9 days post op

Cant believe its been a week since i came home from hospital. In myself im feeling abit better, im able to do most things, ive been out to the shop a couple of times, tho im still very very tired. Im getting my sense of humour back to, tho i cant smile or laugh really as it causes me quite alot of pain.

Had a major scare yesterday, when i bent over and suddenly had all this liquid in my mouth, when i spat it into a hanky it was horrible smelling yellowly ooze, coming i think from one of the wisdom teeth extraction sites its continued to ooze on and off a little but nearly stopped now.

I called the hospital, but as i have an appointment with my surgeon tomorrow morning (hes not there today) and no raised temperature, its been decided unless it gets any worse ill keep to that appointment.

Pain wise, its still pretty bad, and i keep getting itches and nerves jumping at night which is anoying but all obviously good signs at the same time. The swelling is still about the same as it was, and the bruising is still getting worse (and more multi coloured!! ) i will take some more pics later and update.

6 days post op

Not such a good day today, am getting abit fed up. Think its a combination of finding it quite hard to sleep, as i have a mountain of pillows to contend with, and keep waking myself up trying to roll onto my side and generally being in pain and discomfort.

Pain wise-i get:

* the occasional nervey shooting pain, in my jaw, which is pretty bad but short lasting.

* a dull aching pain in my jaw

* a weird pins and needles type pain in my lips and mouth

* strange itching sensations that i cant get rid of, as i cant feel myself scratch them!!

* My neck is one of the worst parts as this is where most of the swelling and bruising is, i have a permantly stiff neck that hurts to move my head

Eating im doing pretty well:

* ready break (like porridge)

* weetabix squashed into lots of milk

* yoghurts

* mousses

* lots of soups

* mashed potato, with gravy and cheese (not at the same time!!)

* i even managed a shepherds pie, with lots of extra gravy, as i could just swallow it, if mashed down enough :)

So im pretty pleased with my progress on that front so far.

Feels in a way that its been longer ago, then 6 days, tho i feel like my progress has been very slow, tho i guess this hasnt been helped by the unexpected happenings in the hospital.

Looking good!! The swelling is actually getting worse, along with the bruising. I look abit like hamster with a severly bad double chin at the moment Lol. The worst of the bruising is under my chin, and as it hurts so much to move my head up, im unable to get a good photo of it yet.

This pic shows how i seem to have developed a pretty impressive double chin in less than a week. Under the hanging down bit is a pretty impressive bruise, looking just like ive tried to hang myself!!-marvellous!!

CONT from 11th feb 2008

Obviously i didnt know anything was goin on after this point for a few hours. . . .


The next thing i remember was waking up in a very light room and wondering why i was all on my own, i wasnt scared just confused, then i heard someone comment that i was awake and i realised i must be in recovery. I must have slipped back out of conciousness for a time, then i woke up to a very strange feeling in my mouth. I was very confused and disorientated but soon realised that my mouth was full of blood. I didnt freak out but knew that as no one else had noticed i needed to get it out myself, i was still too groggy to sit up, and just sort of spat it out, this kept happening and i still wasnt scared just getting a bit bored of spitting out the blood! Someone came running over at this point and sat me up slightly, i realised at this point how much id been bleeding as the whole of the night gown was soaked someone from the maxillo department came and packed gauze into my mouth, as one of the wisdom teeth id had removed was hemorraging badly. (this is quite uncommon but can happen to anyone, even from a routine extraction, and was just bad luck)


Then i laid there for a hour or so until the bleeding had stopped and i was able to go to the high dependancy ward. I didnt realise it at the time, but by now my family were panicing as they had been told the surgey would take 3 hours ish, and by the time i got back to them id been gone nearly 6 hours.

I was transferred to high dependancy for one to one nursing care, with a very nice little morphine pump to administer my own drugs my family and boyfriend came into see me, and i settled down for the night.


Unfortanetly my body had other ideas, and as the night progressed i became wheezy and my asthma got bad, so i had to be put on a nebuliser. Then the medication id been given caused my blood pressure to drop too. The night wasnt a good one, as i had 2 drips, a blood pressure cuff, my morphine pump, oxygen tubes up my nose etc etc. and as the night wore on i kept needing to go the loo, as the drips did there thing!


