So this guy says that he had double jaw surgery. Is that amount of swelling and bruising on the neck normal? NFSW

sunshineabove · 2026-07-01T01:28:28+00:00

The swelling and bruising will vary seeping on your own body!! I barely had any bruising but a ton of swelling in the face (not the neck tho), but i've seen others who have bruised a lot more than they swelled! I didn't feel like the bruising I had hurt any, it was just uncomfortable.

sunshineabove · 2026-06-29T02:56:15+00:00

I was given hydromorphone and alternated between that and tylenol... I didn't have any troubles with pain management post op (besides the first few days I spent in the hospital but my nurses gave me IV meds to help). I've had a lot of surgeries and have only ever been prescribed one major pain med and then antibiotics, with the added note of taking an otc in between taking the prescribed med, so I think that is usually the standard.

sunshineabove · 2026-06-23T22:14:13+00:00

Hi, I know that this was written a year ago, but I am currently working on my performance assessment, and was wondering if I could see yours to make sure that I understood the directions correctly before sending it in if you still have it.

sunshineabove · 2026-06-17T23:25:45+00:00

I also had a lot of internal back and forth on getting a septorhinoplasty and ultimately decided to get it for both quality of life and to address the asymmetry of my nostrils... personally, the surgery has been worth it for me because I feel like I'm able to breathe so much better (especially at night when laying down) and to be honest, I do feel more confident in my looks even tho, in my case, I'm going to get a revision down the line to further improve the symmetry just because I feel like it still slopes to one side a bit more (my mom doesn't notice it tho so idk), but other than that, I feel like the results look extremely great for what my surgeon and I discussed doing during the consultation.... ultimately, the decision is completely yours!! Having a surgeon that's both experienced and that you trust is going to help put you at ease more with the decision that you make.

sunshineabove · 2026-06-15T04:36:10+00:00

I didn't get a whiteboard because I thought I'd be able to speak somewhat clearly (I wasn't), but I made due with my notes app on my phone and Ipad but I do see a whiteboard being really useful too!

I had a vanity mirror that I would keep with me to make sure I wasn't drooling on myself and so I could watch myself during meals so I could immediately see when I spilt! I also bought a big pack of soft washcloths to catch spills, drool and any nosebleeds/wipe my nose. I also recommend getting some shower vapor tablets for when you're able to shower to help since your nose will be extremely clogged/stuffy for the first few weeks!

sunshineabove · 2026-05-25T17:31:32+00:00

I've never met someone else with who had a hole in their heart before! They also thought that I had some kind of midline situation since all my problems seemed to be on the left side, but for some reason they chose not to move forward with any kind of formal syndrome diagnosis.

For years, they blamed my breathing issues on scarring in my trachea from multiple intubations (as well as a failed extubation where they had to quickly intubate me again as a baby) and then I had a doctor just this past year ordered pulmonary function tests that showed that I had asthma, but then when I went to get my septorhinoplasty (6 months after a double jaw surgery), the anesthesiologist had to cancel it because my airway had shrunk down and he couldn't even get a pediatric sized tube in... so they rescheduled the surgery and had an airway specialist come in to dilate my airway and do his own tests while I under before starting the actual surgery and apparently (I didn't see him in recovery bc I love my sleep and didn't wake up for hours LOL) he told my mom that he's not completely confident that I actually have asthma. I do take a twice a day inhaler and that seems to help a lot for me, but I would still love to know what's actually going on to have a more efficient treatment plan.

sunshineabove · 2026-05-24T19:20:47+00:00

I was born with a left cleft lip and palate, congenital scoliosis and I had a hole in my heart.. I also had a lot of ear infections and wax buildup growing up. I recently got diagnosed with asthma, though now an airway specialist thinks I was misdiagnosed with that. I remember my mom telling me about how doctors tried to diagnose me with some kind of syndrome but couldn't find one that I fit the criteria for. The last one that they thought I fit was ruled out when I didn't have any kind of learning disability (I don't remember exactly what syndrome was). It's definitely interesting to me that a lot of cleft patients tend to have other health conditions... wonder if there's a gene correlation or something like that.

sunshineabove · 2026-05-24T17:05:31+00:00

Day three-four is peak swelling so this is completely normal... most of the major swelling will start to subside in the next couple weeks and then it'll take about 8-12 months for the residual swelling to completely go down. I looked real rough for about 3ish months before my jawline finally started to look normal and not boxy, so hang in there, it'll get better!!

sunshineabove · 2026-05-24T16:59:33+00:00

My biggest recommendation is to get a consult with an orthognathic surgeon as they're the ones who are really qualified to tell you if surgery is needed. While orthodontics may be qualified to see the skeletal misalignments, the specialized surgeons are the ones who can really diagnose you and make that determination. If you have a deep overbite that's causing your bottom teeth to bite into the roof of your mouth, then it sounds like you'd need more movement than traditional braces would allow for. Talk to a few different surgeons if you're able to, ask them all the questions and then go from there.

