For me, it was worth it

[Guest guest]

I had (segmented) upper, lower, and a genioplasty in June of 2001.

It has been just over two years now and I got my braces off this

year. Recently, I got a call from my doc asking if a new patient

could call me and ask me about my experience, and it got me thinking

about the whole experience again.

This surgery is no small thing to undergo. But I got a result I am

really happy with and I am glad that I did this. It took

me a couple of years to come around to the whole idea. I looked

into having the surgery back in 1996 and sort of freaked out when I

heard what all they would be doing to my jaws. As time went on,

though, I became more aware of my bite and it really bothered me as

far as how it looked and how my bite was impacting the functionality

of my mouth. I'm sure some of you can relate to this. Taking a bite

out of a sandwich and having the lettuce pull right through. That

sort of thing. So I finally decided I was ready to look into this

again and went ahead with it. I looked carefully for my doc and

found a surgeon that I was comfortable with. That was sort of the

scariest part--was trusting someone with my jaw and face.

But I found a great doctor and am very happy with how it came out.

As far as side effects, I do still have a few spots that are numb.

And my mouth feels a little different too. I can feel the scars

inside my mouth with my tongue and it feels like there is a lot of

scar tissue in there. So it doesn't feel like before exactly, but

thats okay. In the end I am really pleased with it all.

I do remember the recovery was trying, though. I can relate to some

of the other people who have said they didn't have much energy and

underestimated how long recovery would be. I remember waking up in

the hospital and thinking to myself " what did I do? " Also, the

food got

very tiring. I was okay with the smoothies and milkshakes, because

I've always liked those. But it was difficult to find hot food

that tasted (and looked) appealing. Some soups, for example, took

on a really yucky consistency when they were pureed. Clam chowder

was pretty good, though (after a few weeks) Corn chowder was good

as well. I also had an interesting experience trying to puree

Indian food (chicken tikka masala). My husband and I really like

Indian food and I got to craving it, so we ordered take-out and

tried to puree it. But usually you eat this dish with rice, and I

couldn't eat rice bc I was eating with the syringe. So I just tried

the pureed chicken tikka masala through the syringe. It was a

little too thick for the tube, though, and it ended up sort of

exploding out of the tube. I ended up with this orange chicken

stuff sprayed all over my face, on the wall, on the floor, on my

husband (you get the picture) We got it off of everything except

for a lampshade. And we still have that lamp--we call it The Chiken

Tikka Lamp and laugh about it now. But the food thing was

frustrating. Now, however, I can eat corn on the cob and also

potato chips. So you definitely get back to regular food after

while.

A couple of things were helpful to me in getting through this

surgery. When I went into the hospital, I ended up having the

option to take a private room. It was a little more expensive, but

for me it was worth it. The hospital I was at had a nursing

shortage at the time, so they couldn't check on you too much. The

doctor wanted me to have ice on my face for the first 24 hrs or so,

and the nurses couldn't come around enough to keep fresh ice on me.

Since I had a private room, however, I had family with me all the

time. My parents were there during the day, and my husband stayed

with me at night. They got ice for me every hour or so, and also

helped contact the nurses if I needed something. It's not to say I

couldn't have gotten through this in a regular double room, but it

was nice to have the privacy and a comfort to have my family there.

Another thing that helped me find the courage to do this was this

message board. Before I found this, it seemed like there was hardly

anyone else out there who was going through this. But the message

board made me feel like part of a community. Once I had my surgery

date nailed down, I found someone else on the board who was having

her surgery a couple of days before me. We exchanged emails and

then emailed back and forth for about 3 weeks (just before and after

the surgery) exchanging our experiences and words of encouragement.

So that was helpful too.

Good luck to any of you who are planning to have this surgery done.

If you have questions, feel free to email me.