4 Weeks Post-Op

        My knee is finally getting better! When I saw the knee surgeon last week he gave me a compression sock to wear on my leg along with some anti-inflammatory pills. The swelling has gone down quite a bit, but is still there. I've started going for daily 30 minutes walks to drain any swelling I have left in my face. It still really bothers me that my upper lip is really swollen (and numb) still but I guess that will take some time. I am normal to look at but can't hide the fact I had surgery on my face when I talk or smile because of my stiff upper lip. 

        Ever since I've started seeing improvements in my knee, I've started feeling more flickering of regenerating nerves in my face. I've also noticed that I have more feeling in my face. It is such a gradual process that I did not realize any improvement until recently. With my increased mobility I have more energy and am much more up-beat. Eating is going great; I had a large bowl of pasta last night. Now that I can eat more of a variety I am trying to focus more about nutrition now and not just about getting anything possible into me. I don't think I had any vegetables at all until about day 12! I have also started to get into my Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) studying. All of this dental work that I've had done has made me want to go into the profession. Just to clarify, I've known I wanted to do this since I was about 16, so I did not just decide last week :) Anyway, that's about it! Check back in about  2 weeks!

3 Weeks Post-Op

Here I am 3 weeks after my jaw surgery. Things are not going too well right now. On Day 10 I woke up in the morning and my right knee was moderately swollen. I wasn't able to bend it too much and had a bit of difficulty walking. My mom took me in to a walk-in clinic to get it checked out. The doctor just said to ice it and if it gets worse, go to emergency. So that's just what I did the next morning when I woke up. On Day 11 it had swollen up even more and I couldn't put any weight on it; I had to get around on crutches. I then went on to spend 4 days (3 nights) in the hospital. On Day 1 (at the hospital) they drained 60ml of synovial fluid from my knee that did not look quite right; they sent it

for testing. On Day 3 (at the hospital), they put a scope into my knee to clean it out and remove some more fluid for testing. This was a very minor surgical procedure, but they had planned for me to be put to sleep for it. Right before the surgery they realized that I could not open my mouth wide enough for them to put some tubes into me during the surgery. So instead they decided to give me a spinal block and have me awake for the procedure. It was so weird to not have any sensation below my hips!!! Anyway, the doctor was very nice and gave me the option of watching the entire procedure on a screen via the camera that he would be working with inside my knee. I said yes to that! The whole procedure took about 20 minutes and then I was consciously wheeled into the recovery room. I took this picture of my knee below today (Day 21) to show the swelling. The swelling has never really gone down at all since I left the hospital which is a bit worrisome. My surgeon (jaw), Dr.Tocchio, warned me before having my jaw surgery that there was a <1% chance that I could get an infection afterwards. Out of the 6-7 surgeries he does a week, he says he only sees 1-2 infections a year. It sure seems like I won the lottery due to the timing of this, but the doctor says there is no sign yet of this being an infection. He has found no puss in my knee, and I am not fevering at all. Coincidentally I finished my bottle of antibiotics for the jaw 1-2 days before my knee flared up, giving more reason to point to infection, but at this time we don't know what it is. I have an appointment with the doctor (knee) this Friday so I'll find out then if they've found anything.

That's it for the knee. I'll write a bit about how my jaw has been doing:

        All of the major swelling in my face has gone, except for my upper lip; it is still quite swollen. There is still minor swelling around my nose and lower jaw/throat that is only noticeable to me. The numbness in my face doesn't feel like it is changing very much, I guess this takes time. I am not in any pain and have not been since about Day 4. My knee has a bit of an ache but that's that. I can talk quite well now in the sense that I can be clearly understood. As the swelling and numbness goes down even more, my speech will keep getting better. I wear some lose elastics during the day and take them out to eat. I can chew soft foods like eggs and pasta now, but I still resort to mostly blended/liquid foods because they are just easier to get in me. Some of my molars are sensitive to food so I'm sure I've got a few cavities that'll have to be fixed down the road. I also put on some additional elastics during the night that keep my bite closed tight. In other news, I saw my orthodontist today for the second time. He says the mouth looks great!.... but the knee does not.

        I have slowly been able to open my mouth wider and wider. My smile is also looking better and better as the days go by. My new bite feels AMAZING! For the first time in years I can feel all of my teeth touching properly and an even distribution of force when I bite down. Here is a look at how my bite is closed in the front:

            Before my knee swelled up on me I was just starting to get some energy to go outside and have a semi-normal life. I can barely walk now, so I'm back on the couch. I have been watching a lot of Prison Break (Season 3 now) with my cats to keep my company. I wake up each morning and don't really notice any difference in my knee so I'm looking forward to that appointment with the doctor on Friday. In terms of weight I'm back to rockbottom (about 120lbs) because I wasn't eating a whole lot while in the hospital. I should start gaining some weight now.

