Photo Comparison

BEFORE

2 Days Pre-Op (Sunday 5th October 2008)

AFTER

Photos are in order of:

1 Day Post-Op (Wednesday 8th Oct)

2 Days Post-Op (Thursday 9th Oct)

3 Days Post-Op (Friday 10th Oct)

5 Days Post-Op (Sunday 12th Oct)

7 Days Post-Op (Tuesday 14th Oct)

19 Days Post-Op (Sunday 26th Oct)

30 Days Post Op (Thursday 6th Nov)

4 weeks & 2 days post-op

I'm starting to wonder if I have an iron deficiency since the last 10 days I have been feeling extremely lethargic, tired & unmotivated. The first 2 weeks post-op I was definitely in recovery mode, the 3rd week I was quite energetic & motivated, getting lots down around the house & feeling very normal. Then last week I just couldn't be bothered. I've been thinking that I'm just lazy, but it's very unusual for me to be like this - I'm usually the person that gets up early in the mornings especially on weekends & just likes to be busy doing stuff. But the last 2 weeks I have sat on the couch & read all day every day. I can barely motivate myself for 30 minutes before Matt gets home from work to at least make the kitchen look respectable. I even started wondering whether its very mild depression (which apparently is quite common after this type of surgery), but I don't feel emotional or anything, just tired.

I don't think my swelling is going down at all, so today I started taking Arnica which has mixed views - lots of very strong support in the homeopathic industry & lots of anecdotal evidence of it doing amazing things, but there seems to be little evidence from clinical trias. Anyway, worth a shot! I also started taking liquid iron & liquid vitamin C which I had bought before my surgery but didn't ever feel in need of until now. I'm sleeping 10+ hours a day, and last night got 9 but felt like I normally would on 6 or 7 hrs sleep.

Since Tuesday was my 4 week mark and my OS said 3-4 weeks after surgery I can start going to the gym again, I went to a pump class on Sunday to try & kick start my health & weight loss. Admittedly I haven't been to a pump class in about 4 months, but I used the lightest possible weights & took it very easy, but its still taken me 4 days to get over it! Even at my unfittest I never reacted like that. I have been in so much muscle pain its not funny.

Reading up on other jaw surgery blogs, the way I feel sounds similar to a few people who were diagnosed with anemia after their surgery. My OS hasn't asked for any blood tests to check on that at all, so I'm only guessing, but it seems a fairly logical explanation. Especially given that when I had my iron levels tested 3 weeks before surgery, they were a little low, then I donated 450ml of blood a week before my surgery + had 3 lots of blood tests in 3 weeks (some of which required 12 tubes!!), then had my surgery (where you lose a bit of blood anyway), and they decided against giving me any of my blood after the surgery (since I'm not underweight or anything!). I can only assume that the first 3 weeks of healing really used up a lot of the iron in my blood & now I'm a bit low. So, lots of iron & vitamin C for the next few days at least! I better go & have another dose now.

Here are my pics from today (yes, I know my nose is ridiculously crooked)..

Photo Update

Sunday 26th October

18 days post-op

As you can tell I've been FAR too busy watching 20 epidsodes of "The Tudors" to update my blog!

OS Update
Saw the Oral Surgeon on Monday (20th) & he was very happy with my progress. He wants to see me when I have my splint out. He thought that the Ortho should remove my splint when I saw him on Tuesday.

Ortho Update
No such luck with the splint!! I wasn't biting into it properly, so had to have it for a further 10 days. Getting it removed next Friday 31st October (yay!). Apparently Dr K did his Masters on the length of time a splint should be in for after surgery & he says its extremely rare to get a splint out after 2 weeks. It will be be 3.5 wks for me when I get it out.

Splint adventures
I think the splint is probably the worst part of this whole experience. By the time I get it out it's going to have 3.5 wks worth of stale food - yuck! Plus it's attached quite tightly so it makes my teeth hurt. Also, because my upper jaw was expanded they had to cut my archwire in 2 places (near each canine) & my teeth are trying to move around. There are gaps opening up & my archwire has slipped back on each side & is slicing into my cheeks (ouch).

Other stuff
Swelling is improving even though I started sleeping flat again on Thursday night (instead of being propped up by 3 pillows). My back is finally starting to recover! Looking back at the pictures so far, there is a big improvement in my swelling particularly in my neck! I had the neck equivalent of cankles for a while there! Bruising has been pretty much gone since the 2-week point (Tuesday). My energy levels are pretty low still - I get very tired & although I'm sleeping well at night now, I sleep 9-10 hrs a night which is very unusual for me.

