Day 22 since my double jaw surgery and I feel like I've been run over by a truck!
I had a back molar removed and my splint taken out today. They also removed a metal plate and screw(s) due to the loss of my tooth.
This was all brought to me by the gracious, glorious gift of IV sedation.
Everything went smoothly and only took about 20 minutes. I had the nicest, sweetest anesthesiologist in the universe and my surgeon and all his staff were - as always - incredible.
Brad drove me straight home and put me to bed, after changing the gauze twice. I also took extra pain meds which I needed. Slept a couple hours and feel much better although a little weaker than before.
My mom went home this morning. Bad timing for this procedure but I knew this would be a cake walk compared to what I've been through so far. It's really weird not having her here and I miss her already!
My tongue has been so active over the last three weeks, it's like having a wild animal in there.
It's gotten sore, healed up and started all over again - numerous times. I've tried to tame it but it's difficult. There is so much new territory to explore and it doesn't know where to start, where to put itself or where to head for it's next adventure.
Now that my splint is gone my tongue has turned into a lump. I think it's in shock.
From the few small treks that my tongue has taken it's even more bizarre than I imagined it would be. It's literally like someone has inserted another jaw, cheeks, chin, teeth and mouth into my face.
I'm a no-go for a soft food diet. I've also taken a step back in that I can't use a straw for a while. I can't drink out of a cup yet, but I can use a spoon and the syringe so I'll manage. Not happy about regressing back to the syringe but it's temporary.
For now I have to stick to my seedless, strained, liquid diet. I'm easy with that, the splint is gone and that is a huge step in my recovery.
I've seen my surgeon three times since my surgery. He warned me that he didn't think one of my back molars had survived the surgery and my open bite. I dismissed this at the time because I couldn't deal with another procedure - however small.
Last time I saw him he confirmed it.
It has to come out.
Good news:
1. He's going to pull it.
2. He's going to take my splint out at the same time. (I've been dreading this.)
3. It's happening next week and best of all...
4. I'm going to be under IV sedation for all of it.
After everything I've been through already, I think I can handle this.
That tooth has been through a lot. I had a small oral surgery, root canal and crown put on it about 12 years ago. I'm upset about losing a tooth, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I'm just glad a talented, experienced surgeon who already knows me is going to take care of it.
In other news, I'll share a funny story from my recovery.
For a few nights after I got home from the hospital we switched up our sleeping arrangements. Brad was still working so in order for him to get a good sleep he moved into the spare bedroom and my Mom and I slept in the same bed. I was up every 2-3 hours at that point.
I had just gotten my Mom up to help me get new ice and more painkillers and we climbed back into bed. It was Tuesday, 3:00am.
There was the loudest party I've ever heard going on across the street. We laid there for a while amazed at the noise, then I got up with peeked out the window. My mom was killing herself laughing - me at the window in my underwear, middle of the night, with my gigantic jaw bra on my head. So I honoured the moment with a cartoon.
I'm still doing really well. Day 16!
Just dealing with:
- my revulsion of the liquid diet. I will never have another smoothie again.
- I'm starving - it was easier when I wasn't hungry at all - that only lasted about two weeks.
- I can take my surgical elastics off my braces to eat which means eating with a small baby spoon. I can open my teeth about 10mm (3/8") at this point. How messed up - that that was how much of an open bite I had before all this!
- I can use a straw but it's really difficult. I abandoned the syringe about 24 hours ago.
- I still have the splint behind my upper teeth.
- I'm still on the painkillers but at a really small dose. When they wear off I can feel where he took me apart - nobody needs to deal with that.
- My hip graft feels much better although it bugs me sometimes - upon which I throw an icepack on it.
- My energy is still pretty low but I try to get out once a day for a walk.
- There is no way I could go back to work now. Take 4-6 weeks off if you ever have to deal with this type of surgery.
- The swelling is still there between my upper lip and nose, on either side of my nose and my chin but only those who know me well would notice.
- My chin and area above my upper lip are painful. Also lately the tip of my nose - which is strange because nothing was done to my nose.
- I can also feel one area where there is definitely a plate/screw/bolt/something. I try not to focus on it. I can't feel anything other hardware yet.
Above all I can tell already that this surgery is going to change my life. I can't believe my teeth meet in the front! I have absolutely no regrets and now that I've over the worst of recovery it can only get better.
