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Author Topic: Double Braced  (Read 86849 times)

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #165 on: 13. October 2024, 20:52:00 PM »
For those of you waiting to hear how my appointment went, it had to be rescheduled to Wednesday. I got a phone last Thursday letting me know my orthodontist wouldn’t be in the office the next day. I had the choice to see the new orthodontist in the office or reschedule. Given this would be my last appointment before my surgery, I opted to reschedule so I could see my orthodontist and discuss with her what the plan is after my surgery. The only available day is this Wednesday. So his coming week, I have m pre op appointment and my orthodontic appointment for my regular visit and have my surgical hooks placed. I’m so thankful my doctor filled out my jury duty medical excuse so I won’t have to worry about missing any of these appointments.

Offline anton08

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #166 on: 17. October 2024, 07:32:17 AM »
Today I really hope your rescheduled appointement went well and that you now know the plan for the time after your surgery.

All the very best for the future!

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #167 on: 18. October 2024, 06:07:54 AM »
Thanks anton08

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #168 on: 18. October 2024, 06:32:26 AM »
I can’t believe it’s only Thursday. It feels like next week should be starting already. I only just got home for the evening from going to dinner with my daughter’s cross country team after their meet, and I left the house at 7:15 this morning. 
Monday, I followed up with my back doctor. Next week, if I have the time, I am due for my next set of in brace and out of brace X-rays. Tuesday, I had my pre-op appointment and was cleared for surgery by my physician. While my ekg hasn’t changed at all, the little computer interpretation thinks there is an issue. My doctor has sent the current ekg along with the 2 prior over to my jaw doctor for his review and the anesthesiologist’s review to make sure they’re both good with it. Just in case, I was miraculously able to get a cardiology new patient appointment for next Wednesday to get an ekg review if needed.
Yesterday I had my orthodontist appointment and had 6 surgical hooks added to my braces. My top jaw has wire ties holding in the archwire in 3 different sections around where my jaw will be cut. It’s the tightest my braces have ever felt, but thankfully was only a little tender overnight. My lower braces got 3 of the hooks along with a new power chain. The best part is I finally get a break from elastics. I’ve been wearing them in one configuration or another for just about 2 years now. The hooks haven’t been too bad. Only the bottom ones have been poking into my lip. The middle one on the bottom wiggles and I can’t stop playing with it. Both the upper and lower set of hooks are spaced weirdly due to the small bends in the archwires to level my front teeth. They look funny.
I’m hoping for a calm day tomorrow. Saturday is my son’s homecoming football game. His team is 7-0 this season and hope to continue the streak. They will be playing a pretty evenly matched team, so it should make for a game.
Next Tuesday is my last appointment with my jaw doctor before my surgery. I’ll get to see my teeth models and get a better idea of how the surgery will go. I have a couple of questions- more out of curiosity than concern. What questions would you ask if you were in my shoes? I would love to hear your thoughts.
https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/Vftwb6H

