I am 14 days post-op and have a few questions for those of you who have had the surgery and gone through the recovery process. I'm doing very well overall, but I'm nervous about a few things because my throat is still sore, I can see that my soft palate is still hanging lower than pre-surgery, my tongue is still a bit swollen, and I can't totally open my mouth all the way yet (or stick out my tongue all the way.

- Did any of you experience some of this (soft palate hanging low, not being able to open mouth at 2 weeks, etc.?

- I can resume a "regular" diet starting this thurs. (which will be 16 days
post-op). How soon did some of you resume your regular diets?

- I am also allowed to start swallowing pills this Thurs. I take many
vitamins/herbs and some of them are quite large caplets or softgels. How long after sugery before you swallowed pills? in particular large ones?

- For about how long after the surgery did you have a sore throat (even a mild one)?

Thanks,
Jill

Swelling?

I did have a bad case. It was due to extreme swelling and thrush. My ENT gave me a steriodal shot in the... behind on Day 7 when I went in to see him about bleeding bout number 2. I got my shot and eight hours later.. wham, pain everything began to subside.

If you were not given a steriodal dose pack.. I would look into getting a steriodal shot to aid with the excessive swelling and inflamation.

2) Diet - regular.. about 2.5 to 3 weeks. Still avoided acid things like the plague.

3) Sore throat? Hummm.. 3 - 4 weeks.

4) Pills. After my steriodal shot I was able to start small ones, by day ten I was on to larger pills.

5) Because I couldn't take my birth control.. my cycle got all messed up. i had to see an OB and get reset... just somthing for you too keep in mind.

Best of luck.
MG

Hi bunnycat. i am on day 16. i'm 25 yrs old. I was just able to open my mouth all the way around day 13. starting on day 13 i had ice cream. day 14 i actually chewed up pretzel sticks really good and had a few of those. i had scrambled eggs day 14 too. and beefaroni. on day 16 its still tough to swallow but its def getting easier. i think you will start to see really good results this coming week. Just hang in there. :) Today i actually had goldfish crackers.

oh yea, and my uvula is very much still streched out it seems. Its really quite big right now. But it is gradually getting smaller, i can at least see the bottom of it now.

Jill, I am 21 days post-op (exactly) and my throat is still sore as well. i'm actually still taking pain meds because the pain interferes with my day to day activities as well as my sleep. to answer your questions...

- i feel like i have cotton in my throat. it constantly feels "full" and swallowing takes some efford. your tongue will go down in the next few days most likely. i still can't open my mouth yet... when i yawn it hurts, but i think it's from my jaw being forced open so widely during the surgery.

- you can start a regular diet whenever you feel like you can eat. the doctor shouldn't tell you what day is okay. eat whatever you want or crave... your body is telling you what you need right now. i still am not able to eat 100% of my regular diet. as of last weekend, i was able to eat some solid foods, but i'm still having to chew everything twice as long to make sure it goes down okay.

- i was swallowing pills the day of my surgery. it hurt like hell, but i needed the antibiotics. did the doctor tell you not to swallow pills? i've never heard a restriction on this... again, take what you can. your body needs vitamins and the benefits of taking a supplement will outweight the temporary discomfort of swallowing it.

-again, i still have a sore throat. i'm prepared for it to last for another week but anything after a month, i think is a bit excessive. hopefully, i'll be all healed up by then. this recover is a PROCESS... and a very slow one at that!

hope this helps!

-missy

mkgbrook, lindseyrenee, and starryan22: Thank you VERY much for replying. I appreciate all the info from all of you. I figured it was normal not to be able to open my mouth all the way, but was curious as to whether this happened with any of you. My tongue swelling is actually much better today and the white coating is almost gone. My doctor said I can go back to my "regular" diet tomorrow, but I will take it slowly. As for pills, I was told that they would be okay starting tomorrow also. I'm just nervous about this because some of the pills are really big. I also figured a sore throat is normal for awhile also. It's only been 2 weeks, so I will be patient. Just nice to know what to expect and I always learn more about this from others than from the doctor.

Thanks again!

It took chewing gum lots of it to work out the kink in my jaw.. this also help with residual jaw aches. If you have started chewing gum therapy for your jaw, I highly recommend it.

MG