Having surgery on lower lip

[John Mohan]

Wow! I am so sorry you had to go through this, but I am glad your recovery is going well. I urge you to stay away from doing any playing including buzzing the mouthpiece or even buzzing your lips for now. Give it the time to FULLY heal before you resume any playing. A few extra weeks off could very will prevent months of misery.

Best wishes,

John Mohan, RN

[Al Innella]

[quote="John Mohan"]Wow! I am so sorry you had to go through this, but I am glad your recovery is going well. I urge you to stay away from doing any playing including buzzing the mouthpiece or even buzzing your lips for now. Give it the time to FULLY heal before you resume any playing. A few extra weeks off could very will prevent months of misery.

Best wishes,

John Mohan, RN[/quote

+1

[gbdeamer]

[gbdeamer]

[quote="Al Innella"]

[gbdeamer]

Another update.

It was two weeks yesterday that surgery was done, and the lip is pretty much healed. There's a slight visible scar, but otherwise the swelling and pain are gone.

I started Sunday evening with light buzzing on a mouthpiece, and I did a very light practice session yesterday (mainly long tones, Clarke 1 and 2, and some easy scales).

Good news is that there is no pain or swelling from playing.

Bad news is that I took 3 weeks or so totally off from playing, so my chops were out of shape to begin with. Add to that the scar tissue that behaves differently than lip tissue, and a slight (permanent) bump from the end of the incision line, and I've found that my setup is a bit 'different'. Doesn't seem catastrophic, but there's a bit of a double buzz at times.

Biggest takeaway is that waiting the FULL 2 weeks was absolutely necessary. Even at 10 or 11 days there were still scabs on my lip, so it would have been easy to tear them open if I played too hard (or maybe at all).

Right now my chops just feel like their out of shape (from 3 weeks off) as opposed to injured).

Here's a pic:
https://i.imgur.com/tbLlh5T.jpeg
_________________
1987 Bach Strad 37
2005 Bach Strad 43*
ACB Doubler's Flugel
1948 Holton Model 48

[gbdeamer]

It's a little over 3 weeks since the surgery, and I've reached a 'three steps forward and two steps back' stage.

The scar on my lip is healing nicely according to the surgeon. He said that it will solidify and get to a more "permanent" state after a few months, so I can check back with him after that if there are any problems with obstructive scar tissue and he'll see if he car remediate.

From a playing perspective things are going OK. My endurance is way down, but I think that has more to do with me not playing at all for several weeks before surgery, and two weeks after.

There are two parts of the scar that impact my playing, one part inside my mouth, and one part outside. My mouthpiece sits right on the outside scar, so I've had to make a very subtle shift so my mouthpiece sits comfortably. Not tragic, but still 'different' than I've been doing for 40+ years.

The part of the scar that reaches to the inside of my mouth is a bit more of a challenge, It's kind of a bubble (for lack of a better description) that's making it difficult to get a great seal. I have to keep my setup a lot more firm than usual to prevent a buzz from leaking out while playing. It's manageable up to about high C, but above that things get squirrely. I made the conscious decision to NOT pickup my lead mouthpiece or stretch out my upper register until the summer, so not a huge concern right now.

Biggest change I've made was switching from a Stork Vacchiano 3C back to a Back 3C mouthpiece. I'd only been playing the Stork for a year or so, and while I like it, the bite on the rim is too sharp, and it wasn't necessarily 'hurting' me when I played, it was definitely not comfortable there was too much effort to keep air from leaking. The Bach 3C was my primary mouthpiece for decades, so it's like putting on an old pair of shoes.

I made it through 2 rehearsals with the community band, and if nothing changes I'll be fine for our concert in a couple of weeks.
_________________
1987 Bach Strad 37
2005 Bach Strad 43*
ACB Doubler's Flugel
1948 Holton Model 48