carol and amy on post-op depression and check ups

[Guest guest]

Amy, re: stitches....OUCH!!! I'll make sure to remember to get only

Dr. Sachs to get my stitches out.

I am hoping to also get my braces off by December/January. It is my

biggest wish to start 2006 braceless, migraineless and jaw

poppingless. My dream is to welcome the new year in biting into a big

fat sandwhich without spilling all the contents onto the floor. I'll

keep my fingers crossed for both of you that December is the magic

month:-)

Re: post-op depression, I'm expecting to get the full on experience.

I've had previous operations and unfortunately I do not react very

well to anesthesia so I'm prepared to bawl like a baby for a few days

and am preparing all my care-givers to expect this and to not get too

alarmed. I am trying very hard to keep a positive attitude about this

whole surgery business but since finishing my final exams for my

masters last week I have been finding this harder and harder to do.

Guess it's because I now have more time on my hands to truly obsess

about the next couple of months. Trouble is that everyone around me

is talking about the great new job they will be starting or the

fantastic vacation they are preparing to go on and then they ask me

what my plans are for the summer and I feel like bawling. I KNOW, I'M

BEING A TOTAL BABY about this because really I should be thanking my

lucky stars that I don't have anything seriously wrong with me and

that more importantly what ever little problems I have can be solved

by the surgery. But still, I'm frustrated because here I am getting

all these great potential job leads and I have to turn them down

because I will not be able to start working until at least mid-July.

And my boyfriend and I had planned to have a lovely summer together

and now we can't because I have to stick close to Dr. Sachs to make

sure my jaw recovers properly. Arrggghhhh! As my first boss used to

always tell me, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE and one that I will need to

cultivate better.

I was wondering, how often did both of you have to go and see your

respective surgeons post-surgery? I've already had to change my first

post-op visit with Dr. Sachs. It was scheduled for one week after

surgery but since he will be away on that day I have had to change it

to 4 days after the surgery. Should I be expecting weekly visits or

every two weeks or does he basically decide as you recover how often

to see you?

Thanks for listening to my long rant. I needed to get that off my

chest. Hope both of you are having a lovely weekend.

Sara

> > hi, hope all is going well w/ you guys. just came back from the

> > ortho today, said everything looks great don't need to come back

> > for another 5 weeks. i had a stitch that was hanging down in

front

> > of my tooth so i asked him to cut it - boy was that stupid it

hurt

> > soo much i felt the string pulling on my gums i was ready to pass

> > out - from now on i will go back to dr. sachs to cut my stitches

> > when they bother me- he was able to do it very easily w/o

hurting

> me

> > any way i am still weraing the bands only 8 hrs but it gets

harder

> > each day to put them in since i love not wearing them!! oh well i

> > will count down for that- also the ortho said my braces should be

> > off by the end of the year- i was kind of hoping for september,

but

> > i guess december will have to do - my birthday is dec 14 - maybe

i

> > will get them off for my birthday!! it will be nice to be 36 and

> > NOT have braces. i was at my daughters school today and one of

the

> > 5 yr old boys in her class looked at me and said " you have

> braces! "

> >

> > any way carol - i hope you are recovering well and every day is

> > better than the day before.

> >

> > and sara hope you are still getting ready for your big day

> > another thing i remembered - dr. sachs mentioned about getting

> > depressed after thte surgery - i remember my second night in the

> > hopital, my sister slept over to keep me company and i was up all

> > night and i just could not stop crying i hated feeling the way i

> > felt, but the crazy part is w/in 2 weeks you really start to feel

> > better and everything becomes relative as far as the pain and you

> > will see you really will be able to handle it!

> > my next piece of advice is to try not to thing about the surgery

> too

> > much - the things i worried about before hand were the wrong

things

> > and did not matter afterwards- so try not to waste your mind

> > worrying.

> > enough advice for now

> > keep me in touch

> > amy