Two Days To Go

So I am back from my pre-op assessment, and I did get a lot more information today which was nice.

So this is going to be a very long post going over all of that stuff.

The first thing they did was take my weight and height. I weigh less (I never weigh myself at home) and am shorter then I had thought- 126lbs and exactly 5'7.

I had to get blood drawn for some tests.

Which was horrible. I wasn't even looking at the needle when they were taking my blood but I got very light headed. And afterwards when I was up and walking I felt like I was going to be sick.

Then I met with the actual nurse. The first thing she did was take my blood pressure, which was good but a bit high because I'm starting to get nervous.

After that she just went over a bunch of information with me.

My surgery is scheduled for 12:15pm on Wednesday, July 10th. I need to be at the hospital at 10:15am to get admitted. I am not allowed to be wearing any nail polish, makeup or jewelry.
The jewelry part kind of sucks.. I've never had my nose piercing out for long periods of time so I'm really hoping that it won't close up.

I need to make sure that I have my overnight bag with me. I'm not really sure what to pack in it though? And the night before I can't eat or drink anything past midnight. Although the nurse said that having a glass of water in the morning is fine, as long as it is at least 3 hours beforehand.

Once I am admitted my surgeon and anesthesiologist are supposed to meet with me just to go over things. Then I guess it will be time for my surgery?

I will obviously be under anesthesia and I will have a breathing tube down my nose.

My surgeon has booked 3 hours in the OR, but it hopefully shouldn't take that full time. When it is done I will be in recovery for at least an hour to make sure that I am okay. And from there I will be moved to the room that I will be staying in overnight. I will be hooked up to IVs for pain medication and I am hoping anti-nausea as well.

The nurse said that asking about anti-nausea medicine is something I can do when I meet with the anesthesiologist.

For the first 24 hours I will have to have an ice-pack around my jaw to help with the swelling. And they will put elastics on the extra hooks on the braces to help keep my jaw in the position that they want. These elastics will be kept on for a few weeks and will need to be changed to re-adjust the position or if they become too loose/worn.

I have so much information now that it's almost too much to write, so I'm just going to do short form for the next part

- I will be started out on clear liquids- water and sprite/ginger ale shortly after. Then I can try other liquids, until I can work up to eating soft foods. No nuts, seeds or skins though as they can get stuck in the gums.

- I need to brush my teeth multiple times a day using a very soft bristled baby toothbrush and minimal toothpaste.

- For the first 24 hours I will have bleeding in my mouth.

That sounds so horrible. But the nurse said that I will have a suction thing to help get rid of it.

- After the initial 24 hours with icing my jaw, I'm supposed to use heat packs at home which will help to reduce tension in my jaw.

- Besides just the swelling, there is a good chance that I will also have bruising on my face. And it may even go down to a "V" shape on my chest/neck.

- It is suggested that I sleep sitting up for a few weeks to help reduce swelling.

- I'm supposedly not allowed to blow my nose for a few weeks as it can cause bleeding and trapped air causing an infection.

That just seems weird and so hard to control. How can you not blow your nose if you need to?

- It is supposedly common to lose anywhere from 7-15 lbs during the recovery.

- I will obviously be given a prescription for pain medication (probably T3's) as well as a prescription for an antibiotic just to make sure that I am healing well and don't get an infection.

Those are the basic more important bits of information that I was given.

I kind of knew to expect a lot of that from reading other's blogs that have gone through it. But actually reading it and hearing it myself makes it sound so scary.

I'm really hoping that most of these are just exaggerated to the extreme and that I won't experience it that much.


On another note- My boyfriend and I are going for massages tomorrow night. I'm so looking forward to it and am hoping that it will relax me for Wednesday.