Upper only, wooohooo

[Guest guest]

Hi Guys,

Well, I doubt that any of you remember me. I was on this site a long

time ago (over a year) when it was still a club and used to read

every message. Well beside the fact that it turned into a group with

advertisements, I think I got disenchanted with this whole process.

I will give you a short version of my experience this week. I am

planning on putting up a small website with pictures later this week.

My ortho originally said that I would be in braces for 9-12 months,

surgery, then 9-12 months post op. Well here I am, 2 years after

getting braces and only now getting surgery. I was originally slated

for upper and lower. Upper moved forward 6.5 mm and lower moved back

2.5-3 mm. Well it turned out that with my final records, my ortho

was able to move my upper teeth enough that my lower jaw was

unneccessary! At first I wasn't elated. I was actually concerned.

More about the esthetic benifits that this surgery has. I was

worried that it wouldn't balance my face anymore. Thinking about it

further, I also didn't want to have to go back in again. But I

trusted my surgeon. I mean he met up with my ortho on a Saturday to

discuss my case. I got that feeling that he really knows what he is

doing.

So on Tuesday, May 6th, 2003 I went under the knife. It was crazy.

I went to the hospital and checked in like a hotel (haha). I gave

them my credit card for a private room, signed everything and went

into the day surgery area. I think I was nervous... I had to pee a

lot. 9:00 rolled around (9:20 was my scheduled time) and they took

me into the recovery room. It was cold. This just made the urge to

pee again that much more. On more time and it was off to the OR.

That was a scary place. Nothing like the ORs you see on ER or

anything. They put me down on a table that was so narrow, I was sure

I was going to fall off. They put these arm braces into the side of

the table and stapped my arms down. I guess I was going to move...

The Anesthetician (sp?) stabbed my wrist and started an IV. Then her

assistant started to suffocate me with a mask. She said it was pure

oxygen, but I yelled at her and said I couldn't breath! So she

released the pressure on the mask. 2 breaths and I was out!

Next thing I remember is wanting to puke. I had a hose up my nose,

elastics on my teeth, and.... A CATHETER!!!!! OMG! no one said

anything about that! I guess they stuck it on my in the recovery

room as I was there for about an hour. I don't remember anything I

saw there as I did not have my glasses. That really sucked. At any

rate, what I remember is them taking out the catheter and it not

hurting at all. I think I had too much morphine in my system or

something. They also took out the tube down my nose. It was there

to suck out the blood from my stomach. It wasn't working very well

until they actually started to pull it out. Then I could see all the

blood through the tube coming out. That was a little horrifying. My

throat was really sore after that. Felt like I had a sore throat

(cold) for a number of hours.

I was brought to my room and I started dry heaving. There was

nothing in my stomach, cause they sucked it out. There was nothing

in my bladder, cause they sucked it out. But I was feeling ill. I

had IV bag after IV bag. They gave me morphine for the pain (which

did nothing for the pain), they gave me gravol (or something like it)

for the nausea, anti-biotics (which I think were making me nauseated)

and steroids for the swelling. I was a drugged up mess on the first

day.

Friends and family came to visit later that night. I was swollen. I

have pics of everyday so far that I will put up on my site as soon as

I set it up. Let me tell you. For those of you who are going to go

through this, the drugs play with your mind. Have family and friends

visit you as often as possible. On the second day, I got so

depressed that I cried when my mom came in. I don't know why, but I

think that I just couldn't take it anymore. I was soooo

uncomfortable. There was no pain anymore. 26 years old and crying

over nothing... hehe...

Today, I am not very swollen. I keep telling my friend that I am

super human and that I won't be as swollen as she was. (she got her

pallate expanded in January).

I made the mistake of going outside yesterday. I felt great. But a

couple hours later, my body shut down. I just run out of energy very

quickly. My surgeon said on Friday when I saw him: " You just had

major sugery 2 days ago. 10 years ago you would have been in the

hospital for 2 weeks! "

Needless to say, I am very happy so far. I am really glad I had

upper only. I just wish my upper lip would calm down a little. My

nose has changed a little.

That is it so far. If any of you prospectives have any questions,

shoot them my way. I will answer what I can.

Bernard