The next morning i was woken for my medication, and sat up in bed, helped to wash and some breakfast of porridge was laid in front of me, along with a great cup of tea. Obviously i couldnt and didnt try to chew, but i ate as much as possible.


It was decided i was well enough to be transferred to a normal ward at this point, so off i went via xray to have pics taken of my jaw. I felt really dizzy at this point and the swelling was already pretty bad, and i even had alot of bruising less than 24 hours after the surgery.


As my blood pressure had dropped from the painkillers i spent day 2 only being able to take paracetamol, which quite frankly were no use at all. That evening when the doctor came round, he said he was going to risk giving me some codeine again, as in his opinion it was cruel to expect me to only have paracetamol.


That night was aweful, and i vowed to be home the next day. There was also more good and bad news to come. The good news was that the operation itself had gone well, the surgeon was 100% confident there had been no permanent nerve damage, and the xrays were looking very good. The bad news was that i was holding my jaw very very badly, and although my teeth met fine, i was increasing my chances of a re lapse by continuely holding it at a very funny angle. Bands were placed on, and at one point it looked like i would be completely banded shut, but im still waiting to find out what will happen next

The docs werent too happy to send me home as id had so many issues along the way, but i pleaded with them and eventually they relented and discharged me wednesday evening. It was actually quite scary to be at home, especially as they had wanted to keep me in another night. But i was glad to see my own bed, even if it was hard to see under all the pillows i needed to sleep!!


Here are before photos taken on the night before surgery (10th feb 2008)







This is obviously me from the front view!!











This is my profile on the 10th feb 08, its not too bad although you can see my chin is abit far back. Tho im not having any of this done for cosmetic reasons, a better profile is a bonus.






















Right: this is my teeth in profile, you can see my overjet quite clearly, at this moment it stands at 13mm.











These are photos taken on the 15th February 2008 (4 days after surgery)


















Looking good! This is taken on the morning of the 4th day after op. The swelling was much worse on days 2 and 3.













Right: this shows the swelling on the left side and also the bruise which gets bigger with every passing minute.

Much worse than i expected

Had my op on monday the 11th and it was much much worse than i expected it to be.

Here goes: (sorry if this scares anyone, i can only tell it as it is.)

Monday 11th feb 2008

Got to the hopsital at 730am with already a few tears in my eyes, so not the best of starts. Was taken to a ward, where we basically sat for ages. Then the anethetist came and introduced himself to me, and it became apparant that one of the medication i take for anxiety was going to be a problem as it contradicted with alot of other medications add on to this that i have a alergy to ibuprofen type drugs and we had a large problem.

I was anoyed at this, as i had made sure the hospital knew of these problems, way in advance and they had done nothing about it, till the morning of the surgery. I was told i would be going to theatre in the afternoon, and went down at about 2 pm (so had been sitting in the hospital for 5 hours!!)

So off i was wheeled to the pre op area, where i was asked a million questions again, such as if i had any jewerlly on etc. Then i was taken through into a room containing the anethetist. At this point i started to feel weird and disconnected from what was being done, the needle thingy was put into the back of my hand and i didnt even flinch, then the local anesethic went up my nose, and they all commented on how brave i was being.

Suddenly tho, everything changed, and as the drugs were injected into the back of my hand, i freaked out completely, i remember trying to push the aneaetist away and telling him to stop as i didnt like it, at that point i lost it completely and tryed to push my way up, the last thing i remember is them holding me down, whilst putting the mask over my face. as tramatic as this was, it had to be done and im just glad they got me under the anesthic as quickly as possible.

Surgical hooks on

So ive had the surgical hooks put on today, 14 of them! Wasnt expecting that many, but hey ho. App its better to get loads on at this stage, as if they have to add any after surgery its very painful, and they use them for elastics afterwards.

You can just about see the hooks inbetween my teeth on this photo.

There not as bad as i was expecting, tho they are digging in abit and arent exactly pleasent, there not aweful either.