Day 8

     Got my elastics off today! Well....not completely. The tight ones that were holding my bite shut are off now. My orthodontist gave me some new ones that are looser and allow me to still open my mouth a bit; kind of like your standard elastics for braces. Being able to open my mouth a bit, I now can take another step with eating. Today I had some Beefaroni and Kraft Dinner. I had to blend both a bit with the blender. Not pureed by any means; just substituting for the ability to chew. All I had to do was use a spoon to get it past my teeth and then just swallow it whole. Boy was it good! I have now started doing very light brushing of my front teeth that I can reach. My lips are still particularly swollen and chapped  and it hurts to try and move them to get to my back teeth.  Another good thing is that I'm not constantly drooling and having to constantly walk around with a paper towel. I only drooled like 3 times today! My weight has also gone up a few pounds to 122! Recovery is going to be all downhill from here!

Days 5-7

   Things are looking up! I turned a corner on day 5. I have been sleeping better these nights, only getting up a couple times for a stretch. My swelling has been going down gradually and I have dramatically been eating better. In particular today (Day 7) I have had 1300 calories today of liquids. I've started to make milkshakes and eat soups. Ensure (a store-bought drink) is the best form of calories I have right now; 400 calories in one small bottle. On Day 6, yellow bruising appeared on the front of my neck and bottom of my lower jaw. This is normal and is the end of the bruising stage. I have even stopped taking my pain killers because I really don't have any pain, just discomfort from swelling. Although I still have to take my antibiotics 4 times a day to prevent infection. My surgeon says infection is a serious problem but he only sees 1 or 2 a year. Remember that I had said he does 6-7 surgeries a week! So less than 1% chance.
     Days have been much easier now. Although I am still looking forward to getting healthier, I'm not just praying for the next day to come anymore. I am currently enjoying the Prison Break series on netflix and very addicted to it, as I am already through Season 1 as of day 7 (started on day 5). The lowest number I've seen on the scale so far is 118lbs, yikes!
    Great news! I'm going to the orthodontist tomorrow to have my elastics taken off so that I can finally talk again. This will be a huge step for me and I'm looking forward to it!

                                                                 At the eating station

                                                                    Where I sit all day

                                        Side view - see some yellow bruising on my neck

                                                                            Day 7

Here is just a really funny picture of me. My mom and I found out that I look hilarious when I am laughing because I am so numb and swollen. We always burst out laughing when we see this picture now:

                                                                           Selfie

May 24th & 25th - Days 3 &4

      These were the worst days for me. They say your swelling will peek 48-72 hours after surgery. This made my throat even more tight, making it nearly impossible to get any food in you. I felt as if someone was strangling me when ever I went to swallow any liquids. I basically starved for 2 straight days; wake up and go to bed hungry. My parents were worried and kept urging me to eat something. I was quite grouchy during this time.
      In other news, on day 4 I took off that compression bandage on my chin. This made it only slightly easier to eat. Still not really in any pain, just a lot of discomfort as I was craving food. I was so hungry that I was even jealous of the food my cats were eating. Throughout my early days of recovery I was using a notepad to communicate with my parents. Looking back, here are some of the things that I wrote down during this awful couple of days:

      "Just keeping up with medicine drains me of energy to eat food"

      "Makes me wish I didn't have surgery"

      "I keep getting the urge to yawn and I'm fighting it"

      "Eating is like torture"

       "Throat area so stiff"

 
    Having to fight back yawns was (and still is) horrible. When I feel one coming on I'll start grunting and clenching my fists to fight it off. It's safe to say that these were the worst two days of my life. By the end of these two days I only weighed 123lbs.

                                              Looking very exhausted and hungry on day 3

                                                   day 3  - compression bandage = day 4

                                                                    Taking my meds

May 23rd - Day 2

      After spending that long night in the hospital, I was up pretty early at around 6-7am. I relaxed a bit and watched the hockey highlights from the last night. At 8am Dr.Tocchio came to see how I was doing and answered any questions that I had before I left. We hit the road at 10am for a long car trip home. I remember walking out of the hospital to the car; everyone was staring at me as if I was in a horrible accident.
       The car ride was comfortable enough; I had lots of pillows to rest my head. I didn't really feel much different than yesterday in terms of symptoms. I discovered today that I really liked flat ginger ale from the syringe instead of apple juice. Towards the end of the day, I could feel twitching on my face. This is normal as it is just a sign of nerves regenerating. For that reason I really like when this happens.

                                                                      Ready to go home

                                                                 Back in my own bed :)

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!