Monday, June 23, 2014

Day 4: Home and healing!

All wrapped up.This was how I went out today
to see the Surgeonman.
Swelling is at its worst and I just thought
it was more socially responsible. :)
I guess if there were one thing I didn't expect, it would have been how fast this whole process was and getting home by Day 3! Swelling is at its worst so far today (on Day 4) and my face totally makes me look like that girl from 200 pounds of beauty or Pumba from the lion king. I guess I at least now know what I'd look like if I put on a hundred kilos... and more so that I'd never want to.

So far this was how the past few days were:
Day 1 (Friday): Surgery at 1pm. Took 4 hours. Apparently went really well and I didn't have to use my autologous at all. Spent the night in the ICU. The machine kept beeping, and I was constantly reminded to breathe cause my oxygenation was pretty low. Guess I kept forgetting to breathe.
Day 2: (Saturday): 
Checked out from ICU only at around 4pm because I was in and out of a fever and had quite a bit of congestion. Was wheeled to a general ward. Spent the night in a general ward.
Day 3 (Sunday):
Checked out of the general ward to head home at noonish cause my surgeon didn't want me to catch any hospital bugs and thought I was well enough. Was so proud that I got up to walk! Was home by afternoon and was really swollen but I felt alright. Not much pain.
Day 4 (Monday, today):
Woke up still heavy with swelling. Visited Surgeonman this morning with a ton of questions.

I visited Surgeonman this morning and he says this is the worst swelling gets, but everything apparently looks really nice and the surgery went really well. I felt so bad cause I went to him today with a million questions (written on paper of course cause I can't talk at all). My next visit is on Wednesday... hopefully my swelling will come down a little by then.

Breathing is the worst. Surgeonman said that it's because of my deviated nose septum on my left that the pooling of blood in my sinuses is making breathing difficult. Breathing is a quite laborious and it takes most of my concentration. It's kinda gross really considering there's blood running down my sinuses into my throat and most of it just stays there in my throat (cause I can't quite swallow properly) and becomes a big smelly clot until I gargle and get them out. It's totally gross seeing clots of blood in the sink. It was easier in the hospital with the suction machine really, but I guess being at home makes me a lot more independent. And I'm trying to get back to daily life without the family babying me too much. :) But honestly, the inability to brush my teeth and and blood in my throat is making my breath smell like death. :(

I've read quite a bit about not blowing my nose (even though it feels so congested!), and Surgeonman also says it may cause possibly a lot of messy blood flows out of my nose... which I think is probably better that it's now just pooling in the back of my throat.

I can't talk at all now cause I'm banded...or maybe it's also that I don't have much courage to. Or maybe it's cause I'm also mainly spending most of my efforts trying to breathe through my really congested nose (instead of through my mouth) cause it helps keep infections at bay... and speaking will just totally mess that air flow up.

I have yet to update on how the whole process went cause I'm not quite up to it yet... I will write about it later I think. Right now, all my energy is in
  1. Concentrating on breathing, 
  2. Concentrating on distracting myself from my ugly swelling, 
  3. Trying to get back to daily life, and 
  4. Trying to force myself to eat more than 100mls of some sort of food in a day (I've already lost something like 3 kilos in 3 days). Yesterday, I only could force myself 40 mls of soup in the morning and something like 20 mls of pineapple juice for dinner.

    Right now, I have a fear of getting food in my mouth and dirtying my teeth which may end up causing cavities or something. Also cause swallowing can be such a chore, it's really hurting my appetite. Surgeonman says it's okay though cause "we" have enough fat stores so I can just "take it as a diet" and that it's normal to loose a significant amount of weight after the surgery. Haha. When he said "we" have fat stores, I think he just meant me. :D Guess the pre-surgery weight gain was worth it after all.

Shared on IG:
Day 35: I totally look like
a pufferfish and it feels like
cramps on my face, but honestly
 it's the IV that's the most irritating,
painful... And scary looking!
But I'm thankful. :)
thankful for friends and family.
life is good. :)
 
#life #jawsurgery#100happydays #blessed
One thing I'm thankful for though, is that I took the courage to write a note on FB and shared some pics on IG about the surgery to try to help people transit with me and the response has been so encouraging. At least I'm glad that people are understanding that this was a medical issue and hopefully I'll have a little less social and emotional impact in the last few stages of this journey.

Okay, I'm going to try to work now. :)
Or watch some telly. I'm glad that I can just focus on myself right now in my healing.

I think I'll make a list later this afternoon about the things I want to accomplish this month whilst I'm stuck at home... and maybe where this journey is going to lead me.

I honestly can't wait to get to the end of this where I'll get my braces off and whiten my teeth. Yes, teeth whitening, that will mark the end of this really crazy journey. After all, all this braces work has totally discoloured and damaged my poor teeth.

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