I'm now passing the 100+ hours since surgery mark and all is well. Appetite is pretty strong (takes more than a couple of broken jaws to get between me and cheesecake!), strength slowly returning and swelling is no longer increasing. I'm still experiencing strange light-headed floaty moments, but they pass pretty quickly and arn't altogether unpleasant - in fact the unreal feeling goes quite nicely with watching my face change shape by the hour and examining my new overbite with astonishment (it's still a thrill to see!).
Today's target was to get out and vote - it's a general election day here in the UK and i'm a huge believer in getting involved. So after a few moments dithering over whether to cover my swollen face I decided hold my head up high and stay uncovered, probably scaring the returning officers and a few other voters in the process. Have to say I didn't get many looks, which is quite impressive as i've now got yellow and purple bruises appearing everywhere (my camera isn't doing justice to the colour pallette emerging on my face and neck). But the walk outside definitely felt better than yesterday, I'll definitely be taking a daily stroll from now on.
Sleeping is ok, but for tonight i'm settling in to watch the election results rolling in and enjoying spending time thinking about something other than my face for the first time in ages!
(NB for anyone who has already had surgery, did you have any mysterious bruises appear? I've had this beauty come up despite all the tubes and drugs going in to a far smaller bruise on the other arm. The explanation I got was that 'a line' needed to go in and out during surgery. What was it? Why did it make such a mess??)
7 comments:
That is soooo exciting. Good thing you got out. What a great citizen... voting! Yeah! :D
And that bruise is kinda wierrrrrd. hmmmm? Idk.
-makay
I had minimal bruising: one on my jawline and one near the spot where they took blood pre-op. Don't worry, they didn't beat you up in there. :D
Thanks very much for posting your post surgery pictures and experiences. They give me some idea of what awaits me!
That is such a HUGE bruise! I never received any random color like that...
I know what you mean when you say they told you about tubes *after* the fact though. My breathing tube and *agh*catheter*agh* were the same way--I found out about them after surgery.
That bruise is from a central live. It's a type of IV they insert during the surgery which they can use to monitor your blood pressure continuously to make sure it doesn't drop. It comes out at the end of surgery and then they put on pressure dressing on it. It does tend to leave quite a nasty bruise.
Opps sorry I meant to type central LINE lol By the way you are looking great! I'm having almost the same type of surgery as you at the end of the year (plus rotating my lower jaw) and moving my upper jaw 1-2mm to the left as my midline is assymetrical.
Dunno whether you're still curious about the "A line," but it looks very like something I also had. It's a line for the anesthesiologist to get arterial blood gases (i.e., blood from an artery, to be able to measure how much oxygen etc. are moving thru the arteries, rather than the veins.
It hurts like the dickens, which is why they do it after you're under anesthetics. My mother used to have to produce periodic A-line test results to prove to the insurance company that she really needed oxygen, which always made me livid, as she could sit there gasping for oxygen, but still have to do that painful test!
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