Brandy's Braces, SARPE, Jaw Surgery Journal

This is my daily journal to my eventual perfect smile and Apnea free life. It logs my surgeries, and daily progress.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Swelling now settling In

So I will tell you that the swelling has increased two fold now. My nose is really stuffed up and I'm feeling pretty crappy! My tongue is so swollen and my throat really hurts. If I could get over these two things I would be feeling just fine. I did have a bit of achiness so I took some baby tylenol liquid. It seems to work pretty well, but man does it taste gross. My stomach is still very queasy. I've been working om trying to get fluids into me but man everything sorta tastes gross, so I'm really having to force myself to do it. Did any of you have trouble with your Tongue being swollen?  
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7 Comments:

  • At 11:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Brandy,

    Glad to hear that your surgery went well. I think that you look pretty good - no bruising, not much swelling! I don't know what to suggest about the sore throat and tongue; it didn't happen to me. But it's crazy that you are only using baby tylenol... I needed the morphine every 3 ot 4 hours. Hang in there, you're doing great.

     
  • At 2:16 AM, Blogger Bill said…

    Poor thing! Not sure if you're still using ice or not but around day two my surgeons had me switch to heat. They said the ice was only effective for the first 24 hours or so. The swelling is going to happen regardless but the heat feld REALLY GOOD!

    The stuffiness is most like caused by a couple of things: swelling and blood clots. For the swelling you might try, if you havent' already, switching to Oceana saline nasal spray and only using the Afrin at night. I found that the stuffiness came back two-fold when the Afrin wore off ... and you can use the Oceana saline nasal spray as often as you need (Afrin is only recommended for three days). For the blood clots, the nasal spray may loosen them up ... you can also try dampening a q-tip and gently (very gently) swab out the inside of your nostrils.

    When I went through my two surgeries I'd have to say breathing was my number one concern. Felt as if I just couldn't get enough air through my nose (I was banded shut the first week after both surgeries).

    Bad tasting medicine ... man did I learn to really hate that tylenol with codine, children's motrin and antibiotic! Eventually I just resigned myself to "getting it over with" and then following up with large amounts of water, tea, basically anything to kill the taste.

    "Food", for me, consisted of Carnation Instant Breakfast (mixed with milk) and a Boost for breakfast; a Dannon Smoothie and a Boost for a mid-morning snack; Blended soup for lunch; a Dannon Smoothie and a Boost for a mid-afternoon snack; and more soup for dinner. This was while I was banded and for about five weeks after as well (about six weeks in total). Of course, I could have cooked and blended a bunch of stuff but it seemed to lose it's flavor when I tried that.

    Don't worry Brandy ... It does get better! The swelling will peak around day three or four and the medicine is only temporary (I stopped taking the pain relievers after day two and the antibiotics were for seven days). In a day or two you're going turn the corner and start feeling much better.

     
  • At 3:42 AM, Blogger 57rdi said…

    Brandy,

    First, I know this sounds crazy but it actually seems like you're doing great. Of course, "great" is relative. Here's what I remember:

    Queasy stomach: I know that, especially the first day, I wasn't sure I wanted to eat anything. But, I think that might have been a result of having taken all of my nutrition through my veins for about two days. It was hard at first, but after the first day or two of getting stuff in me regularly (shoot for at least two to three times a day), I felt much better. Don't forget to drink lots of water, too.

    Stuffy nose: Oh, yeah, that, and nose bleeds. It lasted for a couple of days. I used Q-tips soaked in salt water to *gently* clean out my nasal passages. I know that the doctor used diluted peroxide as well. And Bill's right: save the Afrin for the nights.

    Fat tongue: Heck, Brandy, parts of my tongue are STILL swollen. At first, the underside looked HUGE. It'll go down in a few days.

    Hang in there. Set those small, daily goals. You're going to get better every day.

    -Vaughn

     
  • At 6:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I think my tongue was the only part of my whole face that didn't swell to 3x it's normal size after surgery, LOL. Take an anti-inflamatory if you're allowed. That will help with the swelling, as well as just waiting it out.

     
  • At 6:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    whoops, that comment was from me ;)
    -Beneath the stars

     
  • At 7:08 AM, Blogger Mary said…

    Hey Brandy, great to see you posting so much. You have that same post-surgery look that we all have had. But it gets better really quickly, the worst should be over by tomorrow and within just a few days you'll begin to feel much better. Its good to sleep a lot to let the healing take place. I remember it being really hard to drink but its important to get a lot of liquid and also nutrients. And the days will go by very quickly. You do look great already, not too much bruising. And hardly any numbness, wow, fantastic!!! Mary

     
  • At 3:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey, I had a mandibular sagittal split osteotomy 8 days ago, just found your blog, its very reassuring to read your report of how you recovered. I have been very lucky, hardly any bruising, which I'm putting down to the first 24 hours of ice packs :P and the considerable skills of the surgeon and his team of course. I'm glad everything went so well for you, and thanks for the informative blog. It's nice to know I'm not the only one whose lips and skin felt unusually dry and chapped post op, or whose throat felt particularly sore. And the nose bleeds weren't fun either!
    I'm still on a liquid diet for 5 weeks, and it seems America has much more to offer, I'm not sure what this 'Instant Breakfast drink' is but it sounds fab!

    Kerry, Cambridge UK

     

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