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Here's all about my lower jaw surgery, and how it went for me yesterday!
-Got to hospital around 11
-Did lab work
-Went to small room and got dressed in hospital gown (purple! Cute and heated!)
-IV put in
-Dr Harris came in around 1ish
-Anesthesiologist came in and talked to me
-Went to the bathroom
2 nurses got me all ready to go into operating room. They gave me an "I don't care" drug as they called it..haha also I took my contacts out and were asked a bunch of questions! Here's my pictures of before surgery, about to get my IV started and everything going!
Then they rolled me into surgery, switched me to the bed for surgery, then put the mask on.
My surgeons so sweet. He came up and said "you're going to do great" and squeezed my hand as he had a reassuring smile on his face.
They put the anesthesia mask on, told me to take deep breaths, and I remember the girl holding the mask on wasn't doing a very good job. It wasn't even on my face evenly, so I told her...and that is the last thing I remember before surgery.
After surgery I woke up in the operating room. *surgery was about 3 hours long. I got out around 5:15 ish. They switched me to the normal bed and wheeled me into recovery.
I didn't want to be in there for long at all, so I forced myself to wake up (it was so hard to do!) and I remember my nose was SO DRY.
I didn't think I could talk, but to my surprise I was able to communicate that to the nurse, and asked here when I could go to my room.
Pain was coming soon. Quickly. She told me she could either give me pain meds and keep me longer, or I could wait about 10 minutes and go to my room to recover and get my pain meds.
I wasn't in a ton of pain at the time, so it sounded like a great idea! I said yes please, and thank you.
I was once again trying to prove to them I was ready to go up to my room, so I just forced myself to keep my eyes open.
20 minutes passed, and I was beginning to be in much more pain. I told her, and she apologized and tried calling upstairs again.
The nurse who answered told her to call back AGAIN in 10 minutes. She was awesome luckily, and called the manager and told him what was going on. They sent a guy nurse over to my bed shortly after that phone call, and I was on my way upstairs.
I was so pleased with her so I said thank you several times, same with the guy who brought me upstairs.
The guy who wheeled my bed out first said he was going to be late to school to another nurse, and I said im so sorry! This is my fault!
He was so sweet and was determined to get me to my room. His other guy nurse friend came and took over for him, and he wished me luck before he left. The new guy who was wheeling my bed upstairs was super kind as well. We met up with my mom before we got on the elevator. I was so excited to see her, and I waved really big as I saw her blurred shadow(didn't have my contacts in) walking over to me with a proud smile on her face.
All three of us then proceeded into the elevator. The nurse warned me about the bumps the bed would go over, so I tried to prepare myself but it hurt a little because I was in lots of pain already.
I finally got into my room, and told them I SERIOUSLY need pain meds because I can feel everything and my bones were aching. She was doing the best she could to get my meds to me as quickly as possible, but it still took a while because she had to request it, put it in the computer, etc.
When I was waiting for her, the manager came in to say hi, and I told him I am in lots of pain, I haven't had any pain meds yet, and I need them asap! He tried his hardest too to help me get them.
Long story short, my mouth was hurting so bad I couldn't talk much, so I tried talking to my mom on my whiteboard to help me get stuff out of my bag(food, lip balm, etc) I almost lost it because it was so frustrating to not be able to communicate when I knew exactly where everything was.
I FINALLY got my pain meds about 35 to 40 minutes after I woke from surgery. Moral of the story is: im stubborn and have high pain tolerance so I tried to play it cool, but at the end of the day...dont do what I did! Stay in recovery. Get pain meds ASAP, and rest. They will bring you to your room soon enough, so don't rush it. Relax and recover.
Half the reason I really wanted out of recovery asap was because I knew it had been about 4 hours since I put a pad in my hospital underwhere (yes...im on my period AND recovering from surgery. Bad timing? I think yes!!)
So I wanted to come up and change it in my room, eat, and put lip balm on.
I didn't sleep at all during this whole day. Crazy right? Haha I have been fighting it all day long. I wanted to really try to get food in my system to avoid the nausea. And it worked!! I had some diet coke in my hair dye bottle (which works like a CHARM!) and a canned vanilla shake. It tasted AMAZING. My tongue has never been numb so I could taste the food and it was great.
I didn't get much food down when the nurse came in and gave me more pain meds. At this time I just got a new nurse, my first nurse had her shift end around 6pm.
I decided try to get to the bathroom and use a tampon because it was after surgery and I HATE pads, so I desperately wanted to change it.
Well, as soon as I sat down, my head just immediately started to go through the blackout feeling. You know, that feeling where you stand up too fast and your eyesight starts to leave you..and your head feels super hot.
I said "Oh no. This isn't good..I feel like I might black out"
As soon as I said that my mom came in panicked and told me to stand up and to not worry about the tampon right now.
Like I said, im super stubborn and I said "chill! Just let me breathe for a second and I'll be fine. Then I can put the tampon in and not have to worry. "
My mom said "holy cow Jess you are so white."
The nurse left the room for a minute at that time.
I started to feel a little better so I stood up and decided to do the tampon later. That's when my mom and the nurse were calling my name several times. I could hear them, but I didn't care to respond because I was pretty much passed out. I kept going in and out of consciousness, and when I heard my mom calling my name over and over I was so annoyed haha so I was just like "stop mom. Im fine. I can here you, I just don't want to talk".
