Hi everybody.
I made it through surgery. :)
I will try to write down all that I remember, which honestly isn't much.
I had to be at the hospital at 10:15am yesterday to be admitted. I was there a bit early but I was admitted right away and was sent into the surgery check in area. After waiting there a few minutes I was given my hospital gown and booties to change into. And was given a recliner chair to wait on in the pre-surgery room. They were all out of beds as it was a busy day. My nurse came around and she was really nice. She had to give me my IV, which was not fun. I don't know if it was nerves or the fact of not eating for like 14 hours, but I almost passed out when she put the IV into my hand. After reclining back for about 10 minutes I was completely fine though.
My surgery was supposed to be at 12:15pm, but I guess an emergency surgery before mine came up because I did not get in until about 3:30pm. My surgeon and his two assisstants came to talk to me while I was waiting, which was nice. My surgeon got me to open and close my mouth a few times, lift my tongue to the top of my mouth, push my bottom jaw forward, and etc. And I guess from seeing recent x-rays from my ortho and from seeing me then and there, he changed his plan of action. I was originally supposed to have surgery on both jaws plus wisdom teeth removal. But last minute he cut out the top jaw surgery, as he realized that I did not have an open bite and that with just doing the bottom jaw, it would give him more room to move it as far forward as possible. So I ended up just getting my bottom jaw and chin moved forward along with all four wisdom teeth removal.
When it was finally time for my surgery I got taken into the back hall and the nurse had to ask me all of the pre-op questions over again, and of course make sure that my identification was right. After that I was walked into the OR.
It wasn't as scary looking inside the OR as I was expecting, although it was so cold. I was asked to lay down on their table and they put two very warm blankets over my body. They then checked my blood pressure and oxygen levels as they attached me to a heart machine for monitoring. After that was done I was strapped into place on the table so that I wasn't able to move. I was actually pretty comfortable.
A few minutes later the anesthesiologist came to talk to me a little bit, and then she started right away. She put an oxygen mask over my face as they injected the anesthesia into my IV. I didn't know what to expect, but it kind of stung as it was going into the veins. And before I knew it, I was gone.
I believe the surgery took about 90 minutes total. I honestly had no recollection of time. I just remember that afterwards I was in the recovery room and they kept on saying my name over and over to try to wake me up as they had to take the oxygen tube out of my nose. I was still very out of it. And I later found out that it was because they gave me gravol through my IV to help with any nausea that I may have had when I woke up. I guess it had a bad effect on my body and kept me asleep for longer then they had wanted. After they finally woke me up enough to take out my breathing tube, I was taken into my room. Again, I don't remember any of this. I just remember that later on my Grandma, Mom and boyfriend came into my room to see me. And they had flowers and stuffed animals.
I don't remember having a lot of pain afterwards, but I was extremely nauseous all night after I was awake. I guess I had swallowed a lot of blood and the suction that they gave me did not work very well. So all throughout the night about every 30 minutes I was coughing up blood. That was the worst part of this all. Getting the blood out of my stomach helped me feel better, but at the same time the taste of it in my mouth made me even more sick.
I was on some sort of paint medication through my IV that I could push whenever I wanted. Which was very nice- I barely had any pain. And they also occasionally gave me anti-nausea medicine and antibiotics. All of these combined though just made me feel sicker. It was not a fun night. All of the nurses were very nice to me though trying to help me in any way that I can.
I remember only sleeping for about 2 hours on and off.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I had my own private room with a bathroom, which was so nice. I was expecting to have to share.
In the morning I didn't feel as sick so I tried to eat some jell-o and cream of wheat, as well as drink some ginger-ale. And all was well with this until about 30 minutes later, when I just coughed it all back up. My surgeon's assistants also came in to check how I was doing and they changed my elastics already. I guess right after surgery they put two elastics on either side of my teeth. But this morning they took those off and created a box at the front of my teeth with just one elastic. It makes my jaw feel tighter, but it actually isn't as bad as I was expecting. I am able to talk pretty normally, and I can open my mouth enough to get a small baby spoon in. After they left I was given one more round of anti-nausea and antibiotics, and then I was sent home at around 11:30am today.
Since I have been home I have been doing good. I am taking gravol for the nausea, T3's for the pain, and an antibiotics to help prevent an infection.
My antibiotic is pink liquid that I take with a syringe and it tastes like sweet strawberries. It is actually very good tasting.
I have been able to eat some jell-o, pudding, and a Boost meal replacement drink as well as drink a bunch of apple juice. And I am going to try to eat some cream of broccoli soup that my Mom brought over from her work for dinner.
My pain still hasn't been that bad at all. My jaw is starting to feel more sore, but that's expected. Especially when I have been talking quite a bit already. And my face is pretty swollen, but they told me that it is not as bad as it could have been. It's just my cheeks and lower jaw area. And I also have a bit of bruising along my lower cheeks/jaw. No eyes or chest bruising, which makes me happy. And my surgeon told me that today will be the worse of the swelling. After tonight it should just go down and start getting better. I was also given ice for the first 24 hours to help this. But now since those 24 hours are over, I am told me use heat only as it will help to get rid of any stiffness in my face. So far I think it has been working alright. It's annoying how quickly heat wears off though. I swear I'm going to have to reheat it about every 30 minutes. Which will get very annoying at night time.
But yea, if you haven't figure it out yet I am doing pretty well. It is going to be a tough recovery, but it wasn't as bad as I was making myself think. Hopefully all of yours turn out the same way if you are having the surgery done. :)
I also have a question for those who have gone through this... What happens with the stitches? I was never told anything from my surgeon or nurse. My stitches look like clear thin fishing line. Will this dissolve or fall out own there own? Or are these the type of stitches that will need to be taken out later?
Now here are some pictures...
Sorry for this horrible picture, but it somewhat shows my swelling. The headband with heat packs kind of hides some of it though.
Biting my teeth together. It feels like my bottom teeth are a bit too far forward, but I guess they will relax and shift a bit backwards later on?
How far I can open my mouth. Part of my lip isn't as strong right now, so I open my mouth crookedly.
What my square elastic looks like. You can also see a bit of my stitches below my bottom teeth.
No comments:
Post a Comment