Truby28 - on swelling, pain and eating post-op

[Guest guest]

,

Well believe it or not I still haven't had my wisdom teeth out (my

surgeon decided that it should be done after my surgery since doing

it all at once would have been to much pain for me to deal with).

Pain wise it was pretty minimal after my surgery. I remember waking

up immediately after the surgery and just being so thankful that it

was done and over with and that I had no more agonzing to do while

waiting for the surgery to happen. I was heavily sedated with

morphine in the hospital so felt nothing and once I got home the docs

had given me plenty of painkillers to keep the pain under control. I

only used them once a day for about the first 8 or 9 days post-op and

it was really more to help me sleep. A few days after the surgery I

started grinding my teeth in my sleep and that was causing a lot of

tension on my jaw joints and muscles which was painful but on a scale

of 1 to 10 it was probably a 6, so doable. By day 6 post-op I was out

of the house and taking short walks with my fiance'.

Swelling wise I was told by the nurses in the hospital immediately

after my surgery that I had remarkably little swelling compared to

other orthognathic patients. My swelling peaked at around day 4 and I

thought I looked horrible but it did get better. I took arnica

tablets pre and post-surgery and that supposedly helped keep my

bruising to nearly zilch. The day before my surgery I also had a MLD

(manual lymphatic drainage) massage performed on my face and I truly

believed that helped keep my swelling to a minimum. One month post-op

I resumed the MLD massages and have had to date a total of 10

massages. I have found that it has helped A LOT. Other things that

helped keep the swelling down was walking around the house and

generally not staying put in bed all day. My doctor told me that

generally moving would help my lymphatic system get up and rolling

again. I also drank A LOT. It is very important to get a lot of

liquids in your system post-surgery as this helps your body recover.

A good drink is pineapple juice which has enzymes inside of it which

are meant to be good for swelling. If you pee a lot that's a good

sign! I also slept with my head propped up for the first 2 weeks post-

op. That helped with the swelling too and many doctors recommend it.

Now at 4 months and half post-op I'm still slightly swollen in the

cheek area, right over where the doctor put my screws in. The

swelling is really minimal but I still notice it. I expect it to go

away 100% in 6 months to a year.

On eating....well, prepared to be patient. Very patient. I totally

lost my appetite the first week post-op and ended up losing about 10

lbs just in that first week, much to my mother's shock. I had put on

a lot of weight immediately prior to the surgery so i wasn't too

worried. But I really couldn't bring myself to eat after the surgery

partly because of the after effects of the anesthesia, painkillers,

yucky antibiotics I had to take which all did a number on my stomach.

Also those Boosts and Ensures which everyone seems to recommend

taking after the surgery were just too disgustingly sweet for me. I

was banded shut rather than wired. I found drinking out of a baby cup

was a lot easier than any syringes or other utensils. I started off

drinking water and apple juice. I loved the apple juice those first

few days. Then i moved to pineapple juice and I would make banana

milkshakes which were my saving grace. I also had a lot of chicken

broth as well as other soups that were nice and refreshing. If you go

under the FILES section of this website you'll find a file I've

posted under my name which has a couple of useful recipes that I used

post-surgery. Make sure you get a lot of protein in your diet as that

helps with the recovery. After 2 weeks I was unbanded and put on less

tight bands that allowed me to open my mouth a little. This is really

when I got frustrated because I still couldn't eat much and my

appetite was starting to come back. I remember craving bagels and

salmon and pickels of all things and there was no way I could eat

them. Some days I would break down and cry from how frustrating the

whole eating business was because it seemed that it would take me

hours to eat compared to everyone else and let's not talk about how

painful it is to eat your liquid mush while everyone else enjoys a

piece of steak next to you. Now I can laugh about it but I know that

it took a lot of patience on my part to get through that period. I

kept myself going by telling myself that pretty soon I'd be able to

bite into a sandwhich properly as I never had before in my life. Well

guess what? I just bit into a sandwhich for the first time 2 weeks

ago and boy was it worth it!!!

So keep your chin up, stay patient and positive and you'll get

through all of this with flying colors! Don't hesitate to shout out

if you have any other questions. Sorry for the long reply.

Sara

> > >

> > > This is what i am getting done in December... its

> > what the bill

> > > statement said.

> > >

> > > ~ Maxillary Osteotomy

> > > ~ Mandibular Midline Osteotomy

> > > ~ Horizontal Osteotomy

> > >

> > > i have an overbite and gummy smile so i know

> > thats what it is

> > > fixing, but has any one else had these same ones?

> > if so, let me know

> > > how it went/ is going. Thanks.

> > >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

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