Why the toast always lands butter side down (Murphy's Law)
I just need to vent about the day we had yesterday (Friday)... there was some serious karma going on & I'm not sure what evil thing we did, but it must have been bad!
1) It started off when we decided to go out for dinner & our first 2 choices were booked out (nothing to complain about yet!). We finally got a table at a great Italian place in Spearwood.
2) As we pulled into the parking bay there was a loud hissing sound... I had a flat tyre! We decided to enjoy our dinner & deal with it afterwards.
3) As we walked out the restaurant after dinner to go & change the tyre there was an almighty downpour accompanied by gale force winds! We dumped the spare tyre & jumped in the car for 10 mins until it abated.
4) It was still drizzling when we got out the car to get the jack, spanner/tyre bar and adapter for the lock nut (for the alloys) out the boot. The adapter for the lock nut fitted fine, but the tyre bar was too big for the standard bolts!!! Arghhhhh!!!
5) Walked in the rain to BP - no spanners/tyre bars, so we resorted to the RAC. Luckily they were super speedy & were there in 10 mins to change the tyre for us. Initially the spare tyre wouldn't fit on & we were thinking it was going to be a looong night, but luckily it was just a spacer ring for the alloy rims.
6) When we got home, our darling dog Ralphy had rifled through the garbage & eaten a pile of stale chips from fish & chips 2 nights before... Having just spent an hour in the rain, cleaning up garbage at 10.30pm was a lot of fun. Plus we were thrilled at the propect of being up all night with a vomiting dog! Luckily though he didn't seem to suffer any ill effects, so we hopped into bed.
7) The day was topped off by our final adventure - an hour after getting into bed we woke up to a howling storm outside and an ominous dripping sound inside! The gutters were overflowing into the roof cavity & dripping through the door frame above the french door in the bedroom... great! We piled up the towels & went back to bed (we'll deal with this in the morning!). Ahhh the joys of an old house!

Today we're buying a lotto ticket & a scratchie - our luck's bound to change!

13 days Post-Op

I've been a bit slack with the blog entries since I've been home. I left Mum & Dad's on Wednesday night & have been going very well. My bruising is almost completely gone. It doesn't feel like my swelling has changed a great deal in the past few days - since last Tuesday it has really slowed to a snails pace. But that's ok. I don't think I actually look like I'm swollen, but I can feel the pressure all over my face & it is still a bit sore to touch. My chin is still numb but at the same time quite painful! Sounds strange & I'm really not sure how it works, but there you go! I'm really hoping its nerves mending, but we'll see.

I have another appointment with my OS this afternoon, and with my Ortho tomorrow morning. I had dissolvable stitches & they are pretty much all gone (ok i pulled some out with the tweezers! - they were bugging me!!). My cheeks are much better, partcularly the RH cheek. The LH cheek developed a bubble thing over the last 2 days but seems like its going down now. My nose is pretty clear, but still feels like I've got a slight cold. I accidentally blew my nose yesterday because I forgot I wasn't supposed to do it for 3 weeks, but it was fine - no bleeding or anything. The pain is also much improved. I'm still taking Panadol a couple of times a day, but its not excruciating. It feels like a lot of the pain is due to the pressure of the splint, so I really can't wait to get that off.

Food-wise I'm not doing too badly - I've eaten fish pie, shepherds pie, pasta, poached egg on toast, lots of soggy weetbix & banana smoothies, and even hot dogs with soggy bits of the bun! I've been eating plenty of fruit - chopped up strawberries, bananas & yoghurt, fruit tubs, etc but I'm a little concerned about my vegie intake at the moment. I'm going to look around for some vegie recipes. I wish I could just eat a salad!

I'm getting lots of jobs done around the house & particularly weeding which is definitely going to take me the next few weeks! Ralphy is loving being inside although I think he finds it very tiring since he's used to sleeping in his kennel all day.

One Week Post-Op

It's now been a full week since surgery & I'm definitely feeling on the mend. Today I went with my Mum to see a movie & wandered around Garden City for a bit without getting any horrified stares (I did plaster makeup over my bruises though!).

I'm still swollen but it has definitely gone down a lot. A lot of my mouth & face is still completely numb and some has just partial feeling. Pretty much from my eyes down is feeling a bit fuzzy. My whole face & particularly my chin feels totally strange - like it's pulsing & spasming although its not actually moving. Apparently this is a good sign that circulation is happening & nerve sensations are returning.

My bruising has started to ease today - the dark red bruising is turning lighter purple & the blue has gone green/yellow. The bruising & swelling are both actually disappearing a lot quicker than I thought.

