Re: My update at 4 weeks post op - Angel

[Guest guest]

Hi Angel,

I'm just reading your post now after coming back from my family doctor

and posting another update. A better one this time.

Thanks for your nice post.

I found out the reason why I've felt so lousy; it's due to a bad ear

infection in both ears and a sinus infection.

I'm SO glad I went to the doctor today and got started on some

antibiotics; I feel like now - finally, I can start to really recover

from everything.

My surgery was done June 20th. What I had done was a LeFort 1 - upper

jaw advancement, a lower jaw advancement, also genioplasty. Plus,

while the doctor was operating, he fixed my deviated septum by going

into my nose through the upper palate. He also removed part of my

uvula in the back of my palate. He also ran into an impacted wisdom

tooth, so he took that out too! I guess I had the works done on me

that day. I didn't get out of the hospital until June 24th.

If it wasn't for having the ear and sinus infections, I truly don't

think I'd feel THIS bad after 4 weeks. Now that I'm on medicine for it

I should begin to feel better at least by the weekend. Having my jaw

wired shut is aggravating, but I think I'd have handled it better if

it wasn't for these other problems.

What surgery are you having done, and is it scheduled yet? (sorry if

you already posted this info, I haven't read messages since last week,

so I have some catch up reading to do).

Good luck with your surgery once you have it :-)

Judy

[Guest guest]

Judy,

That IS a much better report!! I'm so glad to hear it! Thank you

for sharing your good news with me. It does sound like you had " the

works " ! Bless your heart. You were really brave to do all of

that. I pray you get the results you're seeking.

I'm scheduled for lower jaw advancement on 08/08/05, and they're

going to level my upper jaw, as it causes my smile to be crooked.

The upper jaw isn't that bad, but I thought I'd go ahead and get it

level since they're gonna be in there anyway, and I'd love to have

the best possible smile when this is all over with. Right now,

though, I'm having serious second thoughts about the whole thing!

Sometimes, I think the cure is worse than the problem. My main

reason for starting down this road was to get relief from terrible

earaches, headaches and jaw soreness caused by TMJ Disorder. The

thing is...there's no guaranty this will help. My OS says that

statistically, most people report that it does help them with these

problems. Just wondering, knowing everything you know now, would

you say it's worth it?

Thanks again for sharing your news! Here's to a speedy recovery!

Angel

> Hi Angel,

> I'm just reading your post now after coming back from my family

doctor

> and posting another update. A better one this time.

> Thanks for your nice post.

> I found out the reason why I've felt so lousy; it's due to a bad

ear

> infection in both ears and a sinus infection.

> I'm SO glad I went to the doctor today and got started on some

> antibiotics; I feel like now - finally, I can start to really

recover

> from everything.

> My surgery was done June 20th. What I had done was a LeFort 1 -

upper

> jaw advancement, a lower jaw advancement, also genioplasty. Plus,

> while the doctor was operating, he fixed my deviated septum by

going

> into my nose through the upper palate. He also removed part of my

> uvula in the back of my palate. He also ran into an impacted

wisdom

> tooth, so he took that out too! I guess I had the works done on me

> that day. I didn't get out of the hospital until June 24th.

> If it wasn't for having the ear and sinus infections, I truly

don't

> think I'd feel THIS bad after 4 weeks. Now that I'm on medicine

for it

> I should begin to feel better at least by the weekend. Having my

jaw

> wired shut is aggravating, but I think I'd have handled it better

if

> it wasn't for these other problems.

> What surgery are you having done, and is it scheduled yet? (sorry

if

> you already posted this info, I haven't read messages since last

week,

> so I have some catch up reading to do).

> Good luck with your surgery once you have it :-)

> Judy

[Guest guest]

Hi Angel

I don't know that I was especially brave to go through everything I

did during my surgery. I had the surgery done because I had sleep

apnea and was tired of always being tired. My upper and lower jaw

and my chin needed to be brought forward to open up my airway to

correct not only the sleep apnea I've suffered with for so long, but

also to stop me from choking on food sometimes when I would swallow.

It's not like I would choke on a daily basis, but when it did

happen, it was pretty bad and scared me everytime.

There are lots of different reasons why people have this surgery. I

think anyone who goes through this type of surgery is pretty brave,

for whatever their reasons are. It's a big surgery.

My sleep apnea already seems to be gone after just 4 weeks; and I

still have some swelling left, so the surgery has worked for the

main reasons I needed it to. I've been up at night a bit more this

last week or two, because I needed Motrin or Tylenol for the pain in

my ears and jaw. Now I know though that this is going to get better

and better for me now that I've got the antibiotics.

