Jaw Distraction
I remember my first jaw distraction surgery on July 8th, 2013. My family and I went to Shriners Hospital in Chicago for a checkup and to set up the surgery date. We left for Chicago on July 7th, It was hot sunny day. We stopped at Aurora Mall to shop on the way there. When we got to the hospital. I met Destany and Meredith, they were also there for jaw distraction surgery. The next day I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am to be prepped for surgery. I was very nervous. The nurse put an IV in my arm, it hurt when she did that. When it was time to go into surgery, they put medicine in my IV to make me go to sleep. After I was asleep, the anesthesiologist put an intubation tube in my throat. When I woke up from surgery, I was in the recovery room. I was still very drowsy but I didn’t feel any pain. I remember the smell of the anesthesia, that smell lasts a couple days. My head was wrapped in bandages and ice. When we took the bandages off, I saw that I had two distractor arms behind both of my ears. After some of the swelling went down and I was not in so much pain, I was able to go home three days later. …show more content…
They moved .5mm per day. It was uncomfortable when she turned the distractors arms. Extra care had to be taken to keep the area around the distractor arms clean to help prevent an infection. Eating was very hard for me. I was on a liquid diet and had to be fed with a syringe for about three weeks. After that, I drank Ensure for about three weeks, I got very tired of drinking this. Finally, I was able to eat very soft food. I could not close my mouth completely because of the metal in my jaw, but I did the best I
I remember my first jaw distraction surgery on July 8th, 2013. My family and I went to Shriners Hospital in Chicago for a checkup and to set up the surgery date. We left for Chicago on July 7th, It was hot sunny day. We stopped at Aurora Mall to shop on the way there. When we got to the hospital. I met Destany and Meredith, they were also there for jaw distraction surgery. The next day I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am to be prepped for surgery. I was very nervous. The nurse put an IV in my arm, it hurt when she did that. When it was time to go into surgery, they put medicine in my IV to make me go to sleep. After I was asleep, the anesthesiologist put an intubation tube in my throat. When I woke up from surgery, I was in the recovery room. I was still very drowsy but I didn’t feel any pain. I remember the smell of the anesthesia, that smell lasts a couple days. My head was wrapped in bandages and ice. When we took the bandages off, I saw that I had two distractor arms behind both of my ears. After some of the swelling went down and I was not in so much pain, I was able to go home three days later. …show more content…
They moved .5mm per day. It was uncomfortable when she turned the distractors arms. Extra care had to be taken to keep the area around the distractor arms clean to help prevent an infection. Eating was very hard for me. I was on a liquid diet and had to be fed with a syringe for about three weeks. After that, I drank Ensure for about three weeks, I got very tired of drinking this. Finally, I was able to eat very soft food. I could not close my mouth completely because of the metal in my jaw, but I did the best I