Hold me.

goheels05 · March 2010

I googled "mandibular advancement surgery blogs." Bad idea.

I don't wanna do it anymore. No one told me there would be blood drainage tubes and blood pouring from my nose and increased risk of permanent loss of feeling in my lower lip because I'm "old."

AlexiaANDRobert · March 2010

WTH???

Does this have to do with your mouth surgery???

katiewhompus · March 2010

*hugs*
That sounds like no fun, did I miss a back story?

mocha beans · March 2010

Ditto Katie, what's the backstory on this one?

Sounds absolutely delightful, /sarcasm.

mocha beans · March 2010

Ditto Katie, what's the backstory on this one?

Sounds absolutely delightful, /sarcasm.

beatlesgirl25 · March 2010

Oh no! That sounds awful. They really should have told you about that stuff! Is it like super possible, or just one of the risks involved in the surgery?

goheels05 · March 2010

Yeah, sorry. I'm having jaw surgery to correct my overbite. I've been in braces a little over a year. My whole braces treatment plan has been based on me having this surgery. We had 2 options in the beginning--braces and surgery or braces and having 2 teeth removed. We are going the surgery route because it will be better for properly aligning my bite and it will look better aesthetically.

This is the blog that got me all upset:
http://brandysjawjourney.blogspot.com/

There are pictures of her recovery. Caution--they are graphic:
http://picasaweb.google.com/brandyleigh35/SurgeryPhotosDayOf#

btrflykate1230 · March 2010

I really hope you don't end up with any of those side effects!

goheels05 · March 2010

The possibility of permanent loss of feeling in the lower lip is something like 32% if you are over 30. I'm not 30 yet, but 32% is a big effing deal (thank you, VP Biden).

Every time I meet with the surgeon, he asks me like a half dozen times if I have any questions. Well, maybe if you think I should have questions, go ahead and throw them out there and answer them for me. But yeah, now that I've read these blogs, I have lots of questions.

kellyjellybelly · March 2010

For 20ish hours postop I don't think she looks all that bad. One of my good friends had this surgery back in high school - all is well now. From a brief look at her blog it looks like she had multiple procedures? Were those all at once?

katiewhompus · March 2010

I always hate the "do you have any questions" when you don't really know enough to have questions yet.

Nebb · March 2010

I dont want to look, I made the mistake of looking at mouth surgery pics once when my friend was getting something done and it was a horrible thing to look at. How many of these surgeries has your doc done and what is his success rate of NOT achieving lip numbness? Can he give you that kind of info?

kellyjellybelly · March 2010

Oh - and surgeons tend to have not-so-great interaction skills. For the most part, all they are interested in is actually doing the surgery (at least the ones I work with). Write all your questions down and be sure to ask - they're not going to go on and on unless you ask.

caseylynne21 · March 2010

stop looking at that stuff...it will really only make your nerves worse.

beatlesgirl25 · March 2010

Heels, I'm sorry. I looked at the pictures and it didn't look as bad as I thought it would. Not that it means she wasn't in discomfort and/or pain, but maybe the tube things are just within immediate post-op?

I hope you can find time to talk to the surgeon beforehand about your concerns. Even if this is a must-do procedure at this point, I think you'll feel less anxious if you can get some answers and opinions about your case from your doctor.

laurenclaire1386 · March 2010

This is going to sound like I'm trying to freak you out, but I'm actually trying to make you feel better. When I had my wisdom teeth out, I had a spot the size of a quarter on my jawline that was numb for a year after the surgery. I eventually regained feeling. I also had stitches for a dog bite wound and didn't have feeling around the scar for like 10 years, but it eventually came back. (You can kind of see the scar in my sig pic, it's on my shoulder) I have to assume that losing feeling in your lip is due to nerve damage. Based on my experience, my nerve damage wasn't permanent.

goheels05 · March 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_hold-3?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:9766b084-eabb-4ba8-93c8-140b3f514d79Post:00d7d208-dd68-430e-8c5c-a5a2a6383a8b">Re: Hold me.</a>:
[QUOTE]For 20ish hours postop I don't think she looks all that bad. One of my good friends had this surgery back in high school - all is well now. From a brief look at her blog it looks like she had multiple procedures? Were those all at once?
Posted by kellyjellybelly[/QUOTE]

Yeah, this chick had 2 or 3 different surgeries. I got myself together and reminded myself that I'm only having one surgery, and at that point, started focusing on blogs that were only on exactly what I'm having done. So that's some relief.

The surgeon I'm talking to is one of the top oral surgeons on the east coast, so I'm confident that I'm in good hands and that the odds of something going awry are as low as they can be. I'm just really squeemish with blood and stuff. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-embarassed.gif" border="0" alt="Embarassed" title="Embarassed" />

caseylynne21 · March 2010

i've worked in a dental office before and the lower jaw can be kind of tricky, they normally use a different typed of anthestic for it than the upper jaw. i am not saying this to freak you out but second laurenclaire. sometimes it can take some time *IF* this does happen, it can come back.

