Re: Surgery date set... I have some questions....

[Guest guest]

Lanie,

I could not agree more with . Great post by the way Kev S:-)

The surgery sounds A LOT worse than you can ever imagine. I had

surgery on June 6th. My surgery lasted 6 hours, one hour later I was

already awake in the recovering unit and less than 24 hours later I

was discharged from the hospital and WALKED out of the hospital

(until a nurse ran running after me because hospital rules are that

you get rolled out in a wheelchair). I took codeine tylenol for the

first week or so to help me sleep more than anything else. There was

some discomfort and jaw pain but honestly, nothing you can't live

with. Banging your funny bone in your elbow is more uncomfortable. I

did apply a lot of ice to my face for the first week to help with

the swelling and to relieve any pain I had in my jaw joints. I was

very lucky because I had very little swelling (I'm 27) compared to

other people. You can see my pics under the folder called SARA. I

did take arnica pills pre and post surgery and had an MLD massage

the day before surgery and I believe that helped tremendously with

the surgery. On day 6 post-op I was already out of the house going

for walks. By day ten I was out shopping. By day 15 I was ready to

get back to a normal life. On day 23 I flew back to Italy where I am

originally from. In fact, by two weeks post op I was able to manage

a whole move back to Italy. It did take a lot of energy but I

managed. So I think you will be alright to go back to school by

August 17th. You might get more tired than usual and therefore won't

be able to join in as much Back to School partying as you would like

but you will be fine.

Unfortunately because the nature of this message board is to serve

as a support network a lot of the things that you read are from

people who have had particularly bad experiences. Believe me when I

say that these are rarer than you think. The sample of people we

have on this site is as my stats professor would say, statistically

insignificant in that there is not a random sample of people who

have had jaw surgery and have had a good and bad experience. Not

sure if that makes sense. Put more simply, people who have had an

easier time of the surgery don't need to vent out as much and tend

to get on with life and quickly forget about the message board

whereas people who have had a worse experience need more support and

TLC.

The important thing is to maintain a positive attitude during your

recovery and to REMEMBER that this is a TEMPORARY phase in your

life. Things will get better faster than you think and the surgery

will be a lot easier and less terrifying than you think.

Sara

[Guest guest]

That was beautiful Sara. Nice post!

Mia

> Lanie,

>

> I could not agree more with . Great post by the way Kev S:-)

> The surgery sounds A LOT worse than you can ever imagine. I had

> surgery on June 6th. My surgery lasted 6 hours, one hour later I was

> already awake in the recovering unit and less than 24 hours later I

> was discharged from the hospital and WALKED out of the hospital

> (until a nurse ran running after me because hospital rules are that

> you get rolled out in a wheelchair). I took codeine tylenol for the

> first week or so to help me sleep more than anything else. There was

> some discomfort and jaw pain but honestly, nothing you can't live

> with. Banging your funny bone in your elbow is more uncomfortable. I

> did apply a lot of ice to my face for the first week to help with

> the swelling and to relieve any pain I had in my jaw joints. I was

> very lucky because I had very little swelling (I'm 27) compared to

> other people. You can see my pics under the folder called SARA. I

> did take arnica pills pre and post surgery and had an MLD massage

> the day before surgery and I believe that helped tremendously with

> the surgery. On day 6 post-op I was already out of the house going

> for walks. By day ten I was out shopping. By day 15 I was ready to

> get back to a normal life. On day 23 I flew back to Italy where I am

> originally from. In fact, by two weeks post op I was able to manage

> a whole move back to Italy. It did take a lot of energy but I

> managed. So I think you will be alright to go back to school by

> August 17th. You might get more tired than usual and therefore won't

> be able to join in as much Back to School partying as you would like

> but you will be fine.

>

> Unfortunately because the nature of this message board is to serve

> as a support network a lot of the things that you read are from

> people who have had particularly bad experiences. Believe me when I

> say that these are rarer than you think. The sample of people we

> have on this site is as my stats professor would say, statistically

> insignificant in that there is not a random sample of people who

> have had jaw surgery and have had a good and bad experience. Not

> sure if that makes sense. Put more simply, people who have had an

> easier time of the surgery don't need to vent out as much and tend

> to get on with life and quickly forget about the message board

> whereas people who have had a worse experience need more support and

> TLC.

>

> The important thing is to maintain a positive attitude during your

> recovery and to REMEMBER that this is a TEMPORARY phase in your

> life. Things will get better faster than you think and the surgery

> will be a lot easier and less terrifying than you think.

>

> Sara

[Guest guest]

Thanks Mia:-)

Another thing I thought I would share to put some perspective on how

less scary than you think the surgery actually is, is that had I

known how the surgery really was I would have had it done 10 years

ago when I was 17 and first told I would need it. For ten years I

chickened out of doing it (suffering major setbacks despite 10 years

of braces). Now at 27 I'm so glad that I didn't wait any longer and

took the plunge! The results make it so worth it.

Good luck to all pre-oppers!!

Sara

> > Lanie,

> >

> > I could not agree more with . Great post by the way Kev S:-

)

> > The surgery sounds A LOT worse than you can ever imagine. I had

> > surgery on June 6th. My surgery lasted 6 hours, one hour later I

was

> > already awake in the recovering unit and less than 24 hours

later I

> > was discharged from the hospital and WALKED out of the hospital

> > (until a nurse ran running after me because hospital rules are

that

> > you get rolled out in a wheelchair). I took codeine tylenol for

the

> > first week or so to help me sleep more than anything else. There

was

> > some discomfort and jaw pain but honestly, nothing you can't

live

> > with. Banging your funny bone in your elbow is more

uncomfortable. I

> > did apply a lot of ice to my face for the first week to help

with

> > the swelling and to relieve any pain I had in my jaw joints. I

was

> > very lucky because I had very little swelling (I'm 27) compared

to

> > other people. You can see my pics under the folder called SARA.

I

> > did take arnica pills pre and post surgery and had an MLD

massage

> > the day before surgery and I believe that helped tremendously

with

> > the surgery. On day 6 post-op I was already out of the house

going

> > for walks. By day ten I was out shopping. By day 15 I was ready

to

> > get back to a normal life. On day 23 I flew back to Italy where

I am

> > originally from. In fact, by two weeks post op I was able to

manage

> > a whole move back to Italy. It did take a lot of energy but I

> > managed. So I think you will be alright to go back to school by

> > August 17th. You might get more tired than usual and therefore

won't

> > be able to join in as much Back to School partying as you would

like

> > but you will be fine.

> >

> > Unfortunately because the nature of this message board is to

serve

> > as a support network a lot of the things that you read are from

> > people who have had particularly bad experiences. Believe me

when I

> > say that these are rarer than you think. The sample of people we

> > have on this site is as my stats professor would say,

statistically

> > insignificant in that there is not a random sample of people who

> > have had jaw surgery and have had a good and bad experience. Not

> > sure if that makes sense. Put more simply, people who have had

an

> > easier time of the surgery don't need to vent out as much and

tend

> > to get on with life and quickly forget about the message board

> > whereas people who have had a worse experience need more support

and

> > TLC.

> >

> > The important thing is to maintain a positive attitude during

your

> > recovery and to REMEMBER that this is a TEMPORARY phase in your

> > life. Things will get better faster than you think and the

surgery

> > will be a lot easier and less terrifying than you think.

> >

> > Sara