6 Days Post Surgery Number 2

Short rundown of the last week...

Surgery last Thursday went perfectly!  It was so much nicer being in outpatient services since I didn't have to spend the night and got to be with my puppies that night :)  Surgery took about an hour and I spent another hour or so in recovery yelling things like aaaaarrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh lalalbooooo aaaaaaaaa... it was quite adult and useful to the nurses.  I'm pretty sure my English speaking brain was saying, "F*CK this hurts and my throat burns!"  They were able to remove the two side plates and 6/8 screws as two of them were so dug into my jaw bone that it would have hurt way to much too carve out that bone to get them out...which makes me wonder how the hell they got the plates out w/ out taking out the final screws; but I won't let my mind go there.




I'm sticking to soft foods but not liquid like last time and I ice packed non stop for the first three days but went back to work sans Vicodin on Monday-definitely should have taken this day off.  I was NOT ready-super nauseous and my face was all sorts of purple.  It has since turned yellow, swelling has gone down tremendously and I went back for my post op today and got to see all the lovely holes the screws left in my jaw in a weird halo xray.  Also-bittersweet news, that was my last surgeon appt EVAH!  I gave the staff hugs but made sure they knew that I wasn't going to miss them TOO much.  Time to heal so I can look cute before New Year's!  I go back to the ortho on the 5th...so until then, xo.

Removal of Hardware Surgery Tomorrow!

Just got home from my pre-op appointment and I'm all set to have surgery tomorrow at 11 am.  I'm having two of the three plates removed and their screws (which I can actually feel AND see both on the outside of my jaw and inside of my gum lines) so I'm actually excited about having them taken out.  He said out of the 150 jaw surgeries he's done this year, I will be his first removal and he's doing one more on 12/26 for another patient.  This further intensified my theory of how horrible my luck is.  Dr. S also stated that there are only two reasons that the gums wouldn't heal properly; either you try to chew too early in the recovery process or your body just doesn't accept the metal.  I was cracking up because him and I both know that I am DEFINITELY in the latter bracket of this hell since I barely open my mouth/chew now as it is.

The cool thing is that I only received Vicodin for pain afterwards and no antibiotics, which I found surprising but definitely happy with.  So I'll be going in tomorrow morning after having starved myself for hours on end ;), surgery will be approximately one hour and then I'll spend one hour in recovery.  I will be released the same day and I'll be all stitched up but not banded or anything; after which I'll be on a liquid/soft foods diet for some time until my stitches fall out in 2 weeks hopefully in time for New Year's!
P.S. I'm only taking 2 days off work so here's hoping it all goes perfectly!

Will post after surgery xo

Outcome of Final Follow Up Appointment-and I am NOT a Happy Camper

I know it's been a week since my follow up appointment but it seriously took this long just to come to terms with how horribly that appointment went down. After 2 bouts of antibiotics and 2 months of waiting it down, Dr. S. decided that it was time to "get those things outta you." My jaw plates have not healed properly and all the problem seems to be with my gums. I had xrays taken and the bones looked amazing still but for some reason my gums won't heal over the two plates on the side of my face. So my worst nightmare is now my crappy reality-I am having jaw plate removal surgery on December 15th :(

I was super upset about this-to a point where I barely asked any questions before I ran out of there sobbing like 3 year old who had their candy stolen from them, but Dr. S. called me a couple days later to check in and we were able to go over all my fears.

Thankfully I will NOT have go be banded shut or go on a liquid diet. The surgery will, however, be conducted under general anesthesia again but will only take about 45 mins and I will be an outpatient and can home home that evening. I'll have to stick to a soft foods diet and take antibiotics for 10 days, AND there will still be lots of swelling/bruising to look forward to, but he's pretty confident that I will look somewhat normal in time for Christmas-YAY!

That's all for now. Pre op appointment is on the 14th where I'll get all my lab work done, pick up my meds and start my freak out sesh ;) Will update then! :D