After that I slipped further into my blackout. My mom and the nurse said I was walking back with them to my bed, and my body just gave out. My tiny little mom was trying to hold me up, and as I blacked out my jaw went straight down into my neck so I cut off my breathing. My mom and the nurse tried frantically to wake me up. My mom pushed my head up and back, and that's when I gasped for air and woke up. When I was passed out it felt like I was just in an amazing good deep sleep. I couldn't hear a thing and I completely had no idea of what just happened. I woke up and they tot me I blacked out. I was like "really?! How long was I out!?". Before I asked the question, it took me a moment because I was so confused that my mom and the nurse were holding me up. I thought I was asleep in my bed because it felt like that, so it really freaked me out when I woke up because I was so confused.
I couldn't stop apologizing. I felt terrible! I scared my mom and the nurse half to death. Once again...moral of the story: don't be stubborn and forget the bathroom if you feel that you're anywhere near blacking out!
After I got back in bed safely, I was wide awake. I had some more food, kept applying lip balm, got some pictures of my new bite and video, and kinda cleaned my teeth a bit because they were bloody. Oh! That's another thing!
As I was in a ton of pain waiting for medicine, my right stitch on the outside of my face was dripping blood which made me even more pissed and grouchy because I completely forgot that they do one stitch on the outside of your face for surgery. So that didn't add to my pain, etc.
As for the rest of the day, I've just been doing great! Since I've received pain meds I feel great. I've felt ridiculously sleepy all day long, but once again I'm stubborn and wanted to stay awake to eat, talk and look at my mouth ( I brought a hand held mirror, which is absolutely AMAZING. bring one! You can watch yourself eat and you don't make a mess because you see what you're doing.)
Its currently the middle of the night, like around 3 am. My mom stayed until around 11 with me, then she went home. I was able to use the bathroom once right before she left, and again about an hour later without feeling faint or like I would blackout.
As I lay here, I actually need to pee again. /: the IV drip continues to keep you hydrated and makes you have to pee a lot! What sucks the most is the nurse has to come in, unhook you from several machines, then help you with your IV so you can make it into the bathroom without tugging on it. (ouch, that would hurt!) Then they tell you to call them again, and they help you over to the sink to wash your hands and connect back up in bed again. It's a long process!
I already feel tingling in my chin and lip..which means the nerves are coming back to life and they aren't damaged. This might still take a while for the nerves to come completely back, but I'm feeling hopeful!
Well, I really wanted to write all this down tonight so I could remember what it was like today. I'm glad I took the time, but I could really fall asleep in a split second. Goodnight world! (the nurses keep coming in to check on me, so its hard to sleep, but I'm going to try my best!) Day 2 here I come (:
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I started to feel a little better so I stood up and decided to do the tampon later. That's when my mom and the nurse were calling my name several times. I could hear them, but I didn't care to respond because I was pretty much passed out. I kept going in and out of consciousness, and when I heard my mom calling my name over and over I was so annoyed haha so I was just like "stop mom. Im fine. I can here you, I just don't want to talk".
After that I slipped further into my blackout. My mom and the nurse said I was walking back with them to my bed, and my body just gave out. My tiny little mom was trying to hold me up, and as I blacked out my jaw went straight down into my neck so I cut off my breathing. My mom and the nurse tried frantically to wake me up. My mom pushed my head up and back, and that's when I gasped for air and woke up. When I was passed out it felt like I was just in an amazing good deep sleep. I couldn't hear a thing and I completely had no idea of what just happened. I woke up and they tot me I blacked out. I was like "really?! How long was I out!?". Before I asked the question, it took me a moment because I was so confused that my mom and the nurse were holding me up. I thought I was asleep in my bed because it felt like that, so it really freaked me out when I woke up because I was so confused.
I couldn't stop apologizing. I felt terrible! I scared my mom and the nurse half to death. Once again...moral of the story: don't be stubborn and forget the bathroom if you feel that you're anywhere near blacking out!
After I got back in bed safely, I was wide awake. I had some more food, kept applying lip balm, got some pictures of my new bite and video, and kinda cleaned my teeth a bit because they were bloody. Oh! That's another thing!
As I was in a ton of pain waiting for medicine, my right stitch on the outside of my face was dripping blood which made me even more pissed and grouchy because I completely forgot that they do one stitch on the outside of your face for surgery. So that didn't add to my pain, etc.
As for the rest of the day, I've just been doing great! Since I've received pain meds I feel great. I've felt ridiculously sleepy all day long, but once again I'm stubborn and wanted to stay awake to eat, talk and look at my mouth ( I brought a hand held mirror, which is absolutely AMAZING. bring one! You can watch yourself eat and you don't make a mess because you see what you're doing.)
Its currently the middle of the night, like around 3 am. My mom stayed until around 11 with me, then she went home. I was able to use the bathroom once right before she left, and again about an hour later without feeling faint or like I would blackout.
As I lay here, I actually need to pee again. /: the IV drip continues to keep you hydrated and makes you have to pee a lot! What sucks the most is the nurse has to come in, unhook you from several machines, then help you with your IV so you can make it into the bathroom without tugging on it. (ouch, that would hurt!) Then they tell you to call them again, and they help you over to the sink to wash your hands and connect back up in bed again. It's a long process!
I already feel tingling in my chin and lip..which means the nerves are coming back to life and they aren't damaged. This might still take a while for the nerves to come completely back, but I'm feeling hopeful!
Well, I really wanted to write all this down tonight so I could remember what it was like today. I'm glad I took the time, but I could really fall asleep in a split second. Goodnight world! (the nurses keep coming in to check on me, so its hard to sleep, but I'm going to try my best!) Day 2 here I come (:
+day+1.jpg)
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