Due to the lack of sensation I'm finding it pretty much impossible to do things I normally would, like purse my lips, suck through a straw, lick my lips, rub lips together (like you do when you put on lipstick) - that's very strange!

I'm also struggling a bit with blocked sinuses, particularly on the left (it seems like the breathing tube in my RH nostril helped keep the sinus open & that doesn't get blocked as easily). The nose spray is starting to work & using the humidifier at night is helping a lot. Monday night I had my first full nights sleep! Very excited by that. Every other night I have woken up every hour or so.

I'm eating quite a bit now & although it takes me a while & I have to mash it up a bit, it's sooo good not being on liquids! My mouth has been quite sore today (Tuesday) - all over, but particularly my palate, stitch lines (which are right at the base of the gums where the lips start on both jaws), my outer lips & just inside my lips by my canine teeth where I've had elastic bands.

I've actually been pretty lucky with the elastics - some surgeons tightly band, but mine didn't & he's also pretty understanding about them. He would prefer me to keep them on all the time, but if I get very sore or claustrophobic he's fine about taking them out for a bit. I've had my elastics out most of today & I'll leave them off tonight so my lips get a chance to heal.

I had a Surgeon checkup on Monday at 11.30am. It lasted all of 2 minutes! Just enough for him to check my bite, look at my swelling & ask if I had any questions or concerns (which I didn't), so he was happy with my progress & wants to see me in another week.

I also have an Orthodontist appointment next Tuesday 21st October which will be 2 weeks post-op. There's a possibility I may get my splint out then, but to be honest I think that's unlikely. My bet is that the Ortho will want to see me in another 2 weeks & will leave the splint in until that appointment (which will be 4 weeks post-op). The splint has 2 purposes - (1) to help my jaws learn my new bite and (2) to help keep the top jaw's shape during the healing process since it was cut into 3 parts. If my Ortho takes out the splint then there's only the tiny titanium plates/screws to hold my jaw together while it heals. However, I will be VERY happy if he takes out the splint at 2 weeks! It's the most annoying & uncomfortable thing - like having a mouthguard in while trying to chew, talk, etc.

Tuesday morning with a lot of makeup covering the bruises!

Sunday

Sunday I started feeling human again - it was the first day I didn't feel shaky since the anaesthetic, and I was happy about managing to eat pasta the night before. My Dad made us his special scrambled eggs with tomato & onion chopped up - nice & soggy for me on soggy toast. It took me a while but i got through a whole bit of toast (minus the crusts) & a pile of scrambled eggs - yum! I also had tea, fruit juice, etc.

Then my Mum was going to visit my Grandma & I decided to go with her since I was feeling a lot better. I plastered makeup all over my bruises, put some earrings on & lipgloss over my Angelina Jolie lips! Its amazing how good that felt. We were out all morning & I was tired when we got back, but it was a good day. My Grandma was very surprised how good I looked & it was nice to ease her stress since I knew she was worried about me.

Sunday afternoon my Mister came to visit and also my other brother & sister-in-law. My mum made chocolate muffins (& I managed to eat one!) and we played Trivial Pursuit. It was a very nice day, and although I was in constant pain, it felt good that my brain was functioning properly. I didn't have any pain killers except for 1 x 10yr old dose of Pain Stop on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday pics:

Saturday - hitting the wall!

Saturday morning I had tea, soup & fruit juice but then nothing all afternoon because I was feeling crappy from the Panadeine. I took my last Panadeine at 1pm on Saturday & then waited for it to wear off. It made me feel tired, sleepy & nauseous. Saturday was also a bad day mentally - I hit the wall on Saturday morning. I couldn't be bothered trying to eat since it takes so much effort & hurts a lot, plus I realised that its a long road to recovery & it's only just started. I was so tired & Mum was trying to encourage me to move around since that's supposed to help with the healing process, but I just wanted to sit & stare into space.

My brother & sister-in-law came to visit on Saturday afternoon with my 2 beautiful little nieces (4 & 2yo). They weren't too freaked out by me thankfully! It was tiring but made the afternoon go quite quickly & helped take my mind off feeling crap.

Once the Panadeine wore off on Saturday night I started feeling a lot better and I was so sick of liquid food that I REALLY wanted to try something more solid. I had a go at some soft chopped up pasta with tomato sauce. That really cheered me up & I stopped feeling nauseous so I was over my downer pretty quickly, despite still being in a lot of pain & swapping ice packs every hour or 2, plus struggling with very sore inner cheeks.

