Day 11: Post op and new x rays!

Post op today, some good news, some bad news. Ever since 2 days after the surgery, my jaw has cracked at night (mentioned in a previous post). I total it happened three times! Very scary and I felt like my bite wasn't quite right after. My midlines seemed to be off, but since I was really groggy and dont remember much from the first few days after the surgery, I wasn't sure if thats how the doctor intended it to be. When I first got to my appointment I asked the Dr. my first and most important question, which was if my midlines were supposed to my lined up or not. He said they were not, and that he himself (not the other surgeon) had done my right side and he had had some trouble with it. The bone had cracked where it wasn't supposed to and he had to use a longer plate and an extra pin (hence the stitch on the side of my face). The other Dr. came in and said that if I waited any longer my bones/muscles would have stayed in the wrong place and I would have had to get another surgery! But instead he but my in a funky rubber band configuration that pulls my jaw to the correct side. Problem solved! Since this wasn't really supposed to happen I have to go in on Thursday so he can reevaluate and reposition my bands again. He said that unfortunately it will delay the amount of time I have to not chew. Hopefully I can still get my braces off in 3-4 months!

8 plates and 26 screws and pins later...

After! So perfect :)

Before

A lot less swelling!

Sorry my lips look weird!

Dr. Egbert took the tape off the side of my face today where I had a stitch and he accidentally cut me when he was trimming the stitch.

Some bruising still left

Still can't smile :(

Rubber band configuration for the next two days, its very painful!

Day 9: Pictures

I spent the weekend at my aunt's house. My family went out of town and I wasn't really ready to travel yet. My swelling has gone down a lot and I have feeling back in my cheeks, upper lip and neck. I am able to open my mouth more so I tried eating pizza that was cut up super tiny, it was so good!

Trying to smile!

Stiched side

Bruises are fading!

RAWR!

Day 8, new pictures!

I realized through someones comment that I hadn't posted any pictures of my profile! My profile changed a ton so I dont know how I managed to forget. My nose looks smaller now and is lifted a bit. Overall I am feeling a lot better today than any other day. No pain at all in my jaw, only my neck. I am still sleeping elevated and I think that is why my neck pain wont go away. This weekend I am staying at my aunts house and for the first time I ate like a real human! My uncle made me an omelette, refried beans, and chopped up grapes, for lunch I brought soup, and then my aunt served me some ice cream and apple pie which I crumbled into the ice cream Cold Stone-style. I love eating real food. A shout out to Michaela, who has already started the long process of jaw surgery, good luck MK!

Feel free to ask me any questions!

A bit misaligned but its fixable. My jaw was right on after surgery but it shifted a bit, I think at night when I know my jaw pops.

My stitch where they put in a screw :/ Does anybody know if I can pull the layers of tape off? It doesn't come off in the shower and I'm not sure if that is the stitch itself or if there is a stich under there?

I still have a lot of black bruising under my jaw, but its slowly but surely going away! This is my biggest smile!I still have a lot of black bruising under my jaw, but its slowly but surely going away! This is my biggest smile!

My profile is unrecognizable! I love it! 

Day 7: One week!

It has officially been one week since my double jaw surgery! Exactly 7 days ago, almost to the minute, I was WALKING into the operating room, more on that later :) But first a recap of the whole surgery day. My sister had to go to work, so we left home early and dropped her off, then headed off to Children's. My check in time was set for 10 am and we got there at around 9:30, we like to be punctual. My parents registered me and we were sent to the surgical waiting area where we waited for 15ish minutes and were then escorted into a triage room type thing where they took my vitals and I put on my super attractive hospital gown. We waited there until 12, then the resident came in, Dr. Gauger, and said that the other surgery had just finished up but that it would still be about half an hour.

Luckily about 10 minutes later the nice anesthesiology team showed up and I said my goodbyes to my mom and dad (no tears from anyone!) and I was taken to what I THOUGHT was going to be another area where they would put me to sleep and THEN take me into the operating room. AH MAH GAHD. No, I left the little room we had been waiting in, turned a corner, the anesthesiologist opens these big red doors, and when we walk through there are huge operating rooms on either side. I was still calm and thinking that I was already going to be asleep when I went into the operating room. Wrong again. The doctor stops, we turn, and I walk straight into the operating room, and another doctor says "hop on!". Let me tell you, these rooms weren't like the stuff on Grey's Anatomy. (ahh, I just realized my ortho's name is Dr. Grey! and she lives in Seattle, weird) Anyways, everything in this room is white and sterile, and SCARY! I was still fine as I climbed into the bed, but once they strapped me down I got sooo scared. Luckily they put me out right away and I dont remember anything after that.

When I woke up the first thing I remember asking is if they had done the surgery, and then I clarified and asked if they had done double jaw surgery. Yes, I was talking right away, and if you know me you know I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut for long! Then I asked the nurse if they had done a hip graft and she checked and said they hadn't had to. I dozed off for a while but woke up when they asked me to move myself onto the bed in my room. Didn't they know I had JUST had surgery? I moved myself over, which hurt really bad, but they gave me some morphine and off I went.

The first night was especially terrible but the nurses there were so amazing. The one that I had that night came in what seemed like every 10 minutes to ask if we needed something. I threw up lots of blood, but that happens to pretty much everyone.

The next morning Dr. Gauger came in while we were still sleeping and I think he thought it would be funny to wake me up by turning on my examining light. He was only there for a bit, but basically he said that I wasn't progressing fast enough and that he thought I should stay another night. My mom slept through most of it but woke up when she though I was talking to myself! But it was actually the doctor I was talking to :) The day was a blur of medecines, nurses, and sleeping. My nurses were amazing. My sister even taught one of them about Mac's!

