Day 5- First Post-Op Appointment

So Tuesday I had my first post-op appointment. Unfortunately, Dr. Lanzi was out of town so we had to drive a half hour to see his partner, Dr. Burke. It was a long day, but I made sure to get lots of nutrition in me so I was strong enough for the trip.

At the appointment, I got my chin strap removed, as well as the two little stitches. The stitches in my mouth are all dissolvable I believe...

I also got X-rays. (Unfortunately, I don't have pre-op ones to compare at the moment)

I have like 5 plates and 22 screws or something like that.

Day 4

This is the day I finally hit rock bottom. I hadn't been "eating" enough and it finally caught up to me. After napping for a few hours in the afternoon, I got up to go to the bathroom and we all thought my next stop was going to be the Emergency Room. While I was in the bathroom I started feeling really sick, and so my mom and Corey sat me down in the kitchen where I tried to pull myself together. My mom rubbed a cold washcloth across my face and body to try to cool me down. I knew I needed to lie down so I tried to get the living room, but I fainted on the way and they had to sit me down at the computer desk. When I FINALLY got back to my chair, I was able to lie back and proceeded to drink as much Boost as I could handle. I started feeling better from there, and we made sure I started getting as much nutrients as possible, even if I didn't want them. I actually don't have much of an appetite at all surprisingly. But I'm learning how to eat for nutrition, not for taste.

Day 3

Sunday funday. Not.

The days were just dragging by and I was trying desperately to sleep as best I could,

BUT. THE. CONGESTION.

Congestion is by far the worst part of the whole recovery. I cannot breathe through my mouth at all, which mind you, is how I've been breathing primarily for the past nineteen years. So the nose is all I got. They opened my nose up with surgery so that I can breathe better, but it's been so stuffy that all of my energy has been focused on trying to breathe. The one thing I can do that provides immediate relief in use Afrin nasal spray. It unswells the blood vessels in your nose that are causing congestion. Unfortunately, you're only allowed to use it every 10-12 hours. So when that wears off, some of the other things you can try are:

• taking a steamy shower
• using a vaporizer/humidifier
• saline nasal spray (every 20 minutes)
• trying to gently blow out some of the mucus (you're not really supposed to blow your nose for about 2 weeks)

It's also really frustrating not being able to spit out the mucus in my throat. You can't really "hock" properly when you're mouth is all banded shut, so you just have to swallow it. 

As you can see I have this fun chin strap thing on, whose purpose is to help reattach the muscles in my chin that were disconnected from the bone for the genioplasty. I also have two little stitches on the underside of either side of my lower jaw, where they had to make two tiny incisions to stick a little screw driver in there.

Day 2- Going Home

Day two, it was time to go home. I got to take another stroll around the hallways in the morning. Sue had changed my into my clothes the day before. So all they really had to do was take out my IV. Like I said, I was pretty out of it for the first few days, so I don't remember too much about that morning. They pushed me to the car in a wheel chair and we were on our way home.

It was time for me to inhabit the recliner where I've lived for the whole first week following surgery. It was also time for BOOST. All. the. time.
Nutrients are super important because you aren't eating anything and are no longer hooked up to fluids, so you can go downhill really fast.
I can only eat through a syringe, 2oz at a time. I stick the little beveled edge of the tube back into my cheek and slurp in the goodness. Its very dehumanizing and messy, but it's all ya get at this point.
Aside from Boost, I drink apple juice, water, and chicken broth.

My brother visited with my nephew Saturday night which really helped me take my mind off things for a little bit.

Day 1

The first day post-op was pretty hazy for me as well. Still, definitely not fun. I had nasoparyngeal airways (tubey things, as my mom called them) in both nostrils because there's no way I would've been able to breathe through my mouth, and they needed to make sure I could breathe through my nose. They took those out in the morning, as well as the catheter that I had in (weird). I had a few visitors come see me but I don't remember much.

The worst part of my stay was when I didn't have Nurse Sue. The other nurses weren't nearly as great as she was. In fact, when I was having a panic attack on Friday because I felt like a couldn't breathe, they said the monitors are showing that I'm getting enough oxygen and I just need to calm down. They did absolutely nothing. Not cool.

Friday night I was able to get up and go for a little walk around the hallways and told Sue about my wedding plans and showed her a picture of my dress. :)

Surgery Day

The day of surgery, we arrived at the hospital at 10:00 AM to prep for surgery at noon. I used the bathroom, got changed, and they started an IV. A few people, including my surgeon, stopped by to talk with me before surgery. I said goodbye to my loved ones and was on my way...

Five hours later, I woke up and the surgery was over. I was pretty out of it for the rest of the day, but it was NOT a good day. I felt very sick and swollen. There was blood in my stomach that I threw up in the middle of the night (all over myself). Fortunately, I was blessed to have my mom and Corey with me the whole time, as well as the best nurse ever, Nurse Sue. She was so awesome and took such good care of me.

When all was said and done, I'd had:

• Arch bars put on
• Lefort I Osteotomy (upper jaw surgery)
• Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy (lower jaw surgery)
• Genioplasty (chin surgery)
• Septoplasty and Turbinectomy

The End of an Era...

I never thought this day would come. Surgery was months away, and all of a sudden here I am, the night before surgery, preparing for my life to change forever. I've been so anxious and scared leading up to this point, but I managed to find peace today. I'm ready for this surgery.

Of course, the main reason I am getting this procedure is for my health, to ensure a lifetime of proper breathing and snore-less nights. But let's be honest...everyone that knows me knows that I have been self-conscious about my smile for a very long time. For years, I wished that I could change the way that I look, so I could just be confident and comfortable with my face and my smile. However, I don't regret waiting to get this surgery. The way I look, and more so my low self-esteem about the way I look, has made me the person that I am today. And for that, I am grateful.

I know that everyone will have their opinions about me having this surgery. But all I can say is, how often do you have the opportunity to change something that you really don't like about yourself? God has blessed me with this crazy and amazing opportunity, and I'm putting it in His hands. He aligned the stars for me in this situation, and I trust that everything is going to turn out the way it is supposed to.

So take a good look at this face, the face that I've had for the past twenty years, because tomorrow, it's going to change forever...for the better! :)