The surgery on Thursday afternoon went great! I checked in at the hospital at about 11:45am. There was a delay starting my surgery (due to the surgery prior to mine), so I didn't get back to the room until just after 2pm. Procedure took about an hour and a half, and I was in recovery until something like 6:45pm. My chin is taped up tightly with two large pieces of "special" tape.
That night was fairly miserable with pain on the high end of 7 on a 1-10 scale. I walked in the door, popped two painkillers, and went straight to bed--propped up on some pillows and laying on my back, of course. I didn't sleep well, maybe an hour or so at a time, and had to get up to pee quite often after being pumped up with the IV.
Friday--better, except my throat is really messed up from the tubes. Pain dropped to about a 5 most of the day, just hurts to swallow because the throat and avoiding anything acidic as it sort of burns going down (seriously, tubes fucked up my throat real bad!). Napped a lot, laid up on the couch, complete liquid diet of soups, smoothies that don't require a straw, juice, coffee, etc. Didn't appear to be much swelling, really, which was a nice surprise. Pain closer to a 7 by the end of the day. Still no bowel movement, which the doctor warned us about because of the pain killers--he recommended grape juice, but if that doesn't work, move on to softeners/laxatives.
Saturday--better again. Throat is fine today. Pain around 3-4 all day, and mostly in phases and not necessarily constant. Feeling less "pain" and more achy soreness. Most of the bottom lip is completely numb, as I can only feel in the very outside corners at the moment. I am mostly hurting underneath my chin along my jawline, especially back closer to my ears, which seems odd. It's quite tender to the touch, but only appears slightly swollen--not seeing any bruising. Only took one pain killer today, mostly used extra strength tylenol. Pathetic bowel movement this morning, but nothing else, even with coffee.
Sunday--pain around a 2 if I am holding still. My back is getting sore from having to sleep that way, and in general I'm feeling pretty restless. I normally work out 4 days/week on average and eat A LOT... I think I'm probably over eating on the soup/smoothie/juice menu but it never leaves me satisfied. Going to move on to a straight laxative today and not taking the prescribed pain killer until I get some results, haha. Starting to get antsy about wanting this tape off my face.
Nurses did not say I need to ice. per se, but I have a couple of times because it feels good and is a relief. At this point, I'm very glad Monday is a work holiday, as I will still be taking a sick day on Tuesday. My post-op (and tape removal, for good I hope!) is that afternoon--even if my energy was up enough for work on Tuesday, I don't think I need to freak everyone out by showing up looking like this.
Trying to find a good before photo that will show the lack of chin! Hopefully the Clinic will give me a copy of the ones they took.
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