Re: new member - surgery on wednesday...

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Glad you found us too. Never too late!

I threw up a couple of times post-op. Just blood, didn't bother me as

I knew it was likely to happen. Just messy. Nurse was with me both

times. I felt way better getting it out of my stomach.

They will have to intubate you through your nose for this surgery,

one for breathing and the other to drain blood that gets down into

your tummy, as far as I know. The tubes usually go in after you're

under the anaesthesia, and come out, with all luck, before you wake

up. A few people here have had the tubes in afterwards for a bit, and

it's apparently not pleasant, but the vast majority of us never know

we've had 'em.

You probably won't be able to use a straw for quite awhile post-op,

but you will likely be on a liquid diet for at least a week, maybe

more depending on how your surgeon leaves you post-op. Do you know if

you're going to be wired, banded (elastics) or nothing?

Good luck on Wednesday! Be sure to let us know how it goes.

[Guest guest]

Hi james,

i am from australia too, and having lower surgery in June.

Where are you in australia? im from WA but in SA now!

Good luck with the surgery

jaimi

ps have you found that most of this is covered by private health and

Medicare? Mine is and it just seems weird when i read all the other

posts about people paying heaps.

> hey there,

>

> my name's , I'm from Australia... I'm having bimaxillary

surgery

> on wednesday.

>

> Up till now I decided that it was best just to stick my head in the

> sand, and the less I knew about it the less likely I would be to be

> frightened off... finally, my curiousity got the better of me and I

> found this site here (http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/)

and

> also this yahoo group. It's reassuring to see so many

> people here who are in the same boat, but I guess it doesn't really

> take out all the nerves I've got; my upper and lower jaws are going

> to be moved a total of 12mm... quite a lot, the surgeon tells me

>

> And I'm going to be eating out of a straw, too, I bet ) As

> somewhere to write it to remember, I weighed myself... 84.5kg, I

> wonder how much that will be down to by the time I've recovered...

>

> I do have a couple of questions; I've had surgery done on my face

> (actually in my nose) to unblock it and straighten it before. One of

> the least pleasant parts was when all the blood I'd swallowed got

> bought back up after I'd woken up... is that common with surgery on

> your jaw as well? And also, did anyone wake up with any kind of

> apparatus down their throat to assist breathing or anything?

>

> Man, just thinking about this is making me more nervous... maybe I

> should have left my head in the sand

>

> I've thought about post-op recovery, I've bought a ton of books and

> music (lots of ripping to mp3 for the computer!) and also downloaded

> a few copies of " 24 " off the net - hopefully watching that will

> distract me for a while, at least )

>

> Anyway, I'll try to be back here before it's done. Thanks for

> listening... I'm glad I found this group

>

> -- james

[Guest guest]

Hi james,

i am from australia too, and having lower surgery in June.

Where are you in australia? im from WA but in SA now!

Good luck with the surgery

jaimi

ps have you found that most of this is covered by private health and

Medicare? Mine is and it just seems weird when i read all the other

posts about people paying heaps.

> hey there,

>

> my name's , I'm from Australia... I'm having bimaxillary

surgery

> on wednesday.

>

> Up till now I decided that it was best just to stick my head in the

> sand, and the less I knew about it the less likely I would be to be

> frightened off... finally, my curiousity got the better of me and I

> found this site here (http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo/)

and

> also this yahoo group. It's reassuring to see so many

> people here who are in the same boat, but I guess it doesn't really

> take out all the nerves I've got; my upper and lower jaws are going

> to be moved a total of 12mm... quite a lot, the surgeon tells me

>

> And I'm going to be eating out of a straw, too, I bet ) As

> somewhere to write it to remember, I weighed myself... 84.5kg, I

> wonder how much that will be down to by the time I've recovered...

>

> I do have a couple of questions; I've had surgery done on my face

> (actually in my nose) to unblock it and straighten it before. One of

> the least pleasant parts was when all the blood I'd swallowed got

> bought back up after I'd woken up... is that common with surgery on

> your jaw as well? And also, did anyone wake up with any kind of

> apparatus down their throat to assist breathing or anything?

>

> Man, just thinking about this is making me more nervous... maybe I

> should have left my head in the sand

>

> I've thought about post-op recovery, I've bought a ton of books and

> music (lots of ripping to mp3 for the computer!) and also downloaded

> a few copies of " 24 " off the net - hopefully watching that will

> distract me for a while, at least )

>

> Anyway, I'll try to be back here before it's done. Thanks for

> listening... I'm glad I found this group

>

> -- james

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks for all the gory details Although only now my curiousity has got the

better of me, I suppose I had a faint inkling that I'd be vomitting. I've had

surgery on my nose before (clear it out to help breathing) and it happened then;

none too pleasant, and it's going to be even less so this time because it ain't

gonna be easy to clean my mouth out...

