Survived SARPE/ 4 hours post op....

Ok...today was D-day. SARPE, plus two extractions. I went to the doctor at 10:15. I was then brought into the office where the surgery was done. The OS took one Xray of my front teeth so that he could know which chisel he would need to use for the procedure (this was not the most comforting thing to say to someone coming in for surgery mind you.) The nurse then put a blood pressure cuff on my left arm and took my blood pressure. It was 116 over 63 and they commented on how calm I was. She then put an oxygen meter on my left index finger. Next the doctor found a vein in my right arm (right where it bends) and so gently inserted the needle that I didn't even feel it. A velcro strap was placed over my wrist to secure my arm to the arm of the chair and I was then told that I was going to start getting a bit goofy, I quickly became light headed, and commented on how fast I felt it hit me. My Doctor said "yep, its fast" Honestly after that I don't remember a whole lot. I was consciously aware that stuff was going on around me and I could here the doctor and nurse talking to one another,but I was really pretty out of it (in a happy place.) I remember hearing him say that I would feel a few bangs as he separted the front portion of my palate. I did feel those (three of them.) They were not painful but the pressure and bang resonated quite forcefully to my head and I remember scrunching up my eyebrows from the force. Next I remember hearing him say "we just finished putting your appliance in, we are going to give it a couple of turns and make sure everything is working ok, then I will finished up with that tooth on the bottom. Were almost done" I heard him ask the nurse to remove the bracket from the lower tooth, and some very slight crunching as they removed it.Throughout the whole procedure I felt nothing. Then I was awake. It felt like I had been asleep for a very short time, and I checked my watch to see how long. I went into surgery at approximately 10:50 and I was out at 11:55, so barely 1 hour of total surgery time. My doctor said everything went smoothy, that there were no complications, and that I barely even bled at all! I was very happy to hear that, and very pleased with the quality of care I got there!

I currently have a small verticle incision right about my front teeth with a couple of stitches, and I have stitches on both sides between my cheeks. From what I can feel the stitches seem to start at or about my second molar and run up to my first molar. They are no longer than about 1 inch in diameter on both sides.

Upon leaving the surgeons office I went and got a smoothie to drink, I was starving! I'm still pretty tired and out of it. The novacaine is starting to wear off and I feel some mild pain right at or about my cheekbones. I'm icing like crazy, even brought ice packs with me to the doctors office. I'm noticing that when it starts to ache the ice really seems to help. At this point I've only had to take Advil for the pain. I do have a slight gap between my teeth now (see pics below) and I will take some better pics tomorrow of my stitches once the bleeding has settled down. They are not bleeding a lot, but some, and when I move my lip it starts to bleed pretty heavily. My teeth feel a bit loose in the front, sorta like when my braces are moving them around, but I have had no nose bleeds. My nose feels slightly stuffy but nothing too bad, in fact it almost seems like I can breathe better at the moment, which is a big plus!

Pre surgery









Post Surgery