Week 15 of Recovery

We realize it has been a long time since we have posted on the blog. As most of you know, Gabby went away to school and is loving it. She has been very busy with school work, sorority activities, and social activities. We have posted a few pictures. She looks great and both the surgeon and the orthodontist say things are looking good. She will most likely get her braces off during Mardi Gras. She is anxiously waiting that day.

Day 21 of Recovery

Today we are celebrating two milestones. Three weeks since the surgery and Gabby's 18th Birthday. Gabby is feeling great. She is eating more now and a bigger variety of foods. She still is not chewing anything with her teeth. She had the splint that was connected to the roof of her mouth removed on Monday. The surgeon said that she will not see the full result of the surgery for about another four months. We are so pleased with how good she looks and how much better she feels, we can't imagine it getting better in four months, but he says it will. She also had an extensive appointment with the orthodontist. He replaced four brackets and added some hooks for her to connect the rubber bands. She is leaving for Monroe on Friday, so she will not see the surgeon or the orthodontist for six weeks. We were told before the surgery, that the braces would stay on for six months after the surgery. Hopefully, she can start the Spring Semester without the braces.

Day 14 of Recovery

Today makes 2 weeks since the surgery day and Gabby is pretty much back to normal. She is going out to eat tonight (with her friends) to celebrate her birthday, which is next week. She looks so beautiful with her hair and makeup done. She is able to eat pasta that is cooked well, by mashing it against the roof of her mouth with her tongue. Gabby is anxious to visit the surgeon again to make sure the rubber bands are doing what they are supposed to do. She does not complain of pain anymore. Her current weight is 119.5 lbs.

Day 12 of Recovery

Gabby is looking great and feeling good. I started back at work today, so it was her first day on her own ( my mom is next door, for moral support ). She gets a little more defined each day and a little less swollen. She is reading a book for school, "The World is Flat", and making plans for how she will celebrate her "18th" birthday, which is August 19th.

Day 10 of Recovery

Before and after photos. Pretty dramatic, especially from the side view.

Gabby continues to make good progress. Her pain has subsided significantly in the last two days. She is now only taking Aleve twice a day. The swelling continues to subside. You can now see more definition in her cheek and jaw area. She has maintained her weight over the last two days. Her current weight is 120 lbs. She is now completely back to normal in terms of energy. She had some more visitors yesterday and today and is excited to discuss the details of her recovery with anyone who asks. She is also becoming more excited about leaving for college. Move in day is only 2 weeks away.

As the changes are much less dramatic, we will now attempt to update her progress every other day.

Day 8 of Recovery

Gabby is doing great. We went to visit the surgeon again today. He said that everything is looking great and the rubber bands are in the correct position. The next visit will be on August 17th and hopefully the splint will come out on that day. Gabby asked him when she will be able to smile again. Her upper lip is very stiff, since the surgery. He reminded her that it has only been one week and one day since the surgery and she is still swollen. He said that after the splint comes out she can start some upper lip exercises to loosen things up. I actually got Gabby to go with me to Sam's. We got to walk around a bit and purchase toiletries for college. It has been so great spending so much time with her, especially since she is leaving so soon.

Day 7 of Recovery

Today has been one week since the surgery. What a difference one week makes! Gabby had a great night last night. She went to sleep at about midnight and only woke up at 6a.m. to take some meds and then slept until 11a.m this morning. She is complaining of pain less and less. She hasn't taken a nap during the day for the past two days. She had 7 visitors today all at the same time and her appetite is improving slightly. We are scheduled to see the surgeon tomorrow to see if the adjustments to the rubber bands are working. If they are not, she may need to go to the orthodontist to get additional wires to connect the rubber bands onto. She is still losing weight. She is currently 120 lbs.

