Caboose pep talk - Sara and

[Guest guest]

Hi Sara and ,

Sara, I'm so glad to hear your biopsy was okay. That's great news.

What a relief. And send some of that great Italian food my way. I

get hungry reading some of your posts.

, if you're a crybaby, then I'm the queen of crybabies! We've

been through a lot. I must have cried like 3 or 4 times a day in the

first week after surgery and I still cry sometimes now like a few

days ago when my husband left me alone with the kids for a few

hours. After the first hour of playing with them and chasing after

them, I was in so much pain I just sat down and bawled until he got

home. It seems like this recovery is two steps forward and one step

back. I feel really good one day and then I do too much so the next

day I feel terrible again. It's getting really old and really

frustrating. I'll be back at work next week also. I'm not looking

forward to that.

As for me, I'm slowly making progress. I go to PT 3 times a week and

my opening is improving. Yesterday, I was able to open 23 mm

afterwards and then I was back down to 18 mm opening last night. I

still have a ways to go to our goal of 30 mm but I'm getting there.

After three years of not being able to open, let alone chew, my

muscles are really atrophied.

I'm not wearing bands either now. My bite is now almost perfect but

only a few of my teeth touch. My OS reassures me that will all be

fixed by my ortho and possibly some crowns. It looks like I'll still

be in braces for a while. No one will tell me how long but I'm

guessing at least another year. Oh well, what's another year?

minirascal

> > ,

> >

> > I think for the first 3 weeks post-op I averaged about 3 cries a

> > week. I used to get so upset with myself for being such a baby

> until

> > I realized that the crying actually made me feel better very

> quickly

> > and that hey, my body had been though a hell of a lot, not least

> > anesthesia and steroids. So don't feel bad about the crying.

Just

> let

> > it out. I promise it will get better. I still get frustrated

from

> > time to time and then I remind myself that I'm still recovering.

I

> > think we need to all remind ourselves that this type of surgery

> > involves a LONG recovery process, longer or shorter for some but

> > nevertheless longer than we probably expected pre-surgery. So we

> need

> > to take it easy on ourselves and be realistic about what we can

and

> > cannot do, at least for the first 8 weeks post-op. And as I'm

> > constantly saying to myself, remember, this is just a temporary

> phase

> > in our lives and consequently so is the feeling poopy and

> depressed.

> > We'll all be back to our cheery selves soon enough. In fact,

we'll

> be

> > even cheerier because this time we'll have a well functioning

jaw

> and

> > soon after braces removal (aka. THE DAY) a beautiful smile to

show

> > off!!! Whahhhoooooo!!!

> >

> > Thanks for enquiring about my biopsy results. This whole second

> > adventure has been pretty heart-wrenching because I had only

gone

> to

> > my gyno to see why the hell I was two weeks late with my period

> only

> > to walk out of his office being told that maybe I had a

cancerous

> > tumor. Talk about a blow to the stomach. The biopsy was possibly

> one

> > of the most uncomfortable things I have had to do. Much worse

than

> > any of the pain I felt during the orthognathic surgery. Go

figure.

> > Yesterday I went to pick up my biospy results and because my

doctor

> > had given me the wrong opening times for the lab I had to sit

> outside

> > the doorstep of the darn place for 30 mins waiting.

Aaaaggggghhh.

> > When I finally got the results I couldn't understand a single

word

> > because it was full of important medical terms I couldn't

> understand.

> > They just all sounded very serious and bad so I sort of broke

down.

> > Luckily my mother's gyno is a sweetheart of a man and agreed to

> have

> > the results faxed to him so that he could tell me what they

meant.

> > Well he called me up later that afternoon to tell me to calm

down,

> > that all was fine and that I was tumor free! Whoopppppeeee!!! So

so

> > relieved! I'm off to see him for another visit this afternoon.

One

> > thing the orthognathic surgery process has taught me is to get a

> > second opinion ALL THE TIME. Oh, I also finally got my period, 3

> > weeks late. Guess it was the surgery that put my whole system

out

> of

> > whack. Sorry guys for the details!

> >

> > Sara xx