I survived jaw surgery. Here’s a picture of my jaw while waiting in the preop area
https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/t2hxn40 . The anesthesiologist asked if I had problems with any meds and I explained my resistance t a lot of sedatives relaying how my pulmonologist literally ran out of versed while doing a bronchoscopy a few years ago, so I wasn’t given anything until it was time to put me under. I’m not going to lie, the first day was brutal. I had to wait in the recovery for 9 hours to get a bed in the ICU step down unit. The noise and light made pain management very difficult. I was alternated between fentanyl and morphine to try to help. I had 5 elastics which all broke in about the first hour and no splint. Most of my jaw was in agony, my face and palate were numb and everything was in a different location than I was used to. I couldn’t swallow. I was given a Yonkers suction tube to use anytime I needed it. My face and head were wrapped in a compression bandage with ice packs on either side.
https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/LFmaEwcWhen I finally got to my room, I was given a PrimaFit external catheter. It’s hooked up to constant suction that slurps away urine as you are peeing- if you’re able to force yourself to pee while not on a toilet. It took me hours and I thought I was going to explode. I had to bear down so hard, I do not recommend unless you have incontinence and are bed bound. I would have happily kept the foley that was placed in the OR.
After that my nurse tried to help me start swallowing. With both jaws moved forward and no feeling on my palate, my tongue didn’t know where to go. My mouth was technically made bigger but felt smaller. I coughed and choked while worshipping my suction wand. Slowly a few drops at a time I was able to get a couple ounces of apple juice down after not eating for 27 hours, even though I wasn’t really hungry. The next day, my compression bandage was removed which felt nice. This is what my jaw looked like.
https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/ac0sSaMBy the age noon of the 2nd day, I was able to “feed” myself albeit very slowly. I’m not sure if I swallowed more liquid or air.
https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/7lMjYCg I was discharged Wednesday afternoon only after my doctor was able to confirm that all the prescriptions he ordered were able to be filled. I had to go by his office on my way home to have my elastics put back in and a CT scan taken. You can see in the CT how swollen my face is.
https://dereferer.me/?https://imgur.com/a/uVu6cSt The surgery was different than I had originally been told and not everything could be done because there was no way to secure all of it. I didn’t find out the changes until the Tuesday before surgery. My upper and lower jaws were both moved 6mm forward, and my chin was moved an additional 6mm forward. The top jaw was slanted slightly to even out my bite and the bottom jaw was tilted slightly to even my midline. No jaw widening could be done because of the needed forward movement. My doctor phrased it to the effect of with this procedure no widening could be done, though he did acknowledge that I still don’t have enough room in my mouth for my tongue. I don’t know what to make of the conversation, especially while under the influence of my pain meds. I now have eight elastics that I have to replace on my own when they break and it’s painful. I can’t open my mouth enough to show them to you at this time.
Yesterday I developed a horrible allergic reaction on my nose where they used liquid adhesive to help hold my intubation tube in place. I’ve had to text updates several times a day to my surgeon to make sure it isn’t getting worse. When I spoke to him this evening (if you want to call it speaking, he asked how my elastics were doing. I told him still breaking. I begged him before surgery to use anything else afterwards because I have watched videos of people have to change theirs after surgery and it looked excruciating, and Im here to tell you those videos don’t lie. He seems to think I’m opening my mouth and snapping them, but that’s not the case. He mentioned that if that was what is causing them to break, wiring my jaw would be worse and could loosen my hardware from my pulling against the tension. We’ll see what he decides when I go back on Tuesday. I’m very grateful that I can only feel part of the irritation, otherwise I would have scratched my face off by now. I’ve had to take 50mg of Benadryl every 6 hours to try to get it to calm down. In addition to that, I’m on liquid Vicodin and liquid antibiotics. Before surgery, I walked the children’s over the counter section and picked up the liquid form of several meds like Benadryl (just in case, and very good call), my daily Zyrtec, but also peptobismol and ibuprofen (I think I have to drink half the bottle to get an adult dose).
My daily diet is a choice of flavors of different flavored nutritional shakes. I have cafe au lait, pumpkin spice, cinnamon roll, a couple of chocolates, and mixed berry or orange clear boost. I also have some Trader Joe’s power of 7 purple and red juices to get some fruits and veggie nutrients. I have the usual gatorades and electrolyte drinks too. Lastly, I have chicken, turkey, and beef broth when I want something savory. I can’t remember having to pee so much in my life. I don’t know how I’m going to keep myself from floating away.
Tonight a good friend of mine from Panama brought a home cooked meal for my family. It smelled so good, but I wasn’t in the least bit tempted to try to eat it. I’m blaming my meds for that. My son loved her cooking. It’s the first time he ever tried plantains. I told him I like them with ketchup, but he might like Cane’s sauce better. They were a hit! She promised to have us over for authentic Panamanian food once I can eat again. It’s only been 28 years since I’ve eaten in Panama, what’s a couple more months, right?