Day 6 of Recovery

Wow! Yesterday was a busy day. Gabby had 12 visitors throughout the day. She complained of not feeling right all day. She has no appetite and never wants to eat. I pressure her into eating and she tells me to leave her alone. The cranky girl doesn't last long, because in her next breath she tells me she loves me and thanks me for being a great Mom. (that's all any mom needs, right?) She kept complaining that something felt wrong and at about 11pm, the wrong showed its ugly head. She threw up very violently. She complained afterward that all the muscles in her face hurt. She took some Pepto and that seemed to do the trick. Waking up Gabby, after she was up until 2a.m., was not a great experience, but we got to the surgeon's office on time. He said that Gabby is "ahead of the curve" in terms of healing and the pain that she is experiencing in her upper jaw is normal. We asked him about removing the splint that is in the roof of her mouth and he said he would be able to take it out before she leaves for college. She was very pleased to hear this because the splint impairs her speech. We are thinking about trying to watch a movie today. Hopefully, we will accomplish our goal.

Day 5 of Recovery

Gabby did not have a great night's sleep last night. She says that she feels very anxious and last night she had some bad dreams that kept her from sleeping well. I asked her what she feels anxious about and she said "I don't know". She is not complaining of pain everywhere in her face now. She is complaining of a particular sharp pain in her upper jaw when she tries to smile. We are scheduled to see the surgeon tomorrow, so that is a question for him. She hasn't slept most of the day today like she has the past couple of days. She has been on the computer and making some plans for ULM. I can't believe we leave to take her to Monroe on the 21st. Hopefully, she will be strong and ready to go.

Day 4 of Recovery

The days are starting to blend together and each day feels the same as the last. Gabby is still sleeping most of the day and night. She hasn't watched the videos or read the magazines that some of you were nice enough to give her, because she has no attention span. She complains of pain about every four hours. She actually tried smiling for the picture today and she did a good job. Her lips are healing nicely. We hope the incisions inside her mouth are healing as well. She is eating small portions (max. of 1/2 cup) about three times a day. We purchased some liquid vitamins and liquid protein to add to things she drinks, but she HATES it. If anyone out there in blog land wants them, let me know, because she refuses to use them again. She is dropping weight of course, we were surprised that she lost another 1.5 lbs. today. She is currently 121.5 lbs.

Day 3 of Recovery

We had another good night last night. Gabby is glad to be home and sleeping in her own bed. She has been sleeping a lot. The pain medication usually puts her to sleep for at least one to one and a half hours each dose she takes. Today it has been more like two to two and a half hours per dose. The swelling has gotten worse today, and we are waiting to see if there will be any bruising. Gabby was able to remove the rubber bands. that are holding things tight, last night and softly brush her teeth. She said it was very painful to put the bands back in place because of her lips. The corners of her mouth are very sensitive. The surgeon said her mouth is very small and they really had to stretch her lips to do all of the work. She has not been eating as much as I would like, but she is trying. My mom made her some homemade mash potatoes that she ate about a half cup yesterday. She has been drinking Boost protein drinks as a meal replacement and she likes them. I made two batches of homemade soup today. Gabby's favorite: Broccoli cheese soup and a Cream of Cauliflower and Cheese. I used the blender to puree the soups and put one cup servings in the freezer for the next few weeks. They are very tasty, so the whole family will have that for supper. She got on the scale today and she has lost 4.5 lbs since the surgery day. She is currently 123 lbs.

Day 2 of Recovery

We had a good night last night. They moved us into a different room so Momma was able to sleep on a sofa bed, next to Gabby's bed. This wasn't great for Gabby, because Momma snores and Gabby had to kick me awake a few times to get me to stop. Gabby started on liquid pain medication last night and she did well with it. The surgeon came by this morning and told us Gabby was ready to be discharged. We had to go to his office before going home to get instructions on how to care for the incisions inside her mouth. Everyone on his staff was so glad to see Gabby. They all said how wonderful she looks. He told us again, that she was a magnificent patient and he was extremely pleased with how things look. She took a long nap after we got home and another shower which was much easier today than yesterday. Gabby has had several visitors to keep her company today and is very thankful to be home. She gets tired very easy, but we are only on day two of recovery so... so far, so good.

