I survived!

Well, I think I have made it through the worst part of my surgery experience and I'm only slightly miserable at the moment. I will rewind what has happened in the last week since I was very horrible about posting any information...

The morning of surgery, we overslept. I was supposed to be at the hospital at 6, and it takes about 45 minutes to drive over there...so when I woke up at 5:30 I FLIPPED OUT. I immediately starting screaming, omg omg omg and running around like crazy. My mom and I got ready very quickly, it wasn't too hard for me since I couldn't wear my contacts, eat anything, wear make up or worry about what to wear. I just had to shower quickly, and throw an overnight bag together and we were out the door with Adam following behind in his car. At least that is what I thought. Adam actually took a little while to get ready so the whole time I was speeding to the hospital (and I do mean SPEEDING) I was also nervous that I wouldn't even see Adam before they took me back...I also called the hospital on the way there to warn them, and they were pretty nice about it and just told me to be careful driving. So we got there, and I had to change into a hospital gown, get into a bed and get my IV inserted. I started FREAKING out at this point, thinking that I may have made a huge mistake and maybe I should just leave before it is too late. But they do everything so slyly so as to not make you really 'know' when you are ready, so I didn't really realize when I was getting the first dose of anesthesia. The last thing I remember is the anesthesiologist putting a shot into my IV and me closing my eyes. I didn't even say bye to Adam or my mom before I was OUT. The next thing I remember is blinking my eyes open and seeing blurry images of Adam and my mom and knowing that it was over and I was still alive (which was a pretty nice feeling)...

I stayed at the hospital until about 6pm the next day. My dr was going to come check on me but some things came up at his office so he called the nurses and told them to let me go home, and that I could just come in to his office the next day for the check up part. I really didn't want to leave the hospital, I was pretty comfortable and feeling good because the nurses were taking such good care of me, and all I had to worry about was getting up to go to the bathroom. I do have to say though, the evening of the surgery, I threw up almost every hour until 4am the next morning. I think it was the blood I had swallowed that was making me so sick. Even anti nausea meds weren't really doing much to stop me from feeling super nauseous. It was really bad when I would get up to go to the bathroom too =(. But eventually it just went away and from that point on I was fine in that department. My nose would start bleeding every once in awhile which was also gross and that didn't stop for quite a few days after the surgery...

Even though my mouth wasn't wired shut, it was rubber banded shut, very tightly and I had a bandage wrapped all around my head. So the worst pain I felt was in my jaw muscles because it felt like my jaws were clenched SO tightly together. I couldn't really breathe through my mouth, and I had to use syringes with little hoses to get my medicine in, but I got the hang of it and it wasn't so bad. I was really dreading having the splint on my upper jaw (which is kind of like a mouthguard, but has a strip that goes across the roof of your mouth too) but that didn't really bother me, luckily.

Coming home was really hard, since I now had to keep up with medicine and eating and all that without the help of the nurses, but my mom helped me keep track of all of that. I really dislike having to take all of the medications in liquid form, something I just hadn't thought of, because it made my mouth taste so bad and sort of ruined my appetite. My face was super swollen, and felt like I was carrying around a brick. I pretty much took my pain meds as often as possible because as I got the feeling back in parts of my lower face, I would start to feel new pain.

Tomorrow marks a full week since the surgery so I am really happy to have one week over with! Hopefully it will get easier from here, because I am getting really antsy to be back to normal. I tried to be as mentally prepared as possible for how hard the recovery would be, but I didn't realize I would feel so sick. I pretty much feel like I did when I had the flu, taking a ton of medicine, not very hungry even though I know I would feel better if I ate, being really tired and run down. Bleh, I don't know why I wasn't anticipating that, but it never occurred to me. When Adam had his shoulder surgery, he seemed mainly like his normal self, except for needing meds and not being able to do stuff with his arm...Anyway, today I have not taken a single dose of pain meds since 1am! That is by FAR the longest I've gone so far without them, and I'm not trying to be a saint, I just really don't hurt. My face is really tingly, like that feeling when you've had an area numbed at the dentist and you are getting the feeling back. The worst thing is that I am still so so so tired and sometimes get dizzy just standing up, like even that is too difficult of a task AND the lack of appetite that I have. The first few days I was really creative and drinking blended up soups and beans/cheese concontions, but then I reached a point where the thought of drinking beans or anything 'warm' made me want to throw up. But I am also pretty tired of chocolate shakes as well...I go back to the dr on Wednesday, and I am HOPING with all of my heart that the dr will let me go to soft foods. That would open up the world of pasta, mashed potatoes, pancakes, really mushy cereal and even mushy casseroles! But for now I have sent Adam to the grocery store to get some Ensure shakes, and some Spaghetti-O's (I am hoping that I can drink those, since the noodles are really small...we will see when he gets home with them...).

My swelling has gone down quite a bit, but it's still too soon to see what the result will be. The stitches in my mouth made it hard to really smile or anything at this point, so I am just waiting to get to a point where I can get a better idea of what my new face will look like...it's really hard to be patient though! Every day I wake up and look in the mirror to see if the swelling has gone down. It's definetly better, but that isn't saying much since I looked like I had swallowed a football when I got out of surgery. Oh well, the WORST is behind me! The next few weeks will pass somehow or another, and then I will probably be counting down the months until I get my braces off! That will really be the next milestone to look forward to and that is pretty unbelievable! Overall, for anyone who is reading this in preparation of having surgery, or thinking about doing the surgery...Bottom line is that I would do it again every time. Because the discomfort I have now is so minor compared to the years of not being able to breathe or chew correctly. I do hate that I feel 'sick' but if that is the worst of it, feeling like I have the flu, that really isn't SO bad considering that type of procedure. You just have to be prepared to be really patient, and know that you will have to remind yourself each day that you are one day closer to putting it all behind you! When you've had it hanging over your head for so long, it's nice to know that every day is a day that you don't have to do over again and one less day in the whole process!