! Re: I survived upper/lower/palate expansion

[Guest guest]

Congrats on making it to the Other Side!

That first week can be difficult. You should be feeling better

soon. For me it was gradual ... a bit better everyday. Some folks

have a day that they call a turnaround day ... they just feel so much

better. Either way, things will get easier soon.

I had a splint for the first surgery and I that contributes to not

feeling fresh in your mouth. Do you have a waterpik? Even on a low

setting (pointed away from stitches) it flushed more out of my mouth

than brushing did. I could only fit a baby toothbrush in, too, and

couldn't reach all places. And not to be gross, but as the stitches

break down, there's some flaky skin that needs to come out, that the

waterpik easily loosens and flushes out. Those " flakys " will also

contribute to not feeling fresh. I also put a bit of the prescribed

minty rinse in with the water for the waterpik, so the minty got into

back areas. Honestly, I did not feel like my actually back teeth

were clean until the splint was removed and could do a thorough

brushing.

I had a bit of extra blood loss during my first surgery where I

needed to be given back my donated blood. I did indeed feel weak for

about 2 weeks postop, so I'm sure you are feeling normal at this

point. Be slow getting up and down to avoid lightheadedness.

Irish!

> Hi everybody,

>

> I can't believe it, but I'm already 5 days post-op. It's been a

long

> five days for sure, though, and I'm ready to start feeling good

again.

> My surgery was Tuesday, Feb. 11th, and lasted about 6 hours. The

> surgeon was very pleased with how everything went, but said that I

had

> more blood loss than usual. He described it as constant " oozing "

and

> said that my hemoglobin dropped about 20% during the surgery. Now

I

> feel weaker than usual and feel like my heart is pounding, even

when

> I'm laying down. I shiver a lot, too.

>

> The biggest discomfort for me has been the swelling. My surgeon

says

> I have swelled less than he expected, but my head still feels like

> it's going to pop. It's like someone has stuffed tennis balls

inside

> my cheeks and under my upper lip. I was told that the swelling

would

> peak at 72 hours, but that does not seem to be the case. It has

> probably stabilized now, but I want it to go away! How effective

is

> heat in reducing the swelling?

>

> I can feel my cheeks, the left side of my nose, and my left upper

lip,

> but the rest of my lower face is pretty numb when I touch it. The

> weird thing is that the numb areas feel cold and sting most of the

> time. I'm hoping that's a good sign.

>

> I'm not wired or banded, but I have a splint in the roof of my

mouth

> holding my palate in place. I asked my surgeon last Friday how

wide I

> was allowed to open my mouth and he said as wide as is comfortable,

so

> I've managed to get my baby toothbrush onto the backs of my teeth.

> The inside of my mouth still feels persistently yucky, though, like

it

> will never be completely fresh and clean again. The problem with

> brushing that I've had is that I can't feel where the toothbrush is

in

> my mouth. I can't tell if I'm brushing too hard or not hard

enough,

> or even if I'm getting all the way to my back molars since I can't

see

> them very well. Do you guys have any good toothbrushing

suggestions?

>

> The other advice I need is how to get a good night's sleep. I'm

> exhausted but can't seem to fall asleep at night. It's making me

feel

> pretty crummy. Any suggestions would be great!

>

>