyes open till the next

afternoon. Had to go down for xrays the next morning in the

wheelchair and that was horrible, felt so sick, and could barely

stand up for the xrays. Started trying to use the syringe and drink

Tues. afternoon and then felt a little better. It was very hard to

breathe and I kept pressing the nurse call button. By Wed. I was a

little better and they sent me home. Of course we had snow in D.C.

this day and a 30 minute ride home took 4 hours so I was not happy

about sitting in the car this long. So have been mainly resting,

watching tv. Can't really sleep at all and I'm exhausted. I have

been trying to eat but it is so hard and tiring. Was taking me 2

days to finish one can of Ensure or Boost. I am getting a little

better now as I am hungry and I can see my ribs sticking out now so

this scares me that I am losing too much weight. I now like a

package of the instant breakfast, 1 cup of milk, scoop of ice cream

and half a banana blended up. The swelling has gone down some, I

was sooooooooo swollen. I am now a greenish yellowish color on most

of my face and neck. I can't talk at all with being wired. I am

trying to keep my teeth/mouth clean but not sure if I am doing it

right. I can kind of lift up my lips a little to brush some of the

front teeth and then use the syringe to squirt in saltwater and the

rinse the dr. gave me. Can't see anything else. I now have a chin

which is nice, he slided my bone forward, no implant. It is swollen

but I can see the chin. My nose looks different, my hump seems to

be gone and my nose looks smaller (had a jewish nose). My nose is

crooked though which I assume is from the swelling (I can most of

the time breathe out of the right nostril but not the left). My

face seems to not be as long too. I am numb but I think I am

getting alot of feeling back. The pain medicine (tyleonol codeine)

doesn't help much). Didn't want anything stronger since I was so

sick in the hospital. I feel alot of tingles, twinges, can feel

when I touch my face, thought I felt some tooth pain yesterday, can

feel my tongue which feels beat up. I go to see my surgeon

tomorrow. I am looking forward to it (guess to make sure things are

ok and to ask him some more questions). I worry alot.

God I can't wait to be normal again, it is hard to relax. I freak

out about breathing and swallowing, sometimes start coughing b/c

guess didn't swallow right then find it hard to stop and breathe and

it scares me alot. I hate being wired shut. I keep thinking why

did I do this to myself I must be nuts to have done this surgery.

Guess someday it will seem worth it but definitely not right now.

My kids who are 6 and 7 asked my mom if I will ever look like their

mom again. How sad.