Your surgery is coming up soon, but you said you're having serious

second thoughts about it. In some ways the cure may be worse than

the problem as you said - but I think most people get through their

surgeries without too many problems, so when you say the cure may be

worse than the problem; right after surgery it may very well seem

that way. With time and healing though, things should get better and

better.

I honestly have to say that yes, I think in the end it's worth it -

even though I've felt pretty miserable lately. I suspected I might

have an infection or something going on - but kept telling myself

that it was highly unlikely a month after surgery! Stupid me is all

I have to say now, because I should have gone with my gut feeling on

it, and I wouldn't have needed to put up with this as long as I did.

In looking back on things now, I wish I would have known that with

upper jaw surgery, ear and sinus infections can occur so that I

could have looked for it sooner, rather than later.

Regarding your dilema of whether to have the surgery on the 8th, or

put it off until later, or even not to have it at all. I'll just say

that there is never a 'good' time to have surgery - especially major

surgery. When I had my surgery last month, it wasn't a 'good' time

for me to have it either. I haven't said much, if anything about

this to the group, but figure now's a good time to mention some of

the other issues I've been dealing with besides recovering from

this. I'm married, with 3 kids, a dog and a big 5-bedroom home to

keep up with. My middle son, Jordan had to have major surgery on his

right leg the end of March and we're still dealing with a lot of

issues with him and what he had done. Jordan had surgery to correct

a leg length difference, and what he had to have done was have his

right femur bone/upper thigh area surgically broken during the

surgery, then have a fixator attached to his leg so we could

lengthen it over the next couple of months; turning the 'screws' in

his bone every 6 hours (even in the middle of the night!) for two

months. Jordan's right leg was shorter than his left leg due to a

sports injury few years ago. What happened from that injury was it

stunted one of the growth plates in that leg and it stopped growing

altogether. As Jordan got older and grew taller, his right leg

didn't keep up the same rate of growth as his 'good' leg. He had

nearly a 3 inch leg length difference which was enough to cause him

chronic low back pain. We had to do the surgery for him; which meant

putting him through several months of torture basically, to get rid

of the back pain he had, and level out his walking. We're all done

with the lengthening part, and the past couple of months the broken

bone has been left to heal. We've dealt with numerous problems

throughout Jordan's ordeal though, infections, muscle tightening

which caused an additional two surgeries for him over the past

couple months. He's due to get the fixator off very soon, but we're

again dealing with another infection in his leg for the past 10

days. Infections are notorious with this procedure, and so we just

have to put up with this until the fixator can be surgically removed

which should be within the next two weeks. He's got a follow up

appointment next week and we'll find out then when we can schedule

surgery to remove it. I have to help Jordan do physical therapy

twice every day to keep the muscles strong and limber, plus I have

to clean his leg and fixator everyday to keep it as clean as

possible too...all while recovering from what I've gone through.

The reason I told you all this, is simple really. When others say

you can get through whatever is facing you ahead, believe it. You

can do it. There are many ways of working around this problem, or

that problem...you just have to set your mind to do it, and take

each day as it comes.

I remember how nervous I was once I got my surgery date too. I was

pretty scared to be honest, because I'd never been through such a

drastic surgery. Plus I did wonder how we'd get through everything

as a family with this surgery for me and everything Jordan's been

dealing with too.

The hardest thing truly is making your mind up about whether or not

to have the surgery to begin with. Once you do that, you get

through the rest of it all day by day. I put my faith in God, and I

just prayed a lot throughout everything.

I hope you can settle your worries about whether to have surgery or

not. It makes it much harder to go through - I think anyway - if

you don't feel like it's truly the right thing for you to do. For

me, I knew I had to do this to cure my sleep apnea problem, so I

knew it was the right choice because my health was at stake.

Once this infection is gone, I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel a lot

better about everything.

Take care and keep us posted on what you decide to do :-)

Judy

[Guest guest]

Judy,

I don't have much time right now. I need to get ready for work.

But, I wanted to take a minute to thank you for your kind words, and

for sharing the rest of your story with me. I know we've never met,

but, honey, you're becoming my hero! With all that you've been

dealing with, I'm amazed you have time to worry about my petty

whining. But, I'm soooo grateful that you did. I will try to write

more tonight. Hope you have a great day, and you (and your son)

feel 1000% better very, very soon!!

Angel

> Hi Angel

> I don't know that I was especially brave to go through everything

I

> did during my surgery. I had the surgery done because I had sleep

> apnea and was tired of always being tired. My upper and lower jaw

> and my chin needed to be brought forward to open up my airway to

> correct not only the sleep apnea I've suffered with for so long,

but

> also to stop me from choking on food sometimes when I would

swallow.