Last night we were relaxing and watching a movie together. I decided to eat, and I announced "I'll do it alone tonight! Just keep the movie going."
It's not like it's a big deal and I've needed tons of help, but my mom or Brad usually sits with me and keeps my company while I dole out syringe after syringe of Ensure or soup. That's real love.
So I sat down and started eating. Everything was going smoothly until I decided to take a Tylenol. I'm able to open my teeth enough to get the pill inside.
Once it's in there it's a little difficult to control it. But it went down surprisingly quickly. I had another syringe of Ensure.
Then I could taste Tylenol. I felt around with my tongue.
Oh shit.
It's stuck in my splint.
There is a little gap between the roof of my mouth and the top of my splint. Just big enough to jam a pill obviously.
"I have a problem over here," I announced through my clenched jaws.
I rushed into the bathroom with Brad on my heels. I'm at the point where I can take the elastics off my braces. I had to get the bands off so I could open my mouth a little wider and get the pill out.
Brad ended up in there with a headlamp. He grabbed this syringe from me and slowly worked it out with the tip.
It was a super tense moment and not funny at all at the time.
Afterwards, once we calmed down we started laughing. Look what happens the first time I try to take care of myself?!
We went and bought liquid Tylenol this morning.
So my recovery has been...interesting.
I'm on Day 11 and am over the worst of it (I hope). Here is what I'm dealing with now:
- I'm still on a full strained liquid diet because my teeth are banded shut with elastics.
- I have a new splint in the top of my mouth, I'm not sure when that is coming out.
- My bruising has healed up a lot.
- Most of my swelling is down except swelling that will likely stick around for the next couple months.
- My hip graft is still sore but nothing like it was when I woke up from the surgery.
- I have feeling here and there in my face but overall it's numb from my eyes down to my chin.
- My energy levels are better but I get tired easily.
- I can talk but it's difficult to understand me when I can barely open my jaw.
If anyone out there reading this is heading into double jaw surgery with genioplasty:
- Be prepared for lots of moments of humility, fear and frustration. They will pass.
- Have people around you who don't judge, fully support you and are willing to look after you 24-7. If anyone doesn't fit these criteria - get away from them.
- It starts out really bad and gets better, it might be hard to believe at first but it does.
The night I got home from the hospital, we were busy getting stuff organized and ready for me to actually be around the house. Brad was in the kitchen doing something with his back to us.
My nose had been a little plugged and bleeding a lot and really bothering me since I woke up from the surgery.
Finally I simply I reached up and pulled a giant red blood clot out of my nose.
My mom's eyes went wide and we scrambled out of the room in a state of silent panic so Brad wouldn't see.
We've had a few of these moments. Some really funny like this one and some kind of scary. I think we've done a good job at maintaining our sense of humour. This has been hard on all three of us. I can't imagine going through this without the support of both my mom and my husband.
One week ago today I had my double jaw surgery.
It's been a really, really tough week but I think I'm over the worst of it. In the meantime, whenever I look down this is what I see.
I have lots to share with you guys, but I'm off to "eat" and then go to bed.
Once in a while I have these really intense moments. They always involve music, I never know when they're going to happen, and it's always really positive.
Tonight I was walking home from work and the sun had decided to come out at the end of a cold, cloudy day. My iPod decided to play three of my favourite 80's songs in a row on a shuffle:
Automatic - The Pointer Sisters
It's my Life - Talk Talk
Take on Me - a-ha
Once Take on Me came on, I was walking over the Johnson Bridge. Suddenly everything became clear, I felt totally euphoric and I knew that I was in the right place and doing the right thing.
No more doubts.
All the anxiety I've been feeling about my upcoming jaw surgery melted away. I know I'm in the right hands in so many ways:
1. Brad and my Mom
2. My surgeon
3. My orthodontist
4. Supportive work environment
5. Caring and supportive friends
I know I'm in good hands and I'll get through this.
I've spent some time lately running around getting prepared for my big day. Keeping busy helps shut my brain up when it wants to torture me. Two weeks to go.
Appointments with GP and surgeon (next week is my last orthodontist visit), bloodwork, stop at the drug store to fill a whole bunch of prescriptions - to name a few of my chores. This week my surgeon gave me a cheery party bag full of stuff I'll need when I'm recovering.
