6 Weeks Post-Op: Doing Great!

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am mostly a lurker but thought I would post about my post-op

experience. I had upper/lower to fix a Class 2 and openbite.

Movements were minimal (lower was advanced 4mm). I was wired for 2

weeks and wore a splint for 4 weeks. I am a male, 29.

Weeks 0 and 1 are very tough. A note for the males of this group:

Waking up after the surgery, and having the nurse remove the catheter

from your urinary tract resulted in a 10/10 on the pain scale for

me! The overall swelling, fatigue, little sleep, liquid diet - all

these elements are fairly hard to deal with. I stocked up on movies

and books and drank ALL THE TIME..

Week 2 I was unwired - It's a milestone. I had to wear bands 20/24h a

day. But it's still much better. You start talking again, opening

your mouth, etc. Swelling was down considerably with slight

improvements in numbness. I started biking and exercising lightly on

this week

Week 4 the splint was removed - Another milestone. Life begins again!

It is quite a strange feeling to have your tongue move around your

mouth and get reacquainted with your palate, front teeth, speech,

etc. I'm still wearing bands 20/24h a day.

By Week 5 I was back at the gym (and work too) and doing almost the

same weights than before the surgery. Swelling is 90% gone (Some

minor cheek puffyness remains) and numbness is 75% gone. Upper gums

are the worst: I don't feel anything there. The rest, lips, chin are

doing decent but I hope it improves.

Overall - It is a tough surgery but my experience is definitely not

bad so far. I found it more difficult to explain to people why I have

done this.. I think key elements to this recovery are healthy

nutrition and an active lifestyle. And.. expect the worse, your

experience probably won't be that bad!

Now I just can't wait to finish my braces (~6 months) and to whiten

my teeth..!

Thanks to everyone on this forum for their participation.

Good luck to all the patients!