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

2 Months Out! Where did time go?

I can't believe how much time I let pass since I posted but here's a quick rundown of doc's visits/swelling/progress:


Oral Surgeon Visits:  The antibiotics didn't end up bringing my swelling down at all, unfortunately.  When I was done with my first round, Dr. S. had me in the office saying I really needed to start opening my mouth wider than the 4 mm I was at, before he gave me the okay to start chewing.  I'm just on two bands now that I wear 24/7 except when I'm eating/brushing my teeth hoping that these plates will cooperate.  When I went back to see him this past Monday, he told me that the infection, which he so kindly refers to as an 'irritation' is getting pretty bad on the two plates on my sides (so the one in my chin is doing just fine). 10 more days of antibiotics and praying and wishing in store... I go back for my follow up on the 22nd of Nov. and if my body isn't loving on my plates by then, I'll have to make an appointment for plate removal surgery in December.  EPIC BOO.  This scares me so much as it would be under general anesthesia, banded shut, the whole deal.  The good thing is that my bones are completely fused so this wouldn't mean a reversal of the original surgery.  I'll post after THAT appointment. (P.S. I got the okay to start chewing this past Monday and have already put on 5 or so pounds :( I wish he would just band my mouth again, lol)

Ortho Visits: I've seen my ortho every week since surgery just so he can keep up on my progress/bite, etc.  He gave me a little ruler that goes up to 50 mm and said that was my goal on how wide I could open my mouth!  I measured my husband's mouth and open wide it was at 55 mm so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get to 50 mm.  A couple of days ago he changed out my chains and made an appointment for a longer visit so I could have my brackets replaced because I  guess the surgeon had to shave down my brackets so they don't have 4 prongs like they normally should.  I'll officially be back on my adjustments on Nov. 23rd.

In other news:  I had fun with Halloween this year by dressing up as a mime for the irony of it all. 

The swelling hasn't gone down much in the past four weeks so I'm hoping this antibiotic does something miraculous soon!

Thanks for following!

Almost 5 Weeks Out and BACK TO WORK!

The good, the bad, the ugly post...

I shall go in order since we all know how tidy and calculated I am (I make myself laugh sometimes)

THE GOOD:
I saw the ortho again last Wednesday and although he still couldn't move anything around yet, he says it's all healing up beautifully and he wants to see me every 2 weeks until we get back on program which is hopefully a total of 8 weeks from surgery day.  My new instructions were to try to use my electric toothbrush again to get rid of the uneveness in my gums and start using Colgate Peroxyl mouthwash.  I did a puppyface thing and conned like 25 free packages of this stuff from the front desk ;)

In other news, I'm back at work!  So far I've definitely needed more food /energy/sleep but it's good to be back!

THE BAD:
I saw Dr. S on Friday and after taking x rays and thinking everything looked good, he recognized that I had an infection where my plates are at.  My sutures healed up just fine but my body may be rejecting the plates BUT NO WORRIES (his words, NOT mine).  Meanwhile, I'm like almost in tears but we are somehow talking about his kid's costume while he gives me a prescription for a strong antibiotic for the next 10 days.  The pharmacist took one look at me and said, "this is going to be a problem... you kind of need to eat a huge meal everytime you take this FOUR TIMES A DAY, oh, and it may give you diarrhea for the next three months..." NO BIG [insert eye roll here]

THE UGLY:
I know what you're thinking, infection, da poppy pants, what could get uglier?  Lol, i guess I could have just those two into one.  My swelling hasn't gone down AT ALL in 2 weeks but I'm hoping the antibiotics help.  Will update soon!  xoxo

Latest Doctor's Visit and Jaw Progress

Last Wednesday was a huge turning point in the healing process as Dr. S was ready to see how far I could actually open my mouth.  I thought he was kidding but he removed my bands and left the room with the strict instructions that when he got back, I better be able to fit a tongue depressor at least in my gap.  He was gone for fifteen minutes and I managed to open my mouth THIS much {}.  Impressive, eh?  LOL.  It was NOTHING.  He then jammed a tongue depressor in between my teeth and said, Lara, you're never going to graduate to soft foods if you don't try to open your mouth.  I don't know if it was anxiety, pain, or both but I had a hard time following this instruction.