Having them fitted was actually the worse part, as my teeth are abit sensitive at the moment and the archwire had to keep going in and out as they were fitted to the right places on it. Wasnt actually painful but there was alot of pressure and pulling involved.

But its over now, so now its a case of enjoy the weekend and be as prepared as possible for monday (eek!) unfortanetly im not very prepared.

Moods are all over the place at the moment, one minute im taking it well and the next im thinking ahhhhhhhh!

5 days ahhhhhh!

Cant quite beleive that the op is so close, and that im getting my surgical hooks tomorrow.

The stress is starting to get to me, i keep getting a stiff neck from tensing my muscles and ive got a whole bunch of ulcers-which is great timing as im sure the hooks tommorrow are gonna have fun cutting into them!

Think im all prepared tho, which is something, ive got a baby toothbrush, and soem baby spoons as there much smaller than the adult versions. Ive also stocked up on soup and food that can be swallowed rather than chewed. Fortanetly as ive had previous smaller ops im well knowledged in what food can be swallows whole and what cannot!

Will update with some new pics of the before surgery views and the hooks soon.

Magic Healing teeth and surgery news

Had the final meeting with my surgeon on Thursday (31^st January) so now i know all the lovely details of my op!

Here goes:

• Lower jaw only-yippee, apparently his assistant got it wrong at the pre-op and although originally the upper was on the cards, it has not been since September and she should not have told me this-hmm.

• Its an 13mm advancement of the lower jaw that is needed.

• I will need the lower wisdom teeth taken out definitely as from the xrays they will be in the way of the operation site and are impacted anyway. He may also “whip out” (his words!) the top wisdoms while he's in there, and i also need my back upper molar taken out, as when my jaw is advanced all it will do is bite onto the fleshy part at the back of my mouth-so a possibility of loosing 5 teeth then-nice! Tho im not concerned by the wisdom teeth, am a little sad about the molar as its a perfectly healthy tooth-but hey if its gotta go its gotta go! Lol.

• He hopes to not have to wire my teeth, but (why is there always a but?) as i have had 2 previous surgery's on my jaw bone in the same area and my jaw bone is known to be weak from a previous infection, there is a concern that the jaw will not break favourably for him, and then the internal fixation may need to be supported by wiring off my teeth-fingers crossed this doesn't happen. Apparently he has never had this happen to him in the 10 years he's been preforming this surgery, so im sure he doest want me to spoil his perfect record either!

• I need to be at the hospital at 7am on the 11^th February, and will go into theatre at some point in the morning, then onto intensive care or high dependency for one to one nursing. Then the next morning will be transferred to a normal ward, where he will come and see me. If by that point i am drinking and going to the loo, by myself he will discharge me. He likes to discharge the next morning if he can, but sometimes an extra day is required, but apparently you have to help yourself at this point and drink etc if you want to go home.

• Puréed food for a couple of weeks, then onto soft chew/fork smash able, tho the exact details depend on how well my surgery goes.

I have been one of the very very lucky ones, so far tho. As originally i was scheduled for upper surgery to correct an open bite and narrow palette (which has somehow managed to correct itself after 28 years) he thinks this is down to the amazing work of my ortho, i like to think i have magic self healing teeth! Lol ;) a bone graft, 4 wisdom teeth removal and lower jaw surgery. So i have managed to nearly half the amount of work needed-thanks teeth, and ok ill admit the ortho may have a little to do with it!

So that's that i guess. Next appointment is on Thursday 7^th February to have the surgical hooks on, and then its surgery on the 11^th.

Am starting to get anxious, part of me wants it over with now and part of me wants the next 9 days to go very very slowly!

Am eating everything hard i can find! Yesterday i had gingerbread, bread with seeds in it, hard crisps and a chocolate bar.

13 days and counting....

Starting to get more scared as the days tick by. Meeting with the oral surgeon on thursday, so hopefully he can make me feel better, by actually telling me why im being told completely different things by everyone i see :(

Thing that worries me most is how my boyfriend will cope as he is completely terrible with things like this, and faints at the sight of any blood or anything medical!

