Braces + SARPE/SARME Surgery: SARPE/SARME Surgery

The day of surgery has been and gone. It has now been two and a half weeks and I'm feeling great! But maybe I should start from the beginning...

I was nervous a few days before the surgery, I had myself worked up so much that I even cried... but the day of surgery was different. I had asked my bible study group to keep me in their prayers and a few of my close friends. It's amazing because I actually felt their prayers and I knew that no matter what happened, God was and is in control :-)

I arrived at the hospital and signed in etc, the nurse then took me in to get changed straight away. I was early, so I was suprised that they wanted me so soon! So I changed into my hospital gown with nothing else on except my socks and undies. Naked much!! But anyway, it was fine. Everyone else was dressed the same too. I then had to wait for about four hours. You would think this was painful, right? It wasn't. I actually knew some of the other patients so we shared stories and talked for a while. After they had left I entertained myself with tv and chatting with the staff occasionaly.

...Then the nurse came... it was my turn. They had me climb onto a stretcher bed to take me to the preperation room. This felt silly because I could walk quiet fine! But I guess it was kinda fun. My surgeon actually came to see me before they took me away. That was a nice suprise because he is totally nice to look at ;-) He went through the procedure with me, told me exactly what he was going to do and asked if I had any questions. I was then wheeled away.

We arrived in the prep room and I met the anasthesioligist. She was lovely and kind and talked to me the whole time (I guess that was to keep my nerves at bay). The nurse put sticky things on my chest... it scared me. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but I didn't. It was nothing though, just stickers. I had one needle to put an IV line in. She said she would put the other in after I was sleeping because I'm a bit nervous about needles etc.

After about ten minutes they wheeled me into theatre where I met the rest of the team. They were all so busy doing things and preparing I guess that I didn't feel too worried. The anasthesioligist hooked me up to the IV bag and I felt a very cold liquid going through my veins. I told her she was nasty for not warming it up for me :-P That's the last thing I remember. I didn't even have to count.

I woke up in the recovery area feeling a little groggy and tired, but not really sore at all. They told me later that I had been in there for a couple of hours and that they had trouble waking me up because I liked the drugs so much! Not long after they took me to the ward, still in a bed and I had to slide myself from one bed to the other. My mother came in almost straight away which ended up being very good. They had a clip on my finger to monitor my oxygen intake and at one stage it went down to 60 something %!! So my mummy had to keep telling me to breath when I forgot. Doesn't that sound silly?!!

Eventually that drug was out of my system and then I began to feel the pain. Up until then though, I was talking with my family a little bit and making jokes. I was suprised at the lack of pain. i expected something horriffic! I had an ice pack around my head/face almost constantly to reduce the swelling at give me some releif. In the middle of the night I felt really bad and wanted some nurofen (actually something stronger but I can't remember the name) to take away the pain, but I couldn't have it because my mother being so organised, took the prescription home so I didn't lose it and the nurses didn't have a record of this in my file so I couldn't have it!! I ended up asking them to call her in the early hours of the morning. Then I had my drugs and tried to sleep.

I felt dizzy at times trying to walk or stand up because I had so much medication in my system, but this settled down as we worked out the right balance. I spent one night in hospital (98% of patients with this surgery do stay in hospital at least one night in Aus) and went home at lunch time the next day in my pyjamas. I spent ten days at my mothers house with my kids. She was my own private nurse for the first week as I was so drugged. I took medication every four hours without fail because if I left it even half an hour longer, the pain was quiet intense. I could hardly close my lips because they were so swollen. When I was in pain, I couldn't move them much and I struggled to get anything down my throat. Taking pills was so much harder because they got stuck in my expander. It didn't take long until I worked out a few ways to make it work though, for example, covering my tablets in something like yoghurt and swallowing that instead.

After the first week I began to extend the times I took medication and began to feel more human. I went to bible study on the seventh day and almost feel asleep during that time... but it was so nice to see people again and get out of the house. When the tenth day hit I was officially off all my pain killers. I only had the preventative anti-biotics left. Oh, the other thing I had to do during this time was rinse my mouth with salt water about six times a day. That was exausting as I couldn't swish anything in my mouth, and it hurt so much! I couldn't even brush my teeth for that whole time :-( Let me tell you why in a second...

I had an appointment on the seventh day with my orthodontist. He lifted my top lip up to have a look and I told him to stop, put my hands up infront of my face and cried like a baby. It actually felt like I had fire on my face (mouth and nose)!!! The next time he had a look he was very very gentle, but I was so scared i was still shaking when he had finished. All the staff were looking at me like I must be in a lot of pain. It was so embarrassing!! But I must say, I am now very thankful that situation happened. He discovered that I had Oral Thrush!!! That's why my tongue looks disgusting and the place where i had been cut for the jaw break was so saw and felt like burning.

He prescribed me some more anti-biotics of a different nature and gave me an anti-bacterial mouth wash to use twice a day. It felt so nice to know that this pain was going to dissapear very soon, and it did. After a day or two I could already notice a difference. I slowly began to brush my teeth... very gently, and now I'm here!

I feel great and normal and my upper jaw is getting wider :-) I started turning the key myself (even though he asked my mummy to do it... I didn't want anyone near my mouth) twice a day for three days, and then only once after that. I have another appointment in a couple of days and maybe he will tell me I can stop turning it :-) That part is not painful, it just feels tight for about half an hour.

So, overall the experience has not been too bad. I don't know if I would do it again, but i am happy with the results so far. And guess what?? Since having my braces put on and going through the surgery, I have lost 10kg!!! That's massive :-D Now here is what you've been waiting for; PICS!!!!!!