I would still debate today that jaw surgery is the worst surgery to have. If someone could come up and tell me that having their mouth banded shut for a month and a half wasn’t that bad, I would applaud them. The memory of this recovery was and will hopefully be the worst time of my life.

Prior to the surgery, I had to have my wisdom teeth taken out. Removing my wisdom teeth wasn’t that bad, even including the recovery. The whole thing went very well and this had me thinking that jaw surgery would only be a little worse, that it would be some sort of a breeze. Later did I figure out that I was totally wrong.

Not much was remembered of the actual surgery, just the blood taken before and the first minutes of the IV that I was given. The first memory of post surgery was sitting in a hospital bed, and I felt great. I kept telling my mom and the people that were somewhat holding me down, that I was fine and wanted to go home. As the hours and days in the hospital progressed I started to slowly realize the pain. Although, the hourly dose of medicine was definitely saving me. I spent 5 days in the hospital here in Fort Dodge. The only visitor I had was my mother. This may be a bit of an extreme, but I expected at least a few visitors. Maybe, just maybe my girlfriend at least. But as it turned out, the only visitors I had were the nurse that gave me the medicine and my mom...

Out of the hospital is when the true trough of the whole experience began. My mouth was banded shut, I was told I couldn’t eat for 1 1/2 months, the swelling was horrible, and none of my friends had even tried to talk to me for 2 weeks. Most of my month included sleeping, X box, and taking disgusting medicine through a straw. After the surgery I refused to use a straw for about 3 months. The food I was eating was repulsive. Weighing in at about 138 pounds before the surgery, half way through I was 114 pounds.

The first concoction that was put into the blender was pizza rolls. It tasted almost the same, except I had to take it through a straw so i’m sure you could see where the appetite drops off. The worst blended item was easily the chinese food, it looked like, well blended up chinese food I guess. I would have thrown up, but that could seriously have messed up the surgery because it would mean taking off the bands. And in all would have messed up the placement of the jaw and everything. But being at the lowest point, the only way was up.

My last checkup appointment one and a half months later was the last day with my mouth banded shut. Right after the appointment, I made my mom speed to Subway. It was still very difficult to eat things and I ate the foot long sub over a period of about 2 hours. Although everything was getting better I still was affected by the surgery and I am convinced that jaw surgery is the most terrible surgery to have.