Offline Bracesx3

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #169 on: 03. November 2024, 06:53:24 AM »
I survived jaw surgery. Here’s a picture of my jaw while waiting in the preop area https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/t2hxn40 . The anesthesiologist asked if I had problems with any meds and I explained my resistance t a lot of sedatives relaying how my pulmonologist literally ran out of versed while doing a bronchoscopy a few years ago, so I wasn’t given anything until it was time to put me under. I’m not going to lie, the first day was brutal. I had to wait in the recovery for 9 hours to get a bed in the ICU step down unit. The noise and light made pain management very difficult. I was alternated between fentanyl and morphine to try to help.  I had 5 elastics which all broke in about the first hour and no splint. My most of my jaw was in agony, my face and palate were numb and everything was in a different location than I was used to. I couldn’t swallow. I was given a Yonkers suction tube to use anytime I needed it. My face and head were wrapped in a compression bandage with ice packs on either side. https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/LFmaEwc
When I finally got to my room, I was given a PrimaFit external catheter. It’s hooked up to constant suction that slurps away urine as you are peeing- if you’re able to force yourself to pee while not on a toilet. It took me hours and I thought I was going to explode. I had to bear down so hard, I do not recommend unless you have incontinence and are bed bound. I would have happily kept the foley that was placed in the OR.
After that my nurse tried to help me start swallowing. With both jaws moved forward and no feeling on my palate, my tongue didn’t know where to go. My mouth was technically made bigger but felt smaller. I coughed and choked while worshipping my suction wand. Slowly a few drops at a time I was able to get a couple ounces of apple juice down after not eating for 27 hours, even though I wasn’t really hungry. The next day, my compression bandage was removed which felt nice. This is what my jaw looked like. https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/ac0sSaM
By the age noon of the 2nd day, I was able to “feed” myself albeit very slowly. I’m not sure if I swallowed more liquid or air. https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/7lMjYCg
I was discharged Wednesday afternoon only after my doctor was able to confirm that all the reactions he ordered were able to be filled. I had to go by his office on my way home to have my elastics put back in and a CT scan taken. You can see in the CT how swollen my face is. https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/uVu6cSt The surgery was different than I had originally been told and not everything could be done because there was no way to secure all of it. I didn’t find out the changes until the Tuesday before surgery. My upper and lower jaws were both moved 6mm forward, and my chin was moved an additional 6mm forward. The top jaw was slanted slightly to even out my bite and the bottom jaw was tilted slightly to even my midline. No jaw widening could be done because of the needed forward movement. My doctor phrased it to the effect of with this procedure no widening could be done, though he did acknowledge that I still don’t have enough room in my mouth for my tongue. I don’t know what to make of the conversation, especially while under the influence of my pain meds. I now have eight elastics that I have to replace on my own when they break and it’s painful. I can’t open my mouth enough to show them to you at this time.
Yesterday I developed a horrible allergic reaction on my nose where they used liquid adhesive to help hold my intubation tube in place. I’ve had to text updates several times a day to my surgeon to make sure it isn’t getting worse. When I spoke to him this evening (if you want to call it speaking, he asked how my elastics were doing. I told him still breaking. I begged him before surgery to use anything else afterwards because I have watched videos of people have to change theirs after surgery and it looked excruciating, and Im here to tell you those videos don’t lie. He seems to think I’m opening my mouth and snapping them, but that’s not the case. He mentioned that if that was what is causing them to break, wiring my jaw would be worse and could loosen my hardware from my pulling against the tension. We’ll see what he decides when I go back on Tuesday. I’m very grateful that I can only feel part of the irritation, otherwise I would have scratched my face off by now. I’ve had to take 50mg of Benadryl every 6 hours to try to get it to calm down. In addition to that, I’m on liquid Vicodin and liquid antibiotics. Before surgery, I walked the children’s over the counter section and picked up the liquid form of several meds like Benadryl (just in case, and very good call), my daily Zyrtec, but also peptobismol and ibuprofen (I think I have to drink half the bottle to get an adult dose).
My daily diet is a choice of flavors of different flavored nutritional shakes. I have cafe au lait, pumpkin spice, cinnamon roll, a couple of chocolates, and mixed berry or orange clear boost. I also have some Trader Joe’s power of 7 purple and red juices to get some fruits and veggie nutrients. I have the usual gatorades and electrolyte drinks too. Lastly, I have chicken, turkey, and beef broth when I want something savory. I can’t remember having to pee so much in my life. I don’t know how I’m going to keep myself from floating away.
Tonight a good friend of mine from Panama brought a home cooked meal for my family. It smelled so good, but I wasn’t in the least bit tempted to try to eat it. I’m blaming my meds for that. My son loved her cooking. It’s the first time he ever tried plantains. I told him I like them with ketchup, but he might like Cane’s sauce better. They were a hit! She promised to have us over for authentic Panamanian food once I can eat again. It’s only been 28 years since I’ve eaten in Panama, what’s a couple more months, right?

Offline anton08

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #170 on: 03. November 2024, 07:47:02 AM »
Bracesx3, I wish you all the best for your recovery.

And again I am impressed by your strength to undergo such a large operation, that may leed to all the results you wish. 

Offline napacaster

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #171 on: 03. November 2024, 16:47:19 PM »
Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Offline TrainTrack

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #172 on: 03. November 2024, 17:14:22 PM »
I hope you recover well. It sounds like torture.

And are you saying that you might need another one to widen your jaw?

Offline anton08

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Re: Double Braced
« Reply #173 on: 04. November 2024, 16:18:57 PM »
You write that no widening of your jaws could be done, so you might need another operation.

Maybe you could avoid those operations with expanders?

You are so brave!  8)