After im discharged from hospital, will be going home with my mum, i'll still see my boyfriend but wont see my very loved cat for a couple of weeks im guessing as she and the boyfriend live about 40miles away from my mum. As she was a rescue cat i worry that she'll think ive left her :( - funny really soon to undergo surgery and im worried about the cats welfare ;)

Pre Op appointment

Had my pre op for jaw surgery on Thursday the 23rd and it didnt all go exactly to plan....

firstly my pulse was very high, so they sent me for an ECG to check heart out, am waiting to hear back on the results of this, so fingers crossed im just one of those people with a higher than average pulse rate.

Then after all the normal health checks and a million questions, the nurse started to fill in the consent form for surgery and i discovered in my notes it says that i could still need both the upper and lower jaw doing, this shocked me abit as, as far as i was concerned it was now definately bottom jaw only : ( yet here i was signing that i agreed to have them both done.

Get to see my surgeon this thursday so hopefully he can clear things up for me, but for now im a little upset and very confused as to whats going on. And it looks like ill be going into surgery not knowing if its one jaw or both.

January 10th 2008
Side view of my teeth, in my opinion my teeth are looking pretty straight now, the overjet is still very obvious, tho this will be corrected by the surgery.

January 9th 2008
Had a pretty good xmas and new year, and now my operation is only 4 weeks away. To be honest im starting to get very scared indeed. Especially as after my excitement at the surgeons in September i forgot to find out if my wisdom teeth are still coming out and if the bone graft is still necesssary. My orthodontist “thinks” it says on my records that the wisdom teeth are still coming out, but isnt 100% sure.

Lots of hospital appointments in the following weeks:

17th Jan-Orthodontist, for adjustment, passive archwires, more impressions, xrays etc etc
23rd Jan-Preop appointment, blood tests etc
31st Jan-Meet With the surgeon again, this time will ask exactly what the plan is lol
7th Feb-Orthodontist to have surgical hooks put on (sounds like fun)
11th Feb-7am admitted to St Richards for the operation.

So a busy few weeks for me.


9th December 2007
Pain has got really bad and only in one tooth so im off to the emergency dentist.....
outcome not too good, looks like i have an area of infection under the tooth and the pressure of the braces is making a bad situation worse. May need a root canal which could cause me problems as its critical that this tooth moves into place. Hmm.
Will take the antibiotics and hope that it gets better and settles at least for now.


6th December 2007
Oww! Bad orthodontist appointment today, i had a set of impressions done and for some reason some of my teeth are becoming very very sensitive, and as she removed the tray it hurt so much i thought i was going to cry :(
then i had a thicker archwire put on the bottom complete for hooks for the elastics (great a new thing to cut my mouth to shreds!) and an elastic and power chain put onto the bottom teeth once again. Even as i was walking home the pain was very very bad and i began to wonder if something was wrong, as the night went on the pain got worse and even a drink or three did little to help.


25th October 2007
Another ortho appointment today, pretty routine really, just adjustments to the archwire and a tighter power chain put on the bottom teeth. : (


25th September 2007
Had a great time at eurodisney and my weeks continues fun as tonight im off go karting, bit worried about banging my face inside the helmet but sure it'll be fine. Feel abit bad tho as mum and Tim (the boyfriend) have organised all these great things for me to do, expecting the surgery to be soon and its been put back again, oh well! Lol.
Thorpe Park tomorrow!!


13th September 2007
DAY OF MEETING THE SURGEON
VERY EXCITING NEWS!!!
Found out today that i only need the lower jaw operating on, as in the surgeons words, “the orthodontist has done such a good job im not prepared to operate on the upper jaw any more”
I am so HAPPY, i actually told the surgeon that i love him!!!
Unfortunately i was so happy i didn't ask any of the questions i was planning to, but never mind.
One bit of bad news today is that my op has been put back again to the 11th February 2008 as there is still one tooth that the surgeon is not happy with the placement of.
Before i left i was booked in for various appointments in Jan and for the operation itself.
Now time to get ready for eurodisney, one things for certain im going to have a BIG smile on face for a while now.