Nevertheless, my mother immediately became excited, managed a lunch date with my hubs and an hour later I found the three of us at a Thai restaurant and me with a bowl of curry under my nose.  Sheer will and hunger forced about 1/8 of the curry down my mouth but I quickly became sore and stopped.  It's been 5 days since I got the OK to remove my bands to eat and I'm so much better.  My favorite foods have been oatmeal thinned with milk and a dollop of jam added to it, rice with tons of sauce of some sort, vanilla and apple milkshakes and Italian Wedding Soup (but w/out the meatballs) and Naked Juices.

I had thought all my stitches were out but when the doc removed my bands on Wednesday, I spit 2 more out :P But none have come out since then so that's awesome!  I can now open my mouth 2 mm's worth and actually brush all my teeth!

What my stitches look like, SO GROSS!

 

There were like 100 of them in my mouth!

The pain is actually always constant but that's because my nerves are coming back together and I can feel more.  The pain is mainly in my chin, where the surgeon says all the nerve endings are, and in my actual teeth.  I don't nap all throughout the day anymore and my energy level is up as long as I eat constantly.  I'm down 14 lbs and am ALWAYS hungry, lol, so that's going to be my biggest challenge when I go back to work on Monday.  My next appointment is this Friday to get the all clear to return to work.  I'll get another set of x-rays and see how everything is healing :D

Thanks for following, as always.

3 Weeks and 4 Days out

Where do I even begin?  So much progress has taken place the last week so I'll try to sum it all up.

Last weekend was my first weekend out in public (with people...eeks!) when I got voluntold to sell tickets at Oktoberfest.  This is my mom's way of telling me to suck it up and get out there ;)  I ended up having a super hard time yelling out answers to millions of retarded questions through that little spot in the ticket window but I'm really proud of myself for lasting through two consecutive day shifts of that.  About 50% of the people just nodded when I yelled (to be nice for sure) and the rest just pointed at their own mouths and said "ohhhhhhh" as if they knew what was going on.  There are still quite a few letters I have a hard time pronouncing so I was semi frustrated but it was nice to re join the public again!

Fantastic things that happened this week:
1. My nurse came up to my ticket window at Oktoberfest which was a total surprise and we both kinda looked at each other like "Do I know youuuu?" before she yelled out "OMG! ARE YOU ALL BETTER????? I WAS YOUR NURSEEEE!!!!"' I shared her enthusiasm because she took such good care of me so it was nice to see her again and meet her son.
2. I managed to stay away from the beer garden.  This is not fantastic, however, since I couldn't eat anything there and I wasn't drinking due to all the meds I'm on, my awesome hubs and his bestie took me out to dinner which leads me to thing number two: not only had our server had jaw surgery herself at 14, she blended me up some pazole soup that was delicious!! I made a complete mess, had cilantro hanging out of my teeth, used seven napkins but I felt like a princess.
3. When I went back to class on  Tuesday night, my professor announced to the whole class that I was missed and what I'd just gone through and asked me to smile big for everyone to see.  He is a cruel, cruel man.  Lol.  Turns out my classmate to my left had also had jaw surgery and shared her experience with me, way cool.

In other news, I am becoming Martha Stewart Jr. from the sheer bordeom of staying home.  I have so far made the following items which I cannot eat:
1. Homemade Strawberry Jam (yes, I know, I'm amazing ;)
2. Homemade Creamy Peanut Butter
3. Banana Bread from scratch
4. Italian meatballs from scratch
5. Chive and Parmesan and Spinach stuffed Chicken Breast
6. Chicken Rissoto
7. Halloween Crafts with cool lollipops

The moral of the story? I NEED TO GO BACK TO WORK.

 Week 3 shots... still lots of swelling but bruising is ALL GONE!

I will post a separate post about the doctor's office visit last Wednesday.  (special hello and good luck to my online jaw buddy, Tiffany, who is having jaw surgery tomorrow morning in the UK!)