No pics from Saturday - I was feeling too sorry for myself :)

Friday

Friday the pain started kicking in a bit worse & my mouth was opening up even further with the swelling in between my teeth. My mouth got all dry & awful so I got my Mister to buy me a humidifier as suggested on the internet to help with my blocked nose & dry mouth. I was having dissolvable Panadol & Pain Stop every few hours, along with my antibiotics 3 times a day & anti inflammatory once a day. Because I was in a lot of pain I got some dissolvable Panadeine.

Throughout Friday I ate zucchini & potato soup, pureed stew & pureed tuna pasta for dinner plus some fruit juice & tea during the day.

Thursday - home from hospital

Surgeon visited me in hospital at 7.30am this morning & said I was looking good & could go home. Mum picked me up at 10am. I had a pretty easy day - a midday nap, mushroom soup & scrambled eggs for lunch, yummy pureed steak, lentils & veg from mum :) jelly & custard.

Still swelling up - update pics from 4pm Thursday. I have dark purple bruises on my neck & feeling in a lot more pain in my jaws today.

Day After Surgery

Wednesday 8th October - No food yesterday, but I got breakfast this morning (porridge, tea, juice, fruit puree, high protein milk) which I got through in about an hour! Since I'd been to the toilet 4-5 times in the night, ate breakfast & drank plenty of fluids they disconnected the IV about 9.30am. I had a shower & changed from hospital gown into my own pyjamas - nice!!

Had a morning nap to get around the boredom, then had lunch - broth, tea, juice, custard (yummo!) with no probs. Only 30mins that time!

Matt, Mum & Dad visited again with flowers, cards etc. I was starving after just broth & custard for lunch so I was HANGING for dinner! But I just got broth & icecream so Dad went to the cafe & got me some choc milk to see me through to breakfast at 8am :o)

I am swollen & numb from my eyes right down to the bottom of my neck and since the icepacks are mainly on the side, I am swelling forward around my nose, cheeks & chin. You could build a resort island on my chin too. Fun!

These pics are from 5pm Wednesday afternoon.

Same Day As Surgery

Feeling good! As good as can be expected anyway! My surgery lasted 3.5hours in the end & I awake almost immediately in recovery, don't really remember the trip to Special Nursing Unit (SNU), but do remember my jaw hurting & they gave me an injection.

I was on IV and getting blood pressure taken every 30mins or so, and had a heart rate monitor on my finger. I had a nose tube in for suctioning out the blood from my throat - they didn't take that out until Dr K (OS) & Dr S (Anaesthetist) came to check up on me about 6.30pm last night.

Matt, Mum & Dad all visited in the afternoon & mum left after seeing Dr K. They all said I look pretty good considering what I had done.

These photos are from 6pm Tuesday evening.

Can't Sleep

Surprise Surprise - its 1.10am and I can't sleep! It was cold in my room before I went to sleep so I went to sleep with a jumper over my pyjamas. I woke up about 12.15pm absolutely roasting & sweating. Laid in bed trying to get back to sleep for 30 mins, then the nurse came in & took away my water jug since I can't have food or drink now before my surgery.

Tried again to get back to sleep but its just not happening! Even though I took my jumper off when I first woke up, and have gotten up, tied my hair up & taken my socks off, I'm still REALLY hot. Not sure what's going on.

I'm still not nervous, I think its more excitement - like being a kid on Christmas & not being able to sleep because you know what's coming tomorrow!

Surgery Details & Checking Into Hospital

Exciting stuff from surgeon appointment this afternoon - I have details on what he's doing to me!!

- Upper jaw - Leforte 1 to tilt jaw down at front & close gap & also they are bringing my upper jaw forward 7.5mm. They have also worked out doing the model surgery that my upper jaw is not wide enough so they are also splitting it into 3 parts & spreading it out then putting it back together again :)
- Lower Jaw - BSSO - moving back 5mm
- Genio - because lower jaw is going back so far he's actually moving my chin forward, but at the same time he wants to make my chin shorter

He's recycling bits of my lower jaw bone that he has to cut out to fill the gap created in my top jaw. The whole thing totally intrigues me! I watched a video on youtube & it sounds pretty much the same. He reckons i will look quite different but better (of course!!!) ..

After the surgeon's office we headed straight to the hospital. We checked in at 6.45pm and were shown up to my room by the receptionist after completing paperwork. We were welcomed at my room by the Ward Coordinator who was a very nice guy - showed us all the gadgets (bed up/down, tv, foxtel, nurse call, lights, dimmer switch, wardrobe, secure storage, ensuite!), then took us to the Special Nursing Unit on the same floor to see where I'll be tomorrow when I get out of surgery.

