Day 3 (Sunday), was equally a bad day and a very good day. During the middle of the night, my IV monitor must have gone off at least 10 times during the middle of the night. Sure, once or twice wouldn't be so bad, but when it takes quite some time for the night nurse to come by and fix it, it gets annoying.
So today was the day where I would be able to leave the hospital. However, there were some unfortunate things that I would have to endure before leaving. Because I could not breathe through my nose, Dr. Schmidt would have to do some extensive work in clearing out my nasal airways. First, he had to use the suction tubes that helped my mouth and nose for relief. The thin catheter-like one was pushed down my sinuses and into my throat. Once he felt that it was clear enough, he had to place the nasal trumpets down my nostrils (one in each one).
So the nasal trumpet looks like this:
The doctor had to put some type of numbing gel on each one, and push it through my nose and down my throat, all while I was conscious. It was absolutely terrifying, and I refuse to get this put down my nose ever again. All while Dr.Schmidt put it down my nose, my dad left the room because he couldn't handle seeing me in pain, and I squeezed the life out of Dave's hand.
Once the trauma was finished, the Dr. wanted me to drink at least a full cup of apple juice and some water before being released.
I took a shower to help clear my sinuses and make me not feel so disgusting, drank all the apple juice in my glass, and was able to leave by 1pm.
Bye Bye St. Agnes Hospital
By the time we got home, I didn't really have much energy to do anything really. Mom and Dave helped out so much with checking to make sure that I got enough nutrients and was comfortable. I was able to drink a little bit of water, some boost, and try a smoothie (which ended up exploding on me because of the pressure in the syringe)
OH! And I pulled out those stupid nasal trumpets that were the worst things in the whole world!
Out of all the days to recover, I feel like day 2 of recovery was the
worst for me. Drooling was nonstop, pain in my jaw was at a 7, I
couldn't breathe out of my nose at all, and it took a good amount of
time to try to open my eyes.
Pain was at the highest it had ever been for me: 7.
The
biggest problem for me related to my sinuses. The surgeon removed a
large amount of pus from my sinuses because of the amount of infection
that I had up there. However, even though they cleared a lot of mucus
and gunk, I still had swelling and I was completely plugged. Because of
how plugged up I was, I couldn't even drink anything; it felt like I
was drowning.
The doctor was notified of this, placed
an order of nasal trumpets to be placed up my nose the next day. The
goal for today was to get as much congestion out of my nose as possible.
I tried to drink as much water as I could, but it was really difficult
to even get a trickle.
So the purpose of this blog is to update on a day-to-day basis of my progress through double jaw surgery. However, with how I was feeling over the past 3 days, I had no energy to even blog on here until day 4. Here's a recap of the jaw surgery process on day 1.
Thursday night, the day before surgery, my parents, Dave (boyfriend) and I drove up to Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin (an hour away from Milwaukee), to avoid the snowfall that would be heading our way on the day of surgery. I know that in videos I kept saying that I wasn't nervous or scared, but nerves set in by the time we hit the motel, and it was a little difficult to try to fall asleep because of me freaking out. I knew that surgery would go well, but my major concern was with my sinuses and whether anything good would come for them, as well as the amount of pain that I could possibly go through. Although I did freak out a lot, I was able to fall asleep about an hour later after we arrived. It was great to have Dave there with me too because he kept saying that it'll only get better and I'll have such a great face, and my bite will be much better.
On Friday, we wake up around 5am, leave at 5:30 and head down to the surgery ward of St.Agnes hospital. The nurse takes me in around 6 to do the usual paperwork and medical questions. I get my IV (which was not as painful as I thought it would be), and then my parents and Dave come into the room to see me :)
During the waiting time, all I can remember saying is how much water I wanted, and feeling a little jealous of the coffee that Dave had.
Dr. Schmidt comes in shortly after the anesthesiologist had left to check on my teeth and to go over the surgical process once more. At this point, I just want to get the surgery done and over with, and lay in a recovery room with a lot of suction tubes and pain medication.
Dr. Schimdt leaves, I say goodbye to my parents, given some anesthetics to put me to sleep, and am shipped off to the surgery room. Between leaving the waiting room and going to the surgery room, I have absolutely no clue what went on.
Want to know what the worst feeling in the world is when waking up? Waking up only to discover that you can't open. It was so scary for me at that moment because I wanted to see what was around me and see my family to let them know I was okay, but the only thing that ended up happening was me crying.
During surgery, Dr. Schimdt cut across the top and bottom jaws. He cut the top jaw into 3 sections, moved the four front teeth down and matched them with the back teeth. Then he adjusted the back teeth to match the front. Dr. Schmidt believes that with what he did, it will improve my sinus condition. He also had to remove a lot of pus from my sinus cavities because of how much infection there was up there. I also have a splint going across my top teeth to control how I bite.
