π
2011-03-23 01:01
in Osa
I finally got my braces taken out after almost a year. Not a moment too soon :)
I still have a mouth piece I need to wear to keep my teeth from moving out of their new places, but basically everything is in place now and I think it's fair to say that the recovery is 100% complete.
Now to be honest, I considered the surgery recovery complete after I had fully recovered feeling to my chin (that was after a bit less than 6 months), but with the braces out, it's now 100% complete.
I was also recently asked how long it took me to recover from MMA surgery right after the surgery itself.
Basically, it went as such:
I was mentally able to work after about 2 weeks (at that point, I didn't have to take the drugs which required me to rest every so often, anymore). I was however able to work most of the day after the first week, I just was a bit drugged up and still needed more frequent naps.
3 weeks after surgery, I acted as pilot in command of a plane I flew to Edwards airforce base (as private pilot, that was not for work). Doing the radio calls was actually the hardest since talking was still a bit difficult/painful with the mouth still mostly shut with rubber bands.
3 weeks is also when I started cheating a bit more and eating soft foods (that was slightly premature and I wasn't quite supposed to do it but things like quiche worked fine).
By then, outside of it being difficult and somewhat painful to talk for more than a few minutes, I was otherwise fully able to do anything I wanted (outside of things like running which would shake my jaws).
After 5 weeks is when The rubber bands came out. I gave a 1H talk at a linux conference in Boston just after that. It was a bit hard, but I made it.
By then, I could eat pretty much anything I wanted outside of stuff like breaking hard chocolate with my jaw, or other kinds of hard caramel/candy.
That's about it.
As for how well did it work, well it did help. Unfortunately I was one of the few cases for whom apnea didn't fully go away after the surgery, despite a very successful surgery. It kind of sucks, but at least my sleep is better now (even if not perfect).
As for how well did it work, well it did help. Unfortunately I was one of the few cases for whom apnea didn't fully go away after the surgery, despite a very successful surgery. It kind of sucks, but at least my sleep is better now (even if not perfect).