I kinda remember the surgeon saying something about tubes down my nose, but I

don't remember if he said they'd be there when I woke up. I sure as hell hope

not. There is nothing more I hate than having foreign objects stuck in to me for

extended periods of time - needles, tubes, whatever. Ugh. Oh well, something

else to look forward to I guess )

As for wired, banded... no idea. Like I said, up till just now I've been doing

the head in the sand bit I know there's going to be a splint at least in

surgery, maybe afterwards. I also have braces on my teeth at the moment too, had

them for 8 months so far.

, thanks for the words of encouragement; especially seeing you've already

had it done. It's really reassuring

-- james

> Hi ,

>

> Glad you found us too. Never too late!

>

> I threw up a couple of times post-op. Just blood, didn't bother me as

> I knew it was likely to happen. Just messy. Nurse was with me both

> times. I felt way better getting it out of my stomach.

>

> They will have to intubate you through your nose for this surgery,

> one for breathing and the other to drain blood that gets down into

> your tummy, as far as I know. The tubes usually go in after you're

> under the anaesthesia, and come out, with all luck, before you wake

> up. A few people here have had the tubes in afterwards for a bit, and

> it's apparently not pleasant, but the vast majority of us never know

> we've had 'em.

>

> You probably won't be able to use a straw for quite awhile post-op,

> but you will likely be on a liquid diet for at least a week, maybe

> more depending on how your surgeon leaves you post-op. Do you know if

> you're going to be wired, banded (elastics) or nothing?

>

> Good luck on Wednesday! Be sure to let us know how it goes.

>

[Guest guest]

Hey Jaimi, good to hear from another Aussie!

I'm living in Canberra, going to the Australian National University at the

moment; but the surgery is going to be done in Sydney. Travelling up in a couple

of days.

As for the cost; well, the hospital is covered under private health insurance,

but the dental work is not. I've had that many damn dentists/orthos look into my

mouth that I've hit the medical benefits limit, believe it or not. The crazy

thing is, my mouth isn't *that* bad; my teeth were all pretty straight and well

shaped. I've got a friend who had teeth everywhere. It's not like that. It's

just as a mouth breather, previously every time a mouth guy would try to fix it

the whole thing would just collapse within 6 months afterwards. This is an

attempt to fix it once and for all.

I guess we are kinda lucky living in Aus with private and public medical cover;

in the US I think the ownice is more on the patient and less on the system.

A couple of my university lecturers think I'm going up to Sydney for a holiday

or something, as opposed to having surgery done (despite a medical certificate).

They seem to be quite annoyed that my absence will inconvenience their

assessment timetables. So, they kindly brought my assignment due dates forward a

week to just before I leave! Anyway, I better get back to it and try to finish

them off...

See ya,

-- james

> Hi james,

>

> i am from australia too, and having lower surgery in June.

> Where are you in australia? im from WA but in SA now!

>

> Good luck with the surgery

>

> jaimi

>

> ps have you found that most of this is covered by private health and

> Medicare? Mine is and it just seems weird when i read all the other

> posts about people paying heaps.

[Guest guest]

Hey ,

I just had surgery on March 26. You can go back a couple of pages

on the messages index and find them. Throwing up is perfectly

normal. As (fiddlesticks) said, they intubate you after

putting you asleep. One tube gets rid of the blood that you

inevitably swallow during surgery. Another tube helps you breath.

Unfortunately, the tubing also has a tendencty to make your nose

bleed.

In my case, I swallowed A LOT of blood, and vomitted several times

post surgery. It was bad, but I expected it and was ready. I don't

think my case was normal, but rather atypical. (I vomitted 19

times). From what I have read here, many people don't vomit at all,

and others only vomit once or a few times. I'm sure you'll do well.

Regarding breating, a small number of people will have a tube left

in to assist with breathing after surgery. However most will have

it taken out before they wake up. In my case, I was extremely

worried that I wouldn't be able to breath post-op. However, post-op

breathing was relatively ok. They have me some nasal spray for

decongestant, and it worked fine (I only used it once in the

hospital). Breathing is more of a concern if you are having upper

jaw surgery. After surgery, my nose bled a lot, and that

contributed to some nasal congestion. However, after day 2, I was

able to breath well (albeit I still had a bloody nose). These

things however vary from individual to individual. I hope that in

your case, things go well.