By the end of the night, I slept with a washcloth over my eyes to relieve irritation from the gunk that had formed, and to also help calm me down.
Hope you're doing well and not in a February Frump! I know that I'm pretty stoked? Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you...
I HAVE SURGERY IN 4 DAYS!
That's right, my double jaw surgery is this Friday, the 21st, and I couldn't be happier or more excited! This has been such a long time preparing, that it'll definitely be worth it in the end. The process was long, sometimes painful, but exciting at the same time.
What I've had done to prepare for surgery over these 2 years 10 cavities filled
1 root canal and crown placed
4 wisdom teeth and a decayed tooth pulled
Braces power strip
coils to give room
What is going to happen on surgery (youtube video :) )
I have my meeting with Dr. Schimdt on Thursday (14th). In the meantime, I figured I would start up with a grocery list of things that I'll need for recovery.
Personal Care
·Exfoliator
·Cleansing pads
·Mirror
·Carmex/ Liquid (soft) chapstick
·Listerine breath strips
Eating Ease
·Baby toothbrush
·Bottle with squirter (clear ketchup bottle)
·Sippy cup
·Syringe
Comfort
·Neck pillow
·Hot/cold pack (jaw bra)
·Humidifier
·Comfy pillow
·Ice packs
Hygiene
·Water pick
·Rags for drooling
·Mild mouthwash
Health
·Sudafed PE nasal (found in pink/white box)
·Children’s liquid ibuprofen or Children's Motrin
·Afrin No-Drip (found in green box)
·Iron supplements (make sure to take several
weeks prior to surgery)
Jaw surgery Descriptions for my surgery on the 22nd, this month. -----------------------
1) Mandibular Hyperplasia: Reconstruction of Mandibular Rami and/or body, sagittal split; with interna
2) Maxillary Hypoplasia: Reconstruction Midface, Lefort I; 3 or more pieces, segment movement
Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog. Like many other jaw surgery patients, I’ve
decided to start blogging my progress during the healing process. I’m
definitely excited to see what’s in store for me, and track the healing and
changes that will come along the way. Also, I will make sure to include some
recipes that I've found, transformation pictures along the way, and some
hobbies/activities that I will take up.
Here’s a little bit about how funky my bite is.
I have the following:
Cross bite
Open bite – when I chew, the only part of my
bite where I can feel my teeth touching is in the right side of my mouth from
my canine to my back molars. Also, when closing my lips, the right corner of my
lips don’t meet
Under bite
Under developed upper palate
So why jaw surgery?
When I first went to the
consultation for my braces back in May 2011, my orthodontist Dr. Daub told me
that because of how my jaws are and the way that I bite down, braces would only
help to straighten my teeth, not help solve my bite problem. Before getting the
braces put on, I traveled from Milwaukee to West Bend to see Dr. Schmidt for
another consultation to check why my bite was so goofy. We discovered the
lovely details about how unique my bite was, talked about any habits that I had
grown used to because of how my bite was, and determine exactly what was needed
to be done. Dr. Schmidt explained that I needed to have 2 jaw surgery
procedures done, one for my top jaw, and one for my bottom jaw. Instead of
going under the knife once, healing up, and then returning to get surgery
again, we decided that double jaw surgery would be best.
The jaw surgery process explained
Although it’s been a few
months since I last saw Dr. Schmidt, I do remember what he told me about the
surgery process.Upper Jaw: because my upper palate is so small, Dr. Scmidt and
his lovely team of surgeons are going to make two incisions along the front
part of my jaw to widen it, and also pull the jaw forward. Lower Jaw: Two
incisions will be made along the front part of my bottom jaw, and the jaw will
be widened a little bit.
Problems I've faced with my jaws
When it comes to eating and my open bite, I
have a very difficult time shredding anything with my front teeth because of
how open of a bite there is. Eating an apple is nearly impossible, and shredding any meats or lettuce is a pain because of the gap in my bit, so I always have to chew to the side of my mouth.. It
was never anything noticeable to other people, but for me, I was always a
little embarrassed eating in front of people.
Also, because of how small my upper palate is, breathing has been a difficult process for me. Ever since I was about 16 years old, I have developed chronic sinus problems, ranging from being plugged up and having to sound like an elephant when I blow my nose, to suffering from sinus infections and terrible headaches. I have barely any air flow through my nose, so the only way I can breathe is through my mouth. Imagine having to sound like you're snoring throughout the day, and then at night, you're a human bug catcher. Its a little embarrassing to be caught sleeping with your mouth wide open, so I've resorted to covering the lower half of my face with either a blanket or sheet.
I have also attached a youtube video from my vlog talking about the jaw surgery. I'll be juggling between the two, so stay tuned. :)
Thanks for checking out my blog! If you would like to contact me to ask any questions, my email is kerikat@sbcglobal.net, or you can reach me on aim at specialKisSPECl