> It's not like I would choke on a daily basis, but when it did

> happen, it was pretty bad and scared me everytime.

> There are lots of different reasons why people have this surgery.

I

> think anyone who goes through this type of surgery is pretty

brave,

> for whatever their reasons are. It's a big surgery.

> My sleep apnea already seems to be gone after just 4 weeks; and I

> still have some swelling left, so the surgery has worked for the

> main reasons I needed it to. I've been up at night a bit more this

> last week or two, because I needed Motrin or Tylenol for the pain

in

> my ears and jaw. Now I know though that this is going to get

better

> and better for me now that I've got the antibiotics.

> Your surgery is coming up soon, but you said you're having serious

> second thoughts about it. In some ways the cure may be worse than

> the problem as you said - but I think most people get through

their

> surgeries without too many problems, so when you say the cure may

be

> worse than the problem; right after surgery it may very well seem

> that way. With time and healing though, things should get better

and

> better.

> I honestly have to say that yes, I think in the end it's worth it -

> even though I've felt pretty miserable lately. I suspected I might

> have an infection or something going on - but kept telling myself

> that it was highly unlikely a month after surgery! Stupid me is

all

> I have to say now, because I should have gone with my gut feeling

on

> it, and I wouldn't have needed to put up with this as long as I

did.

> In looking back on things now, I wish I would have known that with

> upper jaw surgery, ear and sinus infections can occur so that I

> could have looked for it sooner, rather than later.

> Regarding your dilema of whether to have the surgery on the 8th,

or

> put it off until later, or even not to have it at all. I'll just

say

> that there is never a 'good' time to have surgery - especially

major

> surgery. When I had my surgery last month, it wasn't a 'good' time

> for me to have it either. I haven't said much, if anything about

> this to the group, but figure now's a good time to mention some of

> the other issues I've been dealing with besides recovering from

> this. I'm married, with 3 kids, a dog and a big 5-bedroom home to

> keep up with. My middle son, Jordan had to have major surgery on

his

> right leg the end of March and we're still dealing with a lot of

> issues with him and what he had done. Jordan had surgery to

correct

> a leg length difference, and what he had to have done was have his

> right femur bone/upper thigh area surgically broken during the

> surgery, then have a fixator attached to his leg so we could

> lengthen it over the next couple of months; turning the 'screws'

in

> his bone every 6 hours (even in the middle of the night!) for two

> months. Jordan's right leg was shorter than his left leg due to a

> sports injury few years ago. What happened from that injury was it

> stunted one of the growth plates in that leg and it stopped

growing

> altogether. As Jordan got older and grew taller, his right leg

> didn't keep up the same rate of growth as his 'good' leg. He had

> nearly a 3 inch leg length difference which was enough to cause

him

> chronic low back pain. We had to do the surgery for him; which

meant

> putting him through several months of torture basically, to get

rid

> of the back pain he had, and level out his walking. We're all done

> with the lengthening part, and the past couple of months the

broken

> bone has been left to heal. We've dealt with numerous problems

> throughout Jordan's ordeal though, infections, muscle tightening

> which caused an additional two surgeries for him over the past

> couple months. He's due to get the fixator off very soon, but

we're

> again dealing with another infection in his leg for the past 10

> days. Infections are notorious with this procedure, and so we just

> have to put up with this until the fixator can be surgically

removed

> which should be within the next two weeks. He's got a follow up

> appointment next week and we'll find out then when we can schedule

> surgery to remove it. I have to help Jordan do physical therapy

> twice every day to keep the muscles strong and limber, plus I have

> to clean his leg and fixator everyday to keep it as clean as

> possible too...all while recovering from what I've gone through.

> The reason I told you all this, is simple really. When others say

> you can get through whatever is facing you ahead, believe it. You

> can do it. There are many ways of working around this problem, or

> that problem...you just have to set your mind to do it, and take

> each day as it comes.

> I remember how nervous I was once I got my surgery date too. I was

> pretty scared to be honest, because I'd never been through such a

> drastic surgery. Plus I did wonder how we'd get through everything

> as a family with this surgery for me and everything Jordan's been

> dealing with too.

> The hardest thing truly is making your mind up about whether or

not

> to have the surgery to begin with. Once you do that, you get

> through the rest of it all day by day. I put my faith in God, and

I

> just prayed a lot throughout everything.

> I hope you can settle your worries about whether to have surgery

or

> not. It makes it much harder to go through - I think anyway - if

> you don't feel like it's truly the right thing for you to do. For

> me, I knew I had to do this to cure my sleep apnea problem, so I

> knew it was the right choice because my health was at stake.

> Once this infection is gone, I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel a

lot

> better about everything.

> Take care and keep us posted on what you decide to do :-)

> Judy