Jason Lancaster

I’ve made it through the bad part and I’m healing now. Everyone asked what I had done. I don’t really know the technical names to give out. I know the procedure on my upper jaw was called a Lefort, although I think more specifically it was considered a Lefort II. I don’t really know what that means though. They took my upper jaw, cut up into the inside gum-line and separated it from just below my nose. After separating it, they broke it into two pieces by cutting along the length of my upper palette, placed a brace on the inside of my mouth to widen it, and then shaved away 8mm of bone towards my back two molars to flatten the entire palette. I have 4 titanium plates holding the outside of my bone together so it can heal. The two pieces are held together by this really uncomfortable plastic brace that is glued around my teeth. It makes it very hard to talk or eat chunky foods.

I can’t eat anything that requires chewing for 6 weeks. I can however eat mushy things like beans and even some well-cooked pasta. Soda has been my friend. I used to not even like soda but I couldn’t survive on fruit juices alone. Well, soda and instant breakfasts.I intially lost 10lbs in just a few days. They kept coming off though and at my lowest a week after the surgery I weighed 135, down from 150 the day of surgery. This morning I was 138, so hopefully I’ll slowly gain everything back. It will be hard with the fact that I really dislike eating at the moment.

The bottom jaw surgery was a bit simpler, basically they cut down into my inside gum again, cut out my chin, and then brought it forward. This was strictly a cosmetic thing. I didn’t have to do this but when it came down to it I figured I’d just do everything that was suggested and get it all over with.I’m happy I did it so far. No real problems. Still hurts, but that’s to be expected. We’ll see how I am in another week.

Edit (1/24/08): Here are some before and after pictures and captions to give you an idea of the process:

Pre-surgery:

What I imagined things would look like after:

Immediately after surgery:

3 months after surgery (still a bit of swelling):

2 years after surgery (no swelling left):

Someone commented on my older tonsillectomy entry and it reminded me I should write a brief update on how everything turned out.

My tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and uvulectomy (uvulaectomy)

The picture taken a few days after my surgery still had a small portion of my uvula attached. After healing, I have no uvula left at all. I guess it was just swollen.

I don’t snore anymore, but I also can’t oink like a pig. I’ve had some issues with drinks and/or saliva going up my nose accidentally but I’m much more comfortable breathing (a good trade-off). I can’t gargle because it drips down the back of my throat. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to do that again. I’ve searched the internet for some answers but I guess people don’t like talking about gargling too much.

The day of surgery I felt great. Day after was another story. I bled for the first two weeks but after they cauterized the wounds bleeding stopped. It was extremely painful for the first 19 days. I took liquid hydrocodone every 3-4 hours on the dot. Needless to say I slept a lot. After the pain died down, regular old tylenol did the trick. It took me just over 3 weeks to eat normally. Yawning still hurts a little and my throat has a general sensation of being tight. Drinking water helps and I’m sure this will go away in time. I lost 12lbs, ate 4 boxes of jello, went through 2 boxes of Quaker apples and cinnamon oatmeal, and used about 38 ounces of liquid hydrocodone.