May 22nd - Surgery Day (Day 1)

Alrighty, here is my experience on the day of my surgery:

         I woke up at 5:30am, completely ready for this surgery to happen. I had to be at the hospital for 6:15am to check in. When I arrived I had to go through a few customs (like at the airport) such as signing some forms, taking pre-surgery medication, and getting all dressed up for surgery. At 7:20am-ish I left my parents and was brought closer to where I would be getting surgery. I sat on a bed for about 15 minutes while members of the surgical team came back and forth to talk to me and give me some instruction. I then followed a doctor and walked myself into the surgery room and laid down on the surgical table. As I laid there, I talked a bit with the surgery team as they were putting needles into me to get me all drugged up. Here's a picture of me before I left my parents for surgery wearing this nice gown they gave me:

        I had heard a few stories as to what it’s like being put to sleep before surgery, but I didn’t have quite the same experience! I heard it was easy and that everything would go smoothly as the doctors tell you to count down from 10. I was told that I would not reach 7 as I would already be asleep. This is how my experience went: One doctor told me that he was going to proceed and inject the anesthetic into me and I would fall asleep shortly. So I laid there with a grin on my face because I was thrilled to be having the whole "being put to sleep" experience for the first time. I could feel right when he started putting the anesthetic into me because I felt this viscous, chemical substance being pumped into my veins and spreading up my arm and to the rest of my body. It was extremely unpleasant! I felt like I was dying; like my body was shutting down. I was panicking on the inside because I was starting to find it very difficult to keep breathing. However, this only lasted for about 5-7 seconds. I felt like I woke up instantly and was in the recovery room at 11:00am.  

        Perhaps the most awful hour of my life was from 11am-12 noon after I woke up from surgery. I was incredibly loopy and nauseated as I threw up all the blood that went down into my stomach during surgery. I threw up in a container and filled it up to the 250ml mark by the end of that hour. This period of time was very blurry for me as I could not keep my eyes open for most of it. 

          I remember seeing my parents for the first time around 1:30pm once I had been moved up to my overnight private room. Word of advice: It is worth the extra $50 to get a private room instead of a semi-private or non-private room because of how bad you will feel. I was very drowsy and remember my aunt coming in to see me at one point but I just have blurred memories of her being there. For the rest of that day I stayed in my hospital room with my parents to keep me company; though I kept drifting off. I would say that around 6-7pm I stopped dozing off and was fairly alert. Here are some pictures from this time:

                                           Me when I was very sleepy from 1-6pm

                                                 This is me quite alert that night

         In these pictures I've got a two-part contraption going on here: I have an icepack wrapped around my head, along with a humidifier that is keeping me from getting too congested (blue tube, very helpful!!!)

  Without my headgear the swelling shows a bit more, especially on the right side of my face

         I felt very swollen, but this is nothing compared to patients that had longer jaw surgeries. Remember, the longer you're in surgery the more swollen you will be. I was only in for 1 hour. The nurse helping me out, who has seen many other jaw surgery patients, said she thought that I looked fantastic! I still felt quite awful though.

     My pain level, at the time I was vomiting a lot, was a 3-4/10 but after that I was never higher than a 2. I would say discomfort is a better word for what I was feeling. My whole face below my eyes was numb (especially my nose and upper lip). Before exiting surgery the surgeon wired my teeth shut using strong elastics so I cannot move my jaws at all. This is me trying to get a bit of calories in me using a syringe:

     Due to the swelling in my lower face, it was very hard to swallow any liquids. I was taking some medications through the syringe as well. This would lead to the hardest part of my recovery: getting food into me. My calorie total for day 1 was probably 30 calories. I only had a small amount of apple juice, water, and my medications. Throughout this first day, I had a continuous nose bleed that would drip every 20 minutes or so.  

     Aside from me, there were two other lucky guys (around my age), both getting double jaw surgery on the same day. Those poor guys spent the night on their own while my mom stayed with me; my dad went back to the hotel to get a good sleep for the ride home the next day. 

      That night was a long one because I had slept so much that day that I was wide awake when night came. Every couple hours I would stretch my legs/back and go for a walk around the hospital floor with my mom. My back was terribly sore from laying down inclined on the bed all day.

                               This me out for a walk around the hospital. Peace!

I weighed myself after a whole day of no food and was 132lbs, which is very light, but my beanpole frame was only 130-135lbs going into surgery. It is a good idea to try and gain weight before surgery but if you don't it's not too detrimental as far as I know.  

Anyway, this was my first day so I'll continue with some posts about the days to follow!