The operation day and the following week of recovery

I have not been posting in a week now because of the fact that I did not feel all that great after the surgery. I think I am going to structure my story like a timetable almost and then write about my feelings and experience after that. My mom was absolutely amazing, as always XD, and wrote down when everything happened so that I would know all the correct times. So here is what happened:

05:45 am: Mom woke me and I had to shower twice with disinfectant shampoo and soap (for the fifth and sixth time…).

06:30 am: My dad called for a cab and we were driven to the hospital.

06:51 am: I arrived at my assigned bed at the hospital and are given a hospital gown… which I of course looked stunning in XD. They gave me a PVC (Periphal Venous catheter) in the right arm, I got three different kinds of pills to swallow (an antibiotic and two types of pain medication) and then I was wheeled of to the surgery.

07:30 am: I arrived at surgery room number 7 and then had to wait for approximately one hour and 10 minutes until they were ready for my surgery.

08:40 am: I was sedated.

10.50 am: As reported to me from my mom: My surgeon came out of the surgery to talk to my parents. Everything had run smoothly and they were able to make both of the incisions from the inside so I will not have any visible scars! + the fact that you heal incredibly well inside your mouth. Trust me, I should know after 6 years with braces.

11.20 am: I was brought into the recovery ward.

11:45 am: I got to wear a cooling mask on me that was filled with water (constantly kept at 16 degrees Celsius). Imagine it was quite as hassle to get this on me but I was still sedated at the time so I do not know.

12:15 am: I woke at approx. a quarter past twelve and felt very… swollen.

12:45 am: I felt sick and threw up only about one cl of liquid (TMI I know but since I am supposed to tell the whole story…). This was most likely because of the antibiotic I had been given since one of the side effects can be nausea. I received some medicine through my PVC to stop my nausea. :D

03:20 pm: I was wheeled back to my room after they were assured that everything was fine with me after my sedation (you have to stay in the recovery ward for three hours but I had to stay a bit longer because they could not find anyone to take me back to my room.) When I arrived I went back to sleep :)

04:10 pm: I received painkillers and an IV through my PVC. (I had gotten a new one in my hand during the surgery).

04:20 pm: My mom went home to get my bag that I packed over the weekend. While she was gone I threw up for real (still TMI, I know) but felt a lot better afterwards!

06:30 pm: My mom returned with my things and I slept some more.

06:45 pm: My little brother visited me at the hospital and when he left a half hour later took my father with him.

08:30 pm: Painkillers and new IV.

08:55 pm: Mom and I started to watch a DVD (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 XD).

10:00 pm: I had been so cooled down by the mask I had had on since 11:45 am that I was shaking and got more blankets to compensate. The nurses decided that it was time for me to sleep and we paused the DVD.

10:15 pm: I was asleep (according to mom).

12:00 pm: I got some antibiotics through my PVC.

NEW DAY

02:00 am: I got painkillers through my PVC.

02:05 am: The painkillers were already in my system so they removed it the tube from my PVC.

05:40 am: I woke up.

06:00 am: I removed the cooling mask to readjust it since the swelling had grown during the night.

08:00 am: Painkillers and antibiotics through my PVC.

08:15 am: My dad arrived.

08:20 am: My jaw surgeons and my orthodontist visited me. They decided that if I could swallow pills and drank more than one liter of fluid during the day then I could go home. I had a goal!

After this point I do not have any particular time stamps on what happened. I drank as much as I could and my PVC was removed at 02:00 pm when I showed that I could swallow a painkiller. The tricky part was that I could not drink, or do anything really, when I had my cooling mask on so I took small breaks from it from time to time. There is also the fact that it was extremely unpleasant to wear the cooling mask. But the mask was amazing at minimalizing the swelling so I suffered through wearing it until 07:00 pm when we packed up and went home. The swelling continued to grow until Friday and after that it has been slowly getting better but I am still swollen of course.

Okay let’s talk difficulties. First two smaller problems. Yawning and sneezing is impossible. Everyone out there that are able to yawn and sneeze, enjoy it! Because I know how it feels to not be able to do it and it sucks! + that moving my face is kind of impossible so you should not try to smile or anything because it will hurt. I also go around with my lips parted which makes for a very intelligent look as you can understand. This is because of the swelling. I literally can not get my lips to meet. That is why I know that the letters “B”, “F”, “M”, “O”, “P”, “W, “V” & “Y” are hard to pronounce. I can not brush my teeth either and have a type of mouthwash that I rinse my mouth with instead which is not at all satisfying. If that was not enough I have had some loss of feeling in my lower lip and down to my chin. My whole lower lip except for about 5 mm is numb and the sensation is the same in a square from my lip to my chin. I am staring to get used to it now so it is not as uncomfortable as it was a few days ago. Since I am seventeen there is a good chance that some of the feeling returns but it will be a while before that happens.

Of course we also have the big elephant in the room: You are not allowed to chew! Which basically limits your food options to liquids… or so you think! It is true that liquids make up the majority of my food intake right now but yesterday for example I was able to take part in a Saturday night family dinner when steak was on the menu! I took me a while to eat everything but I cut my steak in so small pieces that I could swallow them whole. Because a word from the wise: Food that has been mixed does not taste good! I also drink a lot of smoothies and milkshakes and eat chocolate pudding. Yum! Anything you can eat is fine since now it is not a concern that you are eating to many calories, now the challenge is to eat enough calories! XD That part I can honestly say that I enjoy.

But even though it may seem as though this week has been hell, and I am not saying that it was easy or that I particularly want to do it once more, but I am still happy with my decision to go through with the surgery!