SARA: Made it back alive and well

[Guest guest]

Hi all, this is my first post post-op. Well I survived surgery amd made

it back home in record time! Surgery started at 1pm yesterday and ended

at 6:30pm and I was back home today by 2:30pm. Thank god because I had

to spend the whole night in the recovering unit as there were no beds

left in LIJ hospital. What's more they put me in the mens section in

the recovering unit which wouldn't have been so bad if the guy next

door to me hadn't insisted on telling jokes all night, ones that I did

not find amusing:-( On the plus side it meant that I had a nurse

checking in one me pretty much every hour which was reassuring.

Surgery details: I had an upper leforte 1. My palet was dissected into

three pieces and expanded. I can feel a little cut in the middle of my

palet from where they cut it but it has already started healing which

is good news. They removed only my two upper bicuspids and not my three

wisdom teeth as my doctors claimed I would have been in major pain

today. My upper jaw was moved up and they removed a piece of bone above

my gum line to allow for this. My lower jaw swung right into place

perfectly. My mouth is now banded shut with only two VERY tight elastic

bands which actually feel like four bands because they are wrapped

around my hooks in a box shape. I have a splint which by the looks of

it is not that big but boy does it feel clunky. Eating, or rather

getting liquids in, as well as talking is proving a nightmare but I am

confident I will get there eventually.

When I woke up post-surgery I still had the nasal gastric tube in my

nose. Let me tell all you pre-oppers this. This tube is your friend

even if it looks grosse! I had a lot of blood in my stomach and thanks

to this tube I was able to get all the blood out of my stomach and not

vomit once. It also helped me breathe very well. Surprisingly when I

woke up I was breathing totally from my nose without struggling. A

first for me as I am a mouth breather. When they removed the tube it

hurt a little but nothing major. Unfortunately my sinuses are very sore

right now. I am using ice packs to desensitize them and it seems to be

working. What else. Ah yes, the catherer. Well I had two. One in my arm

and one for down there, you know where. The 'toilet' catherer I was

very thankful for because there is no way I would have been able to get

up to go to the bathroom until this morning. I was already asleep when

they put the catherer in so no embarassment there. When they took out

the catherer it took less than 3 seconds and didn't hurt at all. It

also did not hurt after to go the the bathroom. Sorry about the details.

The catherer in my arm on the other hand hurt like hell. Unfortunately

this catherer is essential because this is where they administered my

IV. I know from previous operations that this catherer has always hurt

me at times but today it really hurt bad! Unfortunately it was the

first time my mother left me on my own for 30 mins post-surgery. She

left me in the recovering unit under the supposed watchful eye of the

nurses. The problem was that suddenly the catherer and IV started to

really hurt. SO much so that I started crying. A first throughout the

whole surgery procedure. NO ONE NOTICED or they chose to ignore me

which got me even more frustrated and I suspect worsened the pain in my

mind. I had to start waving my other arm and bang the side of the bed

with my wipe-board to get someones attention. Eventually a nurse came

over and said, " there's no reason it should be hurting you, " and

promptly went back to her desk to gossip with her colleague. Such was

my first encounter with not being able to talk back clearly and tell

someone to shove it up you know where. Eventually my nurse showed up

and blocked the IV.

That I have to say was my only bad surgery experience. I was up and

walking as of this morning at 8am. I had my last morphine shot at 5am

this morning. The next pain killer dose I took was this evening at 6pm

once I was at home. This was tylenol and codene which put me nicely to

sleep. I've not in major pain. More than anything it's my sinuses and

my joints feel really stiff, as if they are being forced into their new

position which is exactly what's happening. As soon as I woke up this

mroning I remembered to do my breathing exercises and to cough as much

as possible. I had quite a bit of phlem built up in my lungs from the

anesthesia but nothing to worry about. I have to say, taking deep

breaths and walking around the ward, as well as going to the bathroom

did a lot for me not just physically in terms of getting the anethesia

out of my system but also in terms of my mental state. I felt better

and positive about my recovery.

Doctor Scwartz came in to see me this morning at 8am and removed my

bandages that were wrapped around my head. He was amazed by how little

swelling I had. In fact, Dr Sachs who came in to see right before I was

discharged at 1:30pm and all the nurses kept on saying that I looked

amazing for someone who just had a leforte. I put it down to the arnica

pills I took on Sunday night and the MLD massage I had. I still think I

look swollen and I'm sure it will get worse over the next 48 hours but

at least I haven't bruised badly immediately. I'll post a post-op 24

hour picture for all of you.

The weirdest part has been getting used to the new me. First of all I

hav a chin, which is really weird. My lips are wider and my nose is

also slightly wider. I'm still not sure I like what I see but I've

decided not to make any final judgements for at least 3 weeks.

Well, that's enough of my rambling for now. Throughout the whole

procedure I kept on saying to myself, oh I need to tell the group about

this. It was a huge comfort. And I can honestly say now from the other

side that while not one of the most enjoyable activities I have ever

been through, the surgery is not that bad. The best part was getting it

over with. Now I'm going to go through the other posts to see how

Shiloh and Jae did and to see how Jen and Becky are getting along in

preparing for their surgery.

It's good to be back.

Sara