Good luck to you and have a great time pre op! ENJOY every kind of

food you can! EAT EAT EAT!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Don't worry about the blood coming up - you'll have lots of

opportunity to clean your mouth (just about everytime you drink or

eat something). If you're going to be wired or tightly banded, that

might not be as easy, but I'm sure there's a way to swish the special

mouthwash they'll give you around inside your mouth. I was more upset

about the bloody mess it left on the chin bandage I had to wear for 3

days. Disgusting!

It's not likely you'll have tubes in when you wake up, but if you do,

just remember they are there for a darned good reason, and it won't

be forever, just relax.

One thing I tried to remember post-op is not to panic when you get

the feeling you might have trouble breathing (thank you, Caycee, for

this one!). They won't let you out of recovery or take the tubes out

if that's the case. I was starting to worry, but managed to stop and

think logically about it: I could breathe a little bit through my

nose, I could breathe a little bit through my mouth, and the

combination was enough. Big relief.

I asked my surgeon what the criteria was for leaving a splint in post-

op, since it seems to vary greatly here. He said " if I have to expand

your upper palate during surgery, you'll have it for 6 weeks, if not,

we use it during the surgery and then toss it out " . It took me a

while the first day post-op to figure out whether I had a splint or

not as the upper palate goes quite numb and feels really strange, but

I finally figured out that I didn't. Whoopeee! Thanks to my terrific

ortho who did a slow and painless expansion using his wonderful

little ALF appliances and some cranial-sac treatments.

The whole thing was really an easy ride for me. If you can keep a

good sense of humour about it (some of the things you will endure are

a bit humiliating, like drooling, dripping a bit of blood from your

nose, the inability to smile post-op for awhile, trying to find your

mouth when you are allowed to eat again, etc), you'll do just fine.

Will be thinking of you this week! and hope you'll come back and tell

us how it went.

[Guest guest]

Thank for all the advice - especially about the breathing. I'm sure

that could be a real life saver

I was initially scheduled to have to have two sets of surgery done; one for

widening of top jaw, one for placement of jaws. After they got the X-rays

back they realised I didn't need the first operation; which is lucky,

because I very much doubt that after I'd done the first one I'd be up for

going back and doing it all over again I don't know whether they'll be

widening my jaw at all during the surgery or not... Head in sand,

remember... So I suppose I'll just wake up and find out the hard way

Thanks again for all your help; that goes for everyone else, too

-- james

> Message: 7

> Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 15:26:54 -0000

> From: fiddlesticks220001

> Subject: Re: new member - surgery on wednesday...

>

> Hi ,

>

> Don't worry about the blood coming up - you'll have lots of

> opportunity to clean your mouth (just about everytime you drink or

> eat something). If you're going to be wired or tightly banded, that

> might not be as easy, but I'm sure there's a way to swish the special

> mouthwash they'll give you around inside your mouth. I was more upset

> about the bloody mess it left on the chin bandage I had to wear for 3

> days. Disgusting!

>

> It's not likely you'll have tubes in when you wake up, but if you do,

> just remember they are there for a darned good reason, and it won't

> be forever, just relax.

>

> One thing I tried to remember post-op is not to panic when you get

> the feeling you might have trouble breathing (thank you, Caycee, for

> this one!). They won't let you out of recovery or take the tubes out

> if that's the case. I was starting to worry, but managed to stop and

> think logically about it: I could breathe a little bit through my

> nose, I could breathe a little bit through my mouth, and the

> combination was enough. Big relief.

>

> I asked my surgeon what the criteria was for leaving a splint in post-

> op, since it seems to vary greatly here. He said " if I have to expand

> your upper palate during surgery, you'll have it for 6 weeks, if not,

> we use it during the surgery and then toss it out " . It took me a

> while the first day post-op to figure out whether I had a splint or

> not as the upper palate goes quite numb and feels really strange, but

> I finally figured out that I didn't. Whoopeee! Thanks to my terrific

> ortho who did a slow and painless expansion using his wonderful

> little ALF appliances and some cranial-sac treatments.

>

> The whole thing was really an easy ride for me. If you can keep a

> good sense of humour about it (some of the things you will endure are

> a bit humiliating, like drooling, dripping a bit of blood from your

> nose, the inability to smile post-op for awhile, trying to find your

> mouth when you are allowed to eat again, etc), you'll do just fine.

>

> Will be thinking of you this week! and hope you'll come back and tell

> us how it went.

>

>