The second night was way better because I wasn't hooked up to a line, but every 2 hours i had to take meds and every hour the nurse came in to check in on me! But the best part of my night nurse was that she had had the same exact surgery 4 years prior so she knew what I was going through! One of my day nurses also had a similar procedure but only on her bottom jaw.

I got a visit from Dr. Gauger in the morning and he said I was ready to go home! We left the hospital at around 10 and I slept ALOT the next 2 days :)

Day 6: Swelling is going down down down down :)

My swelling has gone way down! my mother says I just look like her chubby faced child now :) I had a big scare last night, I had just fallen asleep and all of a sudden my jaw jerked to the left and made an awful sound. This isn't uncommon, It happened pretty often before the surgery, but I thought it would stop. Anyways it was very painful and ended in tears and my mommy consoling me as always :)

 I went out today for the first time to visit a friend and run some errands, and it was VERY exhausting. The grocery store was the worst part because all of the people made me really claustrophobic. One cheek is fatter than the other I think because on the fat side they put a screw into my jaw. ughhh. what happened to "there will be no scars on the outside"? Well I think I got off easy seeing as I have no splint or bands, so I'll take it :) 

On our way home my mother treated me to a banana split, YUM! but I only got through one small scoop before I got too tired to finish it. :(

I've been eating more now and am only losing a pound a day, the first few days I was losing 2 pounds :/

Overall a very good day with LOTS of improvement.

Day 5! ITS ME!!!

I'm back! I always get so frustrated when people don't post and here I was doing the same thing! My energy is still very low but I am doing much better that when I left the hospital on Sunday. I didn't walk around much until yesterday and I still get very tired after going up or down stairs. My swelling peaked yesterday but has not gone down, just moved around mostly. I havent been in much pain, mostly discomfort from the stitches.  My mom has been helping me with everything, and doing mostly everything for me. We are in the middle of a "hot" week in the PNW, meaning that it gets to a SCORCHING 78 degrees out ;) I don know if its because I was born and raised here or if its because of the surgery, but I am especially sensitive to the heat and have to keep icing my neck and head to stay cool! In regards to food, I have been eating fruit "crushers", they are little squeezable packs of fruit, Boost, mashed potatoes, mashed grilled eggplant, Yogurt with banana, beans, and odwalla juices!

Heres a picture for today:

This is from yesterday, day 4. I'm rockin the pensive look!

Swelling is pretty much the same today.

Day 2 after surgery.

I did it! I am finally home after two very long days at the hospital. The surgery went great, it took less time than expected; only 3 1/2 hours.  I am still very puffy but feeling a little better. I have to say that the first night after surgery was not fun at all, but the nurses were very nice and helped a lot.

Now, I'd like to introduce you all to my mommy! Since I am still not well enough to be at the computer for too long, she's going to write on my behalf.

Some good news before I go, right before surgery, Dr. Gauger told me that I might not have to be banded shut, but I would be splinted, but guess what? No splint or bands! yayyyy!
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Letter from Mama:

I want to start by saying how proud I am of my daughter. Her surgery was at Children's Hospital so while we were waiting to be admitted, we saw many little kids in the waiting area. There was a little boy who was also going to go into surgery. He started kicking and screaming at the top of his lungs, "I don't want to! I don't want to anymore!" Atenas looked over at me and said: "That's exactly how I'm feeling right now but I'm holding it in. He's my spokesperson."

sometimes Atenas has a little bit of energy to reply to messages and check Facebook, but only for a couple of minutes, I think for the next couple of days mom and sister will continue to be 'personal assistants'

We spent two nights at the hospital and were surrounded by many wonderful nurses. Although it was great to have a lot of help, that meant we had very little sleep.

Now that she's done with the surgery and in her own room, everything is going much better. Being able to recover in her own home is going to help her a lot. Atenas and I took a long nap and she's feeling much more rested.

Sister found the perfect gift at the gift shop of the hospital!. Atenas' nick name is "hermit crab" because sometimes she is crabby and sometimes shy. Also because sister in Spanish is "hermana" so it kind of goes with hermit :-)  Atenas calls her sister Shish kabob (started as 'shistah')

I think the worst part is over but I also want to make sure Atenas takes it slow. Her big sister has been amazing as well, helping a lot and keeping her sister company.

I am not "cyber person" but when Atenas found that a lot of people write blogs about the surgery, I agreed that she should write her own blog for a couple of reasons, but the main reason is because we learned a lot  from reading about other people's experience. The suggested items to purchase have helped a lot (and it also gave some of our friends ideas to shop for gifts for Atenas -thank you!).

 I am a visual learner and I need to see pictures. Looking at other peoples pictures before and after surgery helped me a lot to know what to expect. Also the best tip a friend gave me was to "be prepared when you see your child after surgery, she is going to look very puffy and have bruises". I also shared that with friends and family who wanted to come to the hospital to see Atenas. Our visitors were very nice and sensitive and only stayed for a few minutes. I appreciated their visit a lot and Atenas was very happy to see them but I also know she was tired and wanted to rest as much as possible.

Food: be ready with multiple choices, some things taste very different after surgery.

Atenas and daddy

Atenas has been drinking a protein shake, a little juice, a lot of water and for dinner her dad made her roasted eggplant (her favorite) and blend it. She liked it but I don't think she was ready for that today, we will try again tomorrow, for now we will stick with apple sauce.

Items: have plenty of wash clothes and syringes. Atenas bought baby spoons but she is not ready for those either.

Pain management: Very important to stay in schedule with pain meds.

Thanks to our friends and family for all of their support. It feels very good to know that you are thinking of us and we appreciate your calls, messages and presents!


So proud of my baby!