Day 1 of Recovery

What a difference a day makes, as you can see from the pictures. The night of the surgery was long and basically sleepless, but the surgeon came to see us early in the morning and removed the sling. This was a relief, because Gabby said it was very uncomfortable. I actually started tearing up when he did. She looks so great! The thing that she has been most self conscious about her whole life is gone. We took a side view picture to show you. If you look at the first pictures we posted of her from the side and the one from today, it is an amazing difference. She had kids in grammer school call her "Jay Leno" and "butter face"(which is horrible teenage phrase). When she looked at herself in the mirror today, she just stood there with her mouth dropped down in misbelief. I said, "What do you think?" and all she responded was, "WOW!". The surgeon gave Gabby permission to take a shower and wash her hair. This process is very draining for someone who is woozy from pain meds, lack of sleep, and minimal nutrition, but she did great. We took a break, then took a short walk down the hall for a little exercise. I took her picture at this point. We are exausted, but Gabby is anxious to have visitors. We are looking forward to going home tomorrow.

3 hours post surgery

Go - Day of Surgery

We woke up at 4:45a.m. and headed to the hospital for our 5:30a.m. arrival time. We took this picture of Gabby and recorded her weight of 127.5 lbs. (She managed to put on 2.5 lbs in a week, by eating three hefty meals a day.)

We went through all the hoops prior to surgery. She was taken to the OR at about 7:20a.m. and by 7:40a.m. the anesthesiologists had come out to tell us that she was intubated and the surgery was ready to begin. The next several hours seemed like days. We got an update at 8:30a.m. and 10:30a.m. letting us know everything was going well. We were shocked when the surgeon's nurse came out at 11:30a.m. and said everything was done and the surgeon would speak with us soon. He said Gabby was the perfect patient and everything just "fell into place". He said he was pleased that he was able to use the titanium screws to stabilize her jaw and did not have to wire her mouth shut. We got to see her at noon. She was totally out of it, but she looks great!!! He expects she will stay in the hospital for two nights. I know everyone wants to visit, but it is still too early. We will ask the surgeon tonight if she can have some visitors tomorrow. We agreed we were going to do this blog so others could follow us through this journey. Gabby agreed to me posting a picture of her each day during her recovery. (in case you think I'm a horrible mother for posting these pictures) I will try to post again tomorrow. El

Ready, Set, ...

I am keeping up with the blog because Gabby is too busy to do it. She is eating four meals a day and spending her time with friends. Everything is set for Wednesday. We are set to arrive at the hospital for 5:30a.m. The surgery (Mandible and Maxilla Sagittal Split Osteotomy) is to start at 7:30a.m. He thinks it will take 5 - 6 hours to complete. He told us Gabby will be out of it for the majority of her hospital stay. She will be discharged on Friday. We appreciated all the prayers. We will try to update the blog each day after the surgery to keep everyone informed. El

Pre-Op

We spent 3 1/2 hours at the hospital today. Gabby had blood work done, we met with a nurse who asked a million questions, and we met an nurse anesthetist. Gabby feels better after talking to her about how the intubation will be done. We are set to meet with the surgeon one more time. He took mouth impressions yesterday to do a mock surgery so he knows exactly what needs to be done when he starts the surgery. The impressions that he took yesterday aren't exactly what he wants, so he needs to do them again. We also discovered that the tech that will be helping him throughout the surgery is the mom of a girl she knows from her high school. Gabby likes the fact that THIS tech will be in the OR with her. I am preparing all of Gabby's favorite meals. She is starting to freak out about not being able to eat solid food for 2 months. We figure she will most likely lose weight, so we will keep track of her weight on the blog also. Today she is 125 lbs. El

Week before surgery

This week will be spent eating solid foods that I like, going out with my friends, and visiting doctors. I am very nervous and I'm anxious to have my questions answered by the surgeon, and the anesthesiologist. This is what I look like one week prior to surgery.