7 days - first milestone!

Hurrah! 1 week exactly since I had surgery, and it feels good to reach this first milestone. Woke up early this morning and have been reliving every moment of that day in my mind (it's X o'clock, so I was doing Y etc etc), I'm sure it won't be the only time I do this.

So the 7 day check-up goes like this: Swelling peaked around 3 days ago and has subsided a little, but as some areas go down others come up, and my cheeks and neck are a multicolour of bruises. It rather looks like i've had botched cheek implant surgery, but isn't so bad I can't head out in public (albeit with my hair right over my face). I stopped taking pain meds 2 days ago as I simply don't need them, but my throat has been sore for the past 3 days or so. I put this down to the soft tissue back there taking its turn to swell rather than any surgical tube damage. Exterior numbness is limited to the bottom left hand side of my lip and area of chin below, but inside my upper gums and pallette are completely dead - I was cleaning up after a meal and almost gouged out a bit of gum without realising it!

The plan for the next few days is a big fat NOTHING. I think my recovery is going so well as i'm doing as little as possible and making sure I relax - the hardest decision anyone should be making at this stage is which flavour smoothie to have - and so i'm not going to ruin it all by rushing back into life just yet, the world can make do without me for another week or so :)

Day 6

Almost at the week mark and swelling is down, discomfort is down and energy is up! Here is me giving my biggest smile possible!

Have to say I did not expect to be so chipper at this stage in the game - thought the difficult period would continue at least until day 10, but today I found myself dancing around my flat to the radio and admiring my new overbite in the mirror at every opportunity. What's contributing to this great mood is relief - it's only now I realise that the pre-surgery worries and fears were weighing me down like a millstone. Don't think I was entirely aware of this at the time, or of the toll it was taking...

Day 5 - election fever!

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??)

Day 4 - Compromises

I've reached day 4, and am finally beginning to feel human again! The swelling seems to have reached its peak, and bruising is now coming out (which apparently is a good sign of healing). Energy levels are good, and so is appetite, so all in i'm feeling quite pleased with my progress. (excuse the lolling eyes that keep showing up in my photos, i'm not really that doped-up looking)

I have however had to make a few compromises on the recovery front. Found out last night that if I want to get a good night's sleep there's no point bothering with much head elevation. I know it's good for the swelling, but right now I think sleep takes priority and I don't want to start taking sleeping pills to get some shut eye.

Today's plan is pretty simple - head out for some fresh air. Living in my patch of central London, the only green space within walking distance is a cemetery, but it's full of trees and birds, and I can enjoy the spring blossom and sunlight - much needed after the dark and scary few days i've been through.

Day 3

72 hours down, and i'm focusing on getting through the first difficult few days without freaking out.

Last night was pretty tough as sleeping with an elevated head is not working out at all. I managed a few hours but half the night was taken up with tossing, turning, rearranging pillows and generally feeling uncomfortable. My face also felt like it was about to burst with the swelling, and I ended up sitting in my living room at 4am with ice packs held to my face watching the dawn creep in.

So today is all about toughing it out and focusing on the positives - not being in pain, having a good appetite, and knowing it should all get better in the coming days. The congestion is by far the most difficult thing - imagine having a very heavy head cold and you'll get the idea (along with the light headedness and blocked feeling that accompanies it), and not being about to blow my nose is torture. Mr T suggested a bath as the steam should help loosten things up a little. I really hope so!

Day 2

I'm home from hospital, and it feels great to finally be out :)

After yesterday's update Mr T came to undo my elastics a little, so at least I could get my medication down, and I went to bed feeling much better. I was obviously exausted as I slept for 6 hours, but not before choking on and coughing up huge blood clots, which I was only able to get out thanks to my newly loostened elastics - gross!

This morning Dr T announced me ready to go home and A collected me around 11. All the effort of getting up and packed was exhausting so i've not got a nice little den for myself set up on the couch. It feels great to be home! Too exhaused to write anymore so i'm leaving you to peruse my pics..

Live from the hospital bed!

I made it though! Surgery took no time at all - about 2.5 hours and I had no genio (Mr T wasn't sure I needed one after all)Yay!

Waking up yesterday morning was awful, despite maintaining an air of calmness on the journey I was secretly terrified, and wasn't helped by the nurse who showed me to my room saying 'jaw surgery? Ohh you'll be uncomfortable tonight'. Just what I needed to hear! Following a quick visit from Mr T to go over final points, the anaethnatist showed up to say hello and wished me good luck for surgery. He also told me I would not be in pain afterwards. I hoped he was right.

So, I'd unpacked and changed into my lovely surgical robes when the nurse came back an announced it was time to go up. I kissed A goodbye and walked up shaking like a leaf, I was absolutely petrified! There I met Mr anaethnatist again with his team who told me to climb up onto the table to be put under.'Just give me a second' I said again and again, panicing and desperately putting off the inevitable, but the time had come! He asked me to count down from 20, and as I started a freezing sensation crept slowly up my arm. I remember reaching 14 and that it all went dark.

The next thing I recall was waking up here in bed. As the anaethnatist had promised there was no pain, and was feeling pretty good. First thing I did was run my hand over my face to discover that I had feeling - a different, tingly kind of feeling, but feeling nonetheless! The only place that was totally numb was the roof of my mouth which felt dead. Then came the best bit, running my tongue over my teeth and feeling for the first time my lowers sitting neatly behind my uppers. At last :)

Since then things have been pretty uncomfortable. As soon as I tilted my head blood would come gushing out and i've had to change my robe several times. Now my nose is full of dried blood but i'm not allowed to so much as touch it in case I trigger off more bleeding, and it's highly uncomfortable. As for the swelling it's as bad as everyone says, and I hardly recognise myself. I've had an ice pack on constantly which seems to help but i'm currently avoiding looking in the mirror as it triggers 'ohmygodwhathaveIdone?' thoughts.

I did manage a few hours sleep last night, but was constantly woken up by the need to visit the bathroom (tip: rehydration drips and constant drinking is not a good idea!), which meant calling a nurse, unplugging all the monitors, wheeling them in, cleaning up all the nose-blood that comes with it etc etc.

The worst part of all this has in fact being taking my Crohn's medication, which does not fit between my new bite, and i've almost been in tears of frustration trying to get it down. Still, one step at at time.

So now i'm just killing time reading the papers, surfing the web, and generally putting distance between me and the surgery. Hopefully i'll be going home tomorrow.