Re: Starting to Panic!

[Guest guest]

I am a little over 3 months post-op now. I had upper and lower done

at the end of Sept. It was an 8 hour surgery for me because of some

complication (thin, inverted bones and having to change the game

plan in the operating table) and I ended up staying just one night -

they gave me the option to stay longer, but I found that my family

was more helpful than the nurses (and faster when I needed

something) and really just wanted to get back home. I didn't end up

donating blood when I actually had surgery (the first time it was

scheduled before it had to be put off due to insurance reasonsn I

did donate). They said I didn't lose a lot of blood (400 cc's), but

I think I would have preferred to donate if I had really thought

about it beforehand (would have been more comforting to have my own

blood on reserve just in case). I would recommend reading a lot of

the posts to know what to expect (like what is normal and what isn't

and what you can do if you are having a difficult time getting

through something like the congestion). I would go through

whichever procedure your surgeon believes would have the best

outcome - there was some dicussion with me beforehand as to whether

or not to do one or the other or both - he said it was up to me, but

recommended both to alleviate the problems that might happen if he

only did one or the other and we discussed all of the options. I

went with both because I didn't want to even think about the

possibility of having to do something over. For me, recovery has

been longer than most here - just yesterday I was given the ok to

start chewing on soft foods and I am still banded shut for most of

the day and all night. I have to have an expansion maintainer put

in the upper to keep everything steady and secure (he is being very,

very careful with the progress and watching me closely for any signs

of relapse - I have to visit him every week with a couple every

other weeks thrown in there). This was just something I didn't

expect - to still be banded shut after 3 months - better safe than

sorry I guess! Good Luck with everything! Hope some of this helps.

> I finally decided to come out of lurkdom and became a member

today.

> I have been reading all your posts for 2.5 years now. I really

feel

> like I know all of you and you are all experts in my eyes. To

give

> you a brief background, I was in a car accident January 10,2001

and

> fractured my jaw. This facture wasn't found until I saw a dentist

> who referred me to an oral surgeon about 6 months post accident.

> With this fracture it of course changed my bite and I have

terrible

> headaches and jaw pain everyday. Then I got pregnant so

everything

> was postponed for a year. I have been in braces since February

and

> just got my surgery date for March 25, 2004! I had a consult

before

> I got my braces on with the surgeon and we talked about lower

> surgery and at the end of the appointment it was decided that I

> would have upper/lower/genio but we had run out of time to discuss

> anymore. Here is my dilema, my OS said that if I had lower only I

> would be in and out of the hospital but having the " works " it

would

> be more involved, after scheduling the surgery date with his

office

> I asked how long I'd be in the hospital and she said it required

an

> overnight stay. Overnight stay! I was expecting a little longer

than

> that. Am I wrong in thinking that? It seems everything that I

was

> told by the OS is different than what I am being told now. I live

> about 2 hours away by plane so it is not like I can have another

> consultation with him. Eveything has to be done over the phone.

I

> will call his office after the weekend and ask to speak to him but

> until then I was hoping somebody might be able to fill me in as to

> how long they were in the hospital, did you donate blood, how long

> was your operation and anything else you think I should know.

Sorry

> this was so long and I'm glad you made it to the end! Thanks again!