Surgery Day

OK so today is Friday 1st July so its been 4 days after my lower jaw surgery! Sorry I haven't updated sooner but been busy!

So going back to my surgery day:

I woke up at about 8:15 to leave for Exeter hospital at 8:45. My boyfriend stayed the night which was really helpful because i was an emotional wreck!! I stopped eating at about 8:30 the night before and had a few sips of water in the morning. We got to the hospital and I got checked in to Knapp Ward which was the pre-surgical ward. I was told that my surgeon was currently in theatre and was asked to get changed into the hospital gown and blood clotting socks they make you wear! I was then visited by 3 nurses who asked the same questions e.g. are you pregnant, allergies etc. and i had to take a pregnancy test and a blood sugar test.

About an hour past and i was visited by my anaesthetist (by the way for the entire hospital wait i was crying!) he just ran through everything with me and asked if i had any questions, i didn't i just wanted them to get on with it!! I was then visited by my surgeon who said everything was ready to go and they would come and collect me soon. My grandma came in and said goodbye whilst my mum waited with me until they walked me down the corridor. My theatre nurse was lovely and walked me into the room before theatre to get me put to sleep. I laid on the bed and they went through my consent form with me, i had about 6 people in this room with me! I'm guessing half of them were trainees! By this point i was crying and very scared and just wanted it to be over, they talked to me the entire time and eventually put me to sleep! I vaguely remember feeling a pins and needles feeling going up my arm before i passed out but other than that i dont remember anything until i started to wake up.

This was by far the hardest thing i had to do! Waking up from aesthetic is really hard! I had a lovely guy who looked after me in the recovery room, he gave me a drink and kept taking my blood pressure. As i was coming round i realised i had a tube in my nose! But luckily they took it out before i was awake enough to panic!

Once i had woken up they wheeled me back to Otter Ward where i was going to be staying the night, i then realised i had drains in my jaw, i couldn't really feel them but i could see them and the bottles they were connected to. I also had a cooling face mask on and 2 cannulas, 1 in each hand. I had my IV connected to one, along with my morphine drip and then the other one wasnt connected to anything.

As you can see by the photos i was a bit dazed by still smiling!! I didn't feel any pain at this point, just uncomfortable and numb! Everything felt very heavy! My hair was matted with a mixture of blood and the disinfected stuff they use on you! Sounds disgusting, which is was!! My family came to see me and so did my surgeon, he said that everything went well and asked if i would like to try and eat something. I said yes and they brought me some soup and ice cream! I ate a few mouthfuls of this before feeling a bit sick so stopped! Think is was too soon after the aesthetic to start eating! Luckily the nurse came in and gave me some medicine to help. My boyfriend was the last to leave and then i basically cat napped the entire night! Couldn't really sleep because of the noise and the nurses kept coming in with more medication. 

I did struggle whenever i had to use the toilet because i was attached to the bed by tubes and wires everywhere! I also had pumps on my legs which where to stop blood clots, they were annoying because every now and then they would squeeze my legs! At about 10pm the nurse gave me an injection in my tummy to stop blood clots - this hurt! Wasn't a big needle but it stung for quite a while after! The night was pretty uneventful, pain was near to nothing and i only had to use my morphine 3 times. I also had oxygen on throughout the night which went in my nose, this was because the morphine effects my breathing apparently! 

So i will now move on to day 1 post opp on my next post! All i can say about today is im so glad its over and it wasnt as bad as i expected!