Re: Just had SARPE on Wednesday!!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I haven't been on the board in a while, but I remembered that you were

having the SARPE as I had it on my calendar. I finally have a date for

my SARPE surgery - Oct. 19th. Glad to hear that you are done with your

first surgery and doing well.

I feel pretty prepared for everything, but would like to hear about

your experience. Do you have any pain or swelling? How about diet,

are you just eating soft foods? Is the expander causing you any

discomfort? Also, Do you have to turn a key? I will have to be doing

that. The OD has said that my husband will probably have to turn it,

as it isn't easy to do.

This is the first of 2 surgeries for me also. I will also be having a

segmented Leforte osteomy (think that's how to spell it). That will

occur after I wear braces for about 12 -18 months. The SARPE is the

first step. I feel nervous, but excited to finally be starting

everything.

I am waiting for my OD to get back from vacation. Then I can find out

when they are putting the expander and bottom braces on. He was

thinking he will put it in 3-4 weeks before surgery. Guess that will

give me time to get used to it...not that I think you can

Hope to hear from you soon. Take care, Amy

> Well, I guess I can say I am kind of on the other side now. I just

> had my first of two surgeries for my palete. I had a Surgically

> Assisted Rapid Palete Expansion (SARPE) on Wednesday and all seems to

> be going well. If anybody is about to go through one, please ask

> questions so that I can give you some real time answers. You know

how

> we are sometimes ... when we look at things in hindsight, they aren't

> too bad. At least now you can get the questions answered while I am

> recovering. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. We need to

> have a conference with all of us sometime. Take care!

>

[Guest guest]

Hey Amy:

Glad to hear you have a date. I am so glad my surgery day came and

went. Leading up to it, I felt soooooooooo nervous and really

wanted to not go through with it. Silly, but the fear of the

unknown was killing me. Hopefully I can help you not go through

this so feel free to ask me anything at anytime. My experience was

good. I didn't get my expander put in until the day prior to

surgery so I was on a steep learning curve with it. Initially, my

tongue was rejecting it and kept trying to push it out of my mouth.

I even gagged a few time with it. However, I got used to it rather

quickly. The hardest part is the swallowing. It takes some

practice. The other thing you will notice is the roof of your mouth

gets dry. No way around that. With the expander in, it acts as a

wind tunnel for the roof of your mouth and dries it out. However,

the pain with this is completely none. Just turn it into a

challenging game and you will have it licked in no time.

As for the surgery, it wasn't that bad at all. I expected great

pain with it. I haven't had it. Since the day of surgery, all I

have taken is Motrin for pain. Honestly, getting my wisdom teeth

out was more painful. So as far a pain goes, I was pleasantly

surprised. Swelling is different for each person, but follow you

doctors reccomendations and you will do great. Mine said 24 hrs

with ice and then 24 with nothing (most uncomfortable day). Then

day 3 start heat on for 30 minutes and off for 30 minutes. I stuck

to this to the word and all worked out fine. Swelling is different

for each person, but a VERY VERY big key is to make sure you

constantly have ice on your face when you get out of surgery. If my

wife didn't stay on the nurses about the ice every 30 minutes, they

would have never changed it and I would have been really swollen.

Not in pain, just swollen. So please make sure someone is there

with you to stay on the nurses about the ice.

My diet consists of blended food that I just put in the back of my

throat and swallow. No chewing. That stinks, but at least I don't

have to eat through a straw and I can put real food back there. If

you have any specific questions, please let me know. My direct e-

mail is keithtickle@...

P.S. Believe it or not, the surgery recovery isn't too painful and

recovery is super quick. Although I get tired easy (obviously

because I am walking around with a broken jaw), this isn't bad at

all. The hardest thing for me is communicating with my wife. She

has been awesome, but I am a terrible patient.

> > Well, I guess I can say I am kind of on the other side now. I

just

> > had my first of two surgeries for my palete. I had a Surgically

> > Assisted Rapid Palete Expansion (SARPE) on Wednesday and all

seems to

> > be going well. If anybody is about to go through one, please

ask

> > questions so that I can give you some real time answers. You

know

> how

> > we are sometimes ... when we look at things in hindsight, they

aren't

> > too bad. At least now you can get the questions answered while

I am

> > recovering. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. We need

to

> > have a conference with all of us sometime. Take care!

> >