Post Op is fine but what about those drugs?

Hi All,

I eventually had the palate operation the week before last. My mouth did hurt a little and I was able to eat only soft foods, but things gradually improved and I'm hoping to be able to forget about this in a week or so.

Other than that, I've been trying to reduce my medication. It turns out that with the pain that I had, the amount of medication I was prescribed was significant. So much so, that the process I need to undergo is very much like a drug withdrawal that an addict would go through. I'm having trouble with sleep, moods, I'm hot and cold, appetite is gone, etc. We are taking it easy by gradually decreasing the dosage. We're not going to go 'cold turkey' (i.e. we won't cut off all the medication at once); the doctors don't think that I would like sitting in a corner whimpering :-)

So far I reduced 50% of my medication, but I did it a little too quickly, hence a pretty bad reaction that I experienced in the last week and a half. We're hoping that a slower process will cause milder symptoms.


Take care everyone,
Guy

Here we go again

Hello,

OK, let's give it another try. On Monday morning, I'm hoping to go into the OR and have my palate fixed. btw, they were supposed to remove a tooth from my lower jaw, but we ended up deciding to keep it there until we got to a stage where we would start working on the implants.

Otherwise, I'm a little groggy and forgetful, we think it's the medication (hoping). We'll be trying to address this over the next few weeks. As for the shoulders, I'm continuing to make progress with physical therapy.

Have a good weekend!
Guy

Well, it didn't happen

Hi Folks,

During the days leading to and the day of the procedure, I was not feeling well. My pain was increasing substantially and my overall feeling was not good. Consulting with the surgeon, we both decided that it was probably not a good idea to go through with the surgery since it entailed general anasthesia.

I'm on some stronger meds now and working hard with the physical therapist to get my shoulders to where they need to be (hopefully that will reduce the pain). The good news is that this recent week I've been feeling a lot better. So, if you feel the urge to pick up the phone or drive over for a visit, please go ahead, I love you all :-)

Cheers,
-Guy

Another one coming up

Hi there,

Well, I wasn't sure I wanted to have this operation, but it seems the prudent thing to do. I have this little hole in my palate (between the mouth and nose) that bugs me for one but is also posing a risk for infections since food and liquid are going where they don't belong. In order to have it completely closed, I need to get it surgically fixed, so that's what I'm going to do this coming Monday. While I'm under, I'll also have a tooth that's been identified from the beginning pulled.

Not too big of an operation, but still, I can expect some significant amount of discomfort later in the week. What can you do? :-)

Also, depending on how I feel, I will be getting braces next week. They already put some plastic thingies called spacers between my back teeth to open up room for the anchor. Those things are very annoying. With the spacers, operation and braces I will be back to a soft food diet for a couple of weeks. Yuck!

Wish me luck,
-Guy

What's up?

Hi All,

Well, nothing spectacular has happened lately. I'm getting ready to have some more work done on my mouth. We'll be pulling a tooth out (it's broken and there isn't enough bone there to support it) and I'll also be getting braces and some temporary teeth. Yay!

Otherwise things are pretty good. I'm making good progress on physical therapy which allows me to do more and more of what I used to be doing in the past. There's still a long ways to go, but things are encouraging.

Be Well,
-Guy

Well, the operation was successful.

I'm very very tired. Off to bed.

Guy

Short operation this Friday

Hi All,

I'd like to give you a short update on what's going on. I've been undergoing physical therapy for a while now on both my arms. Everything you heard about physical therapy is true, well, at least the part that says that it's painful :-) But it's all for a good cause; I achieved a decent amount of range of motion and I'm hopeful I'll continue to make good progress there.

As for the other front, the face (pun intended), I will have the metal braces on my gums (the ones that were used to shut me up) removed this Friday. The braces are attached with wires through the gums, so this would be a very painful procedure, in order to avoid that discomfort I will be put under anesthesia. This will be a short procedure and I would be returning home afterwards.

Coming up next would be orthodontic work and more recovery.

Best to you All,
Guy