Re: Beth - bone graft

[Guest guest]

Hey everybody ) I'm still here - kind of lurking. Nothing much has

changed, so I've been a little quiet.

Beth - I had a LeFortI upper advancement, bone graft, and fistula

closing to repair a cleft lip and palate. Luckily the surgeon used a

relatively new less-invasive technique to get the bone marrow from my

hip. I still have an incision, but instead of mechanically " sawing "

at the bone they were able to use a long sturdy needle to get to the

marrow in my hip. I had the surgery on June 9th - and my hip is still

sore. The muscle hurts if I move in a certain way...and if I walk

around for a long time it still begins to throb. I liken it to

really bad cramps or doing too many lower ab crunches. It hurts when

I cough or sneeze or turn over the wrong way in bed. That's about it,

though. For the rest of the day I kind of forget it's there. I still

haven't removed the surgical dressing - the Dr's say to leave it on

until it falls off - so I'm not sure what it's going to look like. I

have to say the surgeon did an amazing job at placing the incision -

it's kind of on an angle and directly where my underwear or bathing

suits would go. I was always afraid of having yet another scar - but

I really think I can cover this one up.

I was splinted - but not wired or rubberbanded. I actually went to

the ortho yesterday who said I still didn't need any rubberbands

'cause I fit directly into the splint. They say this is highly

unusual, though, that usually a little tinkering is necessary. Anyway

- I've been eating soft foods (ie noodles, mashed potatoes, hot

cereal) for quite a while now. Yesterday the orhto said anything that

is as soft as eggs is OK. Since the surgery I've lost one pound.

That's it. Supposedly it's better for healing if you don't lose a

lot...but I was hoping )

-becky