Then because I missed dinner they organised some yummy cold stuff for me - assorted sandwiches, salmon patties with with salad & dressing, fruit plate & juice. By the way did I mention I have river views??!!!!! This place is really awesome - I'm staying as long as I can!

I've had my wrist & ankle bands put on & had my blood pressure & temperature taken, and been measured up for my surgical stockings. I now have hospital gown, disposable underpants, antiseptic wash, stockings and leg pumps for tomorrow! In the morning I'll get Temazepam to calm me down ready for surgery. I can't wait!

Day before Surgery

Today is Monday 6th October & I have my final OS appointment at 5.30pm then I'll check into hospital. I went for my final blood test today so they can make sure the blood I donated is mine in the hospital (in case I lose a lot of blood in the surgery & need to be 'topped up').

Tomorrow morning they'll get me showered in a special antibacterial solution & dressed into a gorgeous hospital gown then I'll get my premeds before I go into surgery at 8am. I've been told I'll be in 'Special Nursing Unit' (aka ICU) until lunchtime on Wednesday and then will go back to my room until I go home some time between Thursday night & Sunday.

I've been looking at lots of youtube videos over the weekend & I just can't wait to see how my experience is. The one thing I've learnt is that everyone's level of pain & recovery time is different, so I just have to take it as it comes.

I've nearly finished packing my stuff but I'm feeling a bit stressed that there's so much stuff to do around home before I leave. I also was planning to get a bit of work done today but I have just run out of time.

Also here's some more 'before' photos - from Sunday 5th October.

3 Days Until Surgery

In May this year my Ortho said I'd be ready for surgery in July, but my Surgeon wasn't available until late August & I had to be a bridesmaid for a close friend on September 28th, so surgery was scheduled for Tuesday 7th October.

The technical names for what I'm having done are:
1) Leforte 1 Osteotomy (on my upper jaw to close my bite)
2) Saggital Split Osteotomy (cutting my lower jaw on both sides & moving it into the correct position)
3) Genioplasty (chin job! so I don't have such a protruding chin)

It's now 3 days out & I'm SO excited!! Here are my 'Before' pics.

I can't wait to have my new bite, to see if I look any different, and hopefully very soon be able to talk more easily. The last few months with my braces have been pretty hard at work - I've found it even harder than usual to enunciate properly, and I've been spitting EVERYWHERE!! Not nice at all. I'm all prepped with goodies - ice wraps for my face, zip-n-squeeze bags for those fun liquid-diet days, laptop to take to hospital, new PJ's, etc.

I'm going to a great private hospital & they have already been so helpful & friendly. Checking in Monday night for 8am surgery on Tuesday morning. I also LOVE my surgeon - he's so perfectly suited to me - doesn't fuss too much, has a good sense of humour, focusses on the essentials & doesn't bugger around! Plus he tells me he's a GREAT surgeon!! :)

Phase 1 - Braces

Getting braces has been a very loooooong process. I first got referrals to an Orthodontist in early 2007, and waited until July 2007 for my first appointment. I then had to meet the surgeon & agree to the whole gory process before they would even start the process of braces. Once that was done, the xrays, molds, spacers, bands & eventually braces took another couple of months to complete. My braces officially went on, on Melbourne Cup Day 2007 - November 6th.

What's wrong with my teeth?

I've had jaw issues since primary school when an Orthodontist first proposed surgery. At the time I was still growing and the Ortho wasn't convinced that the surgery would work, so I just continued on as before.

A lot of people have asked why I'm going through this process - essentially I have a few structural issues with my jaw and therefore my bite:

1) Cross bite - my upper & lower teeth don't sit over each other properly - my lower jaw is across to the right. This is largely caused by an asymetrical jaw - my lower jaw grew more on one side than on the other.
2) Underbite - normally your top front teeth are supposed to sit just a fraction in front of your bottom teeth - mine are right on top of each other, which means that my incisors & canines don't get the proper biting function.
3) Open bite - my upper jaw is overgrown at the back, which pushed down my upper back molars - as a result when I bite together there is a gap of about 5mm between my front teeth. That makes it pretty hard to bite through things - especially tomato in sandwiches, finger food, pizza, etc! It's also creating bad wear & tear on my back teeth - I only have contact on 1 molar at the back left hand side so that poor tooth is taking the pressure for the rest of my teeth & is getting absolutely destroyed in the process.

While this all sounds drastic (& it is, otherwise I wouldn't be getting my head chopped up!) - I'm lucky that these issues have never had a huge impact on my appearance. Other than being slightly set back around my upper lip, and showing very little teeth when I talk & smile, it's really not that noticable.