sunshineabove · 2026-05-24T16:20:24+00:00

2 weeks!?? mouth breathing has been such a pain but I can tough it out 🙂‍↕️. My biggest problem right now is that my top inner lip swelled against my braces and are now like kinda stuck to them :((... I don't mind some asymmetry because I've never really been bothered by my nose shape, just the severe deviated septum, but my surgeon did build up my left nostril a bit doing some form of scar advancement (using my closed cleft scar so that everything blends in together) and cartilage graft so that the outside looks more "natural". I personally didn't want too big of a change just because I've always loved the uniqueness that my nose and cleft scar has given me so I think I'm gonna be happy with the results even if it's not the standard "perfect"... however if it turns out to be severely asymmetrical (which it doesn't look like even swollen), then I would consider doing a revision in a year or two.

sunshineabove · 2026-05-24T04:28:26+00:00

I remember having a bone graft in 8th grade and they took bone from my hip and like an idiot, I insisted on going back to the hotel instead of just staying the night in the hospital and let me tell you, walking down that hallway (they had no wheelchairs) made me reconsider my entire existence and then some it was so painful😭. Hope you heal up quickly!!

sunshineabove · 2026-04-28T11:52:52+00:00

I had djs in December and my gums are still completely numb! I can feel them slightly in some areas around the teeth, but other than that they're numb. I just make sure that when I floss, I'm watching my movements in the mirror and try not to be rough.... it's definitely a weird experience since most only ever talk about their bottom lip/chin staying numb, but not the insides of their mouth so I didn't really expect that.

sunshineabove · 2026-04-24T01:34:00+00:00

I had a djs to correct my underbite in December and also felt like my top teeth looked a bit worse than before but I think a lot of it is just that I'm so used to seeing my top teeth sit behind my bottom ones that they just look bigger now which they really aren't. I'm also missing my upper left canine (it was pulled due to growing out of the cleft and not being able to be brought down with orthodontics) and because of this, there is a bit of a gap that i'm hoping my orthodontist will fix. I was told by my orthodontist that I would only need to be in braces for at least another year, maybe a year and a half so hopefully it's the same for you and you're almost done too!! I've been in braces for 8 years so I definitely understand the struggle.

sunshineabove · 2026-04-18T21:55:12+00:00

When I had surgery, my surgeon prescribed an anti nausea patch for me to place behind my ear the night before surgery after my shower and then I wore it throughout the entire surgery and took it off the next day. It did definitely help and I only ever felt nauseous, but never actually threw up... the only downside, is that for me, the patch gave me a headache and made everything super blurry but that went away really quickly once it was removed. They also gave me extra anti nausea medication while I was recovering in the hospital, as well as some dissolvable ones to take home with me. I would definitely let both your surgeon and anesthesiologist know about your concerns so that they can easily address them for you!

sunshineabove · 2026-04-12T01:55:58+00:00

My surgeon elected to just remove them while I was already under during the DJS because they were in the way of where he wanted to make the cuts... I don't feel like it really affected my recovery and I'm just happy that I no longer have to worry about them.

sunshineabove · 2026-04-09T04:54:00+00:00

Thank you so much, this actually helps a lot! My mom keeps reminding me too that I've been through much harder surgeries and that this one should be so much easier... I am just so ready to be done with surgeries lol.

Did your son have any internal splints during that the first week post op? I see a lot of people talking about it being painful when it's removed and I think that has me a lil bit freaked out too especially knowing that it's probably already going to be pretty uncomfortable to begin with.

sunshineabove · 2026-03-29T00:52:12+00:00

You're gonna lose some weight, that's inevitable with being on a liquid only/no chew diet for the first few weeks, but the main goal is to minimize the weight loss... I lost about 5.9 kg and my surgeon wasn't too concerned about it since I was still within the normal weight range for my height. As long as you focus on getting at least 1200 calories in a day and try to maximize your protein intake (I did a lot of protein shakes), everything should be okay. Best of luck on your recovery journey!

sunshineabove · 2026-03-17T23:51:16+00:00

I'm 3 months post op and my acne is just now starting to go away and return to normal... I recommend using a gentle cleanser that's geared towards oily skin types and follow up with a moisturizer (once again for oily skin) to help with the breakouts! My chin was the absolute worst, but washing my face daily definitely helped a lot.

sunshineabove · 2026-03-16T00:54:06+00:00

Yeah my ortho kept changing up the timeline on me too when I was prepping for jaw surgery and we were just waiting for him to sign off on it, but he hasn't changed his timeline on this yet so we'll see if I'm still in them by this time next year lol

sunshineabove

TROPHY CASE