Posted by Midmich on October 11, 2011 at 21:21:40:Well, it has been 10 months! Time has flown and my surgery is now a memory. Although things in my recovery are not "perfect" yet, I am very happy with my results and would definately do it again.
I am a 41 year old male, good health with a long history of sleep apnea and sleep apnea surgeries (UPPP, somnoplasty, nose surgery, mouth appliance, provent). I am from Midland, MI and had my surgery in Palo Alto (I miss it there)by Dr. KL.
Here are some highlights:
1. Pain: None. I only was really in pain for a few days after my surgery, and it was tolerable.
2. Swelling: I was really swollen for months. I still have some swelling around the sides of my nose and upper lip/nose area, but it is dissapating. But, as mentioned I was really swollen for many, many months.
3. Numbness. The roof of my mouth is slightly numb. I can feel warm/hot and my tongue when I rub on it. My front teeth are still very numb. My upper gumb is dead numb.
4. Appearance. I am OK with it. People say I look different, but, it is also a work in progress because of the swelling going down. My nose was kind of pudgy to begin with, and after the tip went up and my nose flattened. I am thinking about getting it fixed. My nose was pudgy to begin with, but the MMA increased this.
5. Sleep. Awesome!!!!!! I have not had a sleep test yet. I am waiting for 1 year post op, but I can tell things have gotten much, much better. I am waking earlier and refreshed and am dreaming like a madman. My wife comments that I never snore anymore (we were in seperate rooms most nights because of the freight train snoring). On nights when I have had a few drinks, I still dont snore but my sleep is affected due to alcohol.
It took some time to eat really solid foods like a hamburger or nuts, but it wasnt bad at all for me. There are so many options out there.
I hope I didnt scare anyone considering the surgery about the numbness and my nose appearance, but they are realistic risks.
Overall, I would do it again for sure and my Dr., Dr. KL is a great guy. He is to the point, straightforward and he took away all anxiety for me. I am extremely lucky that I had him for my Dr.
Looking back, I also feel very fortunate that I had my surgery done in the computer age with all of the wonderful MMA blogs out there. Thank You everyone for your blogs and input! It really helped me.
I hope that there is another meet up possibly next year. I will be there!
Good luck everyone and sleep well!