5 Weeks Post-op - Update

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone

Well, tomorrow I am 5-weeks post-op, and as I haven't posted in a

while I thought I would sum it all up nicely.

First. I went back to work last week - I waitress at a little

restaurant down the road, so it's not an all-day, every-day thing, but

it gets quite tireing at times. I had to work the Sunday evening

shift, and I was quite worried about it because that's the busiest

night of the week for us, but it turned out ok; there were four of us

working and it wasn't even that busy anyway. But everyone was so sweet

to me: even though they all really wanted to leave early, they decided

among themselves that I could be the one to go home first. I thought

that was very nice of them.

Then: I had the Skeletal Wires removed on Wednesday. (Just for you,

Carol! How you doing?) First the surgeon numbed the area with some

bitter tasting funny stuff on little bits of cotton wool. Then he cut

the wires and started pulling gently. Sadly, I could still feel

everything, and it was quite painful, so I had to have

injections. " It's actually a good sign that you can feel this, " he

says cheerfully, digging a 3-inch needle into my flesh. I know, but

still! Then he pulled them out, the bottom first. It hurt a bit, but

not as much as I'd feared. Basically it just felt like someone yanking

wires out of your gums. Then, because my bottom lip was totally

numb, I was once again reduced to walking around with a tissue clamped

to my mouth to catch all the drool! That was gross. But within an hour

I was feeling absolutely fine.

And: the chin situation. To recap: last week when I went to the ortho,

she was not happy with my profile. She thought the surgeon should have

done the genio. She took some photos and went to speak to him about it

last Friday.

This week, when we phoned to hear what had been decided, she told us

that she thinks I should have the genio done, and before I leave the

country (in August). I was horrified. But the next day, when I was

having the wires removed, we were looking at the x-rays with the

surgeon. He told us that during surgery, when he was deciding whether

or not to do the genio, my upper lip began swelling excessively and

very quickly, and he didn't want to do the genio in case I ended up

with too strong a chin. So he didn't do it. On the x-rays he showed us

the improvement already, and it is quite a lot. He says we should wait

until the 6 month mark, and then make a decision about the genio.

Unfortunately, I'll be overseas in November! I guess I'll just have to

send him a photo

So. That's me at the moment.

Sara, glad you made it to the other side, and that you're having such

a good recovery! Keep it up!

To the person who posted about having elastics, no splint: My ortho

thought I would have a splint, but I ended up not needing one because

my bite was perfect. I was only given elastics 6 days post-op: 4 of

them, by the surgeon, and then the ortho changed it to 2.

To everyone who's surgeries are coming up (I know there's a lot of

you!) - best of luck! I'll be thinking of you all.

Tarryn