I have a notebook for when I won't be able to talk - I treated myself to one from Regional Assembly of Text. I have medicated lip balm, ice packs, ear plugs for the hospital, tons of dental wax...the list goes on.
I was rummaging through everything my surgeon gave me - ice packs, jaw bra*, mouth rinse etc. I'll be eating strictly liquids from a syringe for the first few weeks. So he gave me a syringe and included a clear plastic tube that I can attach to it - kind of like a long straw.**
I did a double take when I noticed this on the sealed bag the tube is in:
It's a rectal tube?! There is even a small package of lubricant in there with it!
Seriously?
*Who comes up with these names?
**No sucking from straws allowed for a long time. I think it will be more like an IV drip.
We went to to another cabin on the weekend!
We found this place on VRBO. It was fantastic!! We were surprised to see it has only been operating since June.
We'll be going back here for sure. It was the perfect weekend getaway for two. I could easily stay here a week or longer.
We had breakfast in the sunshine and a yummy bbq moonlit dinner outside. We went for hikes, sat on beaches, checked out the farmer's market and read in the sunshine on the deck.
We drank wine and port and ate Cheezies - I realize these are on the opposite ends of the spectrum but they are also both on my list. We didn't eat them at the same time.....what do you take me for?!
I'm getting more and more emotional as my surgery approaches. For some reason the thought of French Beach brings me to tears. I bought a bracelet at the farmer's market on Pender which I'm not taking off until they make me - I'm clutching at anything that brings me comfort.
I started When God was a Rabbit and put it down after 75 pages. I have zero tolerance for crappy books these days. I was glad to see Christielli agreed with me.
Luckily there was a bookstore on the island that we had visited on Friday afternoon. I bought a potentially good page turner so started that instead. I always pack back-up books so it wasn't like I had nothing. There are also the 14 books on my iPad....
One more thing to do this summer - Seattle. I can't believe I'm only at work another two weeks.
When we were planning everything that we wanted to do this summer, camping was pretty high on our radar.
Remember this? I wonder if those guys ever got their well deserved chainsaw enemas.
We finally replaced all our camping gear so nothing was stopping us. We chose one of our favourite places, French Beach.
I couldn't wait to see the trees and just sit quietly near them. I had an extreme urge to just be in nature. It felt amazing when we got there to sit in the sun and have lunch. And lunch was fairly typical - pre-cut goodies with Hawkins Cheezies and beer.
Who wouldn't want to curl up and fall asleep in this tent?! This is the first time I used my new sleeping bag and it was fantastic.
We spent a few hours on the beach, always so relaxing and gorgeous. French Beach isn't a typical sandy beach, it's covered with lots of big smooth rocks with a small sandy beach when the tide is out. I love it, it's such an interesting place.
That night Brad convinced me to walk down to the beach. It takes convincing because there are werewolves and it's scary and my flashlight sometimes plays tricks on me. The only thing we saw were bats and actually they were pretty cool.
When we were down there, we looked back towards the campsite and saw this.
You know how your brain fires a thousand thoughts a second? Well, in that second we both thought the forest was totally on fire. The moon was a super moon - 30% brighter than normal. Unfortunately because of this it didn't seem worth it to get up in the night to see the meteor shower.
The next morning we had a yummy breakfast which included coffee in enamel mugs. So. Damn. Good. Holy crap it was awesome in every way.
I feel strangely recharged and more energized since we got back. Like I've been reacquainted with an old friend. I wish we had more time to go again this summer.
We find ourselves trying to cram our entire summer into the time between now and September 3rd. So I've started lists of 'Things To Do' and 'Stuff to Eat'.
Some things on my 'Things To Eat' list:
- all this wine, port and cider from wine tastings we did a week ago
- Foo
- about 20 grilled cheese sandwiches
- Hawkin's Cheezies
Some things on my 'Things To Do' list:
- wine tastings (check)
- Seattle
- camping
- coffee/drink dates with all my buddies
Then there are the ultimate decisions:
1. What is my last meal at home? (Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich)
2. Where to go for my last meal out? (I have no idea.)
So remember when I went gluten/dairy free for a year? The other day I realized that I could possibly be facing three months without food. Gluten/dairy free will be a breeze compared to what I have in store.