I actually dont do blood well so i won't look on that site but keep reminding yourself that this women had multiple surgeries while you will only have one. it is something that i am assuming is very easy for them to do and they probably do several a year

kellyjellybelly · March 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_hold-3?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:9766b084-eabb-4ba8-93c8-140b3f514d79Post:086068a9-2aca-4052-b10c-ea9e16bfbbda">Re: Hold me.</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Hold me. : Yeah, this chick had 2 or 3 different surgeries. I got myself together and reminded myself that I'm only having one surgery, and at that point, started focusing on blogs that were only on exactly what I'm having done. So that's some relief. The surgeon I'm talking to is one of the top oral surgeons on the east coast, so I'm confident that I'm in good hands and that the odds of something going awry are as low as they can be. I'm just really squeemish with blood and stuff.
Posted by goheels05[/QUOTE]
When is your surgery? I've worked in an OR for the past 8 years, I can honestly count the number of problems on my fingers. People never hear about all the surgeries that went well, people don't for the most part make a big deal when they've had a successful surgery. It's always the random few that do have a problem that people make sure everyone hears about. I hope that makes sense.<div>Good luck :) </div>

goheels05 · March 2010

Thanks gals, this is helping, believe it or not!

Surgery isn't scheduled yet, we're waiting for my insurance to respond to the doctor's office request, but it could be as early as mid April/early May.

katiewhompus · March 2010

It's not the same thing but I remember when I had my wisdom teeth taken out it was much more traumatic for my mom than for me. All 4 of my teeth were impacted and I was knocked out for the surgery. I was just a little groggy and felt numbed up, but my mom was the one who had to deal with seeing me knocked out, on an iv, with bloody gauze that had to be changed hourly, etc.

And yeah, I would say 44 qualifies as old enough to feel side effects deemed for those over 30. You are still a spring chicken

caseylynne21 · March 2010

my dad went through a lot of mouth surgeries a few years ago. he had his two front teeth knocked out as a kid. i dropped him off and picked him up from each one. and i definitely second the fact that it is worse to be the care taker. you will be totally drugged out of your mind. make sure that you have lots of movies to watch and smoothies to drink/eat. and they should tell you this there but no straws...

shellydiane820 · March 2010

32%?

That means you have 68% chance of having feeling in your mouth, and you're under 30!

You'll be fine!

kellyjellybelly · March 2010

I'm happy to help if you have any questions about anesthesia or the whole surgery process, postop or whatever. Just let me know

katiewhompus · March 2010

I'm just happy they gave me a happy pill before I got to surgery for my wisdom. I was more concerned about the iv than I was the actual surgery, but the pill made everything A OK.

laurenclaire1386 · March 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_hold-3?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:9766b084-eabb-4ba8-93c8-140b3f514d79Post:afac1e57-a8bf-483e-9860-68836380fcec">Re: Hold me.</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm just happy they gave me a happy pill before I got to surgery for my wisdom. I was more concerned about the iv than I was the actual surgery, but the pill made everything A OK.
Posted by katiewhompus[/QUOTE]

I wasn't under for mine, but I had heavy duty anaesthesia. Before they injected me with the anaesthesia though, they gave me this stuff to drink called chloral hydrate. Yeah it started working as soon as I got it down. I decided it would be a good idea to pee before the surgery. I was wearing drawstring pants and I got to the bathroom and looked down at the tied drawstring like "WTF am I supposed to do with this?" Zero motor skills and very little cognitive reasoning after that stuff.

katiewhompus · March 2010

That was the story of my life in college...just due to alcohol. I remember looking at my loft bed and going "now how on earth do I get up there? Why is my bed on the ceiling?"

riverjib · March 2010

Your remarks will make me a better physician, so some good will come from this for someone, especially if I'm not the only one. Honestly, I'm not a doctor yet, and after ten years of experience in health care you'd think I would know that most people have no idea what questions to ask.

In defense of your misguided and insensitive doc, most patients are so google and WebMD-savvy that they're almost too well-informed. It's often difficult to explain to patients that they have something different from what they decided they have. People don't want to listen to doctors anymore, and it's because they've historically been too arrogant about making decisions, and decided to figure it out for themselves. It's become a vicious cycle that makes doctors feel like pawns (more due to insurance companies dictating what they do than anything else) who are annoyed with trying to explain things to people unwilling to listen, and patients who are equally fed up with doctors not treating them like intelligent human beings.

I know very little about dentistry, but I do know surgery. Educate yourself and get multiple opinions. Some risks are significant, while other procedures carry a limited risk...for example, my sister was 1 in nearly a million who lost all sensation in half her tongue after a routine route canal. There's a reason that there is no such thing as a minor surgery. Even risks that don't affect your overall health can change you permanently.

Hold me.

Re: Hold me.

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