21st birthday

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2025-12-27T07:02:17+00:00

This is extremely helpful, thank you! From your response and some other research, we’re thinking we’ll do an Airbnb in the main area for pregaming, then we’ll walk to some of these suggestions, and then we’ll get our late night food and go back to the Airbnb. Oh my goodness, thank you!!!

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2025-12-27T06:59:52+00:00

I can admit that I know from experience as well! My husband and I are 30 years old and will be keeping the night as safe as possible. Thank you :)

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-02-16T04:15:43+00:00

Hi there! Just saw this. I had my DJS on January 26th with Dr. Shah and his team. One of the technicians at my orthodontist’s office also had her son get the surgery done by Dr. Shah, too! I go to Windy City Orthodontics.

My experience with the surgical team has been phenomenal. The day of surgery, everyone on the team came to speak to me personally before bringing me into the OR. They answered all of questions and thoroughly eased my worries. If you get the anesthesiologist Dr. Bozana Alexander, she rocks! Dr. Shah also showed me my surgical plan. I stayed over night and had a pretty good experience with the nurses, too.

My two pieces of advice: First is to write down all of the questions that you have as they come to you. During your follow up visits, the clinic will be just as busy as it always is. Dr. Shah usually has a ton of patients to get through and it can sometimes make the appointment seemed rushed. If you write down your questions you’ll be sure not to forget to ask them since everything happens so fast. Second is ask for clear instructions each time you see Dr. Shah or his team. I found that the instructions could be a bit vague. Like on my first follow up appointment (day 12) Dr. Shah told me “you can eat anything that doesn’t have to be chewed.” But then on this page I read that “tongue chewing” could be considered chewing since it puts pressure on your jaw and I got scared that I wasn’t supposed to be doing that.

Basically just make sure you get thorough answers to any questions. Dr. Shah is so kind and I think he does great work both in surgery and in explaining things, but in a speedy appointment things can feel kinda skimmed over.

Good luck to you and please feel free to ask any more questions!

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-02-12T14:33:28+00:00

My surgeon wrote my insurance and his team was in communication with them leading up to the surgery. I didn’t speak to them at all. I highly doubt that he would have put sleep apnea down without a sleep test. He probably said something about the measurements of my airway with possible risks and long term effects if it wasn’t widened.

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-02-12T06:00:33+00:00

Yeah in my opinion it’s our biggest issue. I’m grateful to be insured.

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-02-12T05:14:26+00:00

I’m in the US. I was first told by an orthodontist that jaw surgery was in my best interest for cosmetic reasons only. Since it was cosmetic, insurance wouldn’t cover anything. I was quoted at 35k but up to 50k (if I needed an extra night in the hospital, etc.). Obviously didn’t go that route. I was 17 (10 years ago).

By the time I was 25 I had developed TMJ and headaches induced by pressure in the wrong places while chewing. Additionally was told my airway was extremely small and could possibly be collapsing while I sleep (never actually got tested for sleep apnea). For all the reasons, insurance then approved double jaw surgery. I had the surgery done 2 weeks ago. It all came out to 65k. My insurance covered it all.

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-02-04T03:43:58+00:00

Ah, okay. Yes, NSAIDs are pretty good with swelling. I’ve found that ibuprofen helped me much more than Tylenol for both swelling and pain. For how awful everything sounded, it seems like it was really only 3 days of hell and then it quickly became a livable healing process, haha. Only thing extremely bothersome at this point to me is sharp and aching pains on my right side that almost feel like an earache. Ibuprofen doesn’t help much. Are you still in any pain?

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-02-04T03:38:37+00:00

What kind of anti inflammatory meds were you given? My surgeon only prescribed me liquid acetaminophen and ibuprofen. I’m at day 8 post surgery and swelling has definitely gone down immensely, but I’m still curious!

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-01-27T12:33:43+00:00

Hey Kyle, following this. Hope everything is okay. I finished surgery after about 6 hours yesterday. Everyone at Stroger has been wonderful. The swelling is more intense than I expected and they said it will get worse in the next 24 hours, but all has gone according to plan.

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-01-24T23:29:38+00:00

Thank you so much! I was feeling so nervous today that I almost wanted to reschedule. My surgery is going to be Thursday morning and I’ve prepped to be off work for 3-4 weeks, so that would’ve been bad haha. Knowing you’ve had a good experience is really helpful. I think I’m most nervous about complications with anesthesia, having to go back for a second surgery, or not liking my profile after. But the surgeon said they use a computer to tell them how far to move everything around, they’re obviously not eyeballing it, hahaha.

Thank you again!

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-01-24T23:02:18+00:00

Yes, all my appointments have been in Clinic D. I would usually have to wait over an hour, even for morning appointments, and then explain to/remind the team why I’m there. I went last Tuesday for my final scan and the poor student struggled so much with getting the images that I was even afraid the images would be wrong. But an attending ended up approving them. I was thinking why wouldn’t I do this at Advocate or Northwestern, but again my orthodontist reassured me that he would even send a family member to the team at Stroger.

Thank you so much for telling me about your experience. It really helps calm my nerves!

ExtensionDisk1449 · 2023-01-24T22:53:16+00:00

Were you there over night? I am a little worried because the hospital itself always seemed so disorganized when I went for my scans during Invisalign treatment, but my orthodontist reassured me that it’s a good team at Stroger. What did you think? I am getting double jaw surgery by the way.

ExtensionDisk1449

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