orthognathic surgery,janell smith,jaw surgery,lower jaw surgery,over bit,overjet,the quest for less character, character blog, braces, adult braces,mandibular advancement, jaw The quest for less character: Day 3

Oct 12, 2011

Day 3

Major bright spot today...... I received a beautiful flower arrangement of roses and hydrangeas from Dr. Simon and Dr. Tiwana.  Throughout all the surgeries I have had in my lifetime, and there have been a few, I have never received flowers from the doctors.  This was awesome!  Such a sweet touch!

This was perfect timing, since this has been the worse day so far.

Pain has still been at its peak and swelling seems to be there as well. The swelling has moved down into my neck and is putting pressure on my throat, which is causing me difficulty in swallowing and breathing. It feels like someone is sitting on my chest. Rather a strange feeling actually. I have a pocket of swelling that is sitting right on top of the middle of my clavicle. So strange.

We put a call into Dr. Tiwana's to ask if we could increase frequency of my Norco and to ask if the difficulty breathing and swallowing was normal. He called back himself and said it was very normal and that it should pass.  He also said I could increase the pain med frequency..

This morning I tried eating cream of wheat.  It actually tasted really good. It did however take me over an hour and a half to eat a small bowl of it, but in the end I was victorious!  I ended up having more chicken broth, some squash soup, chocolate Ensure and an orange smoothie as well.  Felt like all I did was eat / drink all day.  Not really that much when you look at it on paper, but it felt like a lot as I was shoving it down all day.

Each time I tried to sleep the swelling in my throat made it feel like I could swallow and breathe.  This was very difficult to handle.  I kept having to remind myself to just breathe and not panic. Each time, it ended up passing, but still caused me quite a bit of anxiety. Had a bit of an emotional low today. The pain and swelling ended up getting to me and I just sat and cried for a bit.  Sharon was so supportive and just held my hand and prayed us through it. She has been so amazing and so supportive. It got me through and I was able to face the rest of the day.

Last but not least, let me say that I took a hot bath today!  That felt so amazing to get clean and refreshed!  It has also felt great to be able to brush my teeth and swish with mouthwash several times a day. It is exhausting but the baby toothbrush is genius and fits so well in my mouth!  The prescription mouthwash is actually pretty refreshing as well. I am an obsessive tooth brusher and was really concerned about being restricted, even if only at first, from being able to brush my teeth.  Yet another reason I'm thankful for not being tightly banded.



Another day of recovery down. They are already starting to run together but hopefully I will have more and more progress to report as the days go on!

3 comments:

  1. Wishing you the best for a speedy recovery =).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank goodness!! I was getting worried about you. I know, I'm lame. I'm such a worry wart I now worry for strangers, hehe. I swear, it's so weird though. When someone on blogger goes for surgery, I'm so anxious to hear back that they did okay.

    Most people don't post the first few days, because let's face it, it's just not on the priority list when you're a giant ball of misery. But I always with they would. Selfish perhaps. Anywho...so glad to know it all went well and that you have great support for your recovery.

    And bless your heart...your cheeks are so puffy. It's cute,but I'm sure you feel anything but cute right now. You had such a petite face to start with, with my already chubby cheeks, I can't even imagine how puffy I will get. hehe.

    It's all up hill from here girl!

    Smiles,
    Nichole

    ReplyDelete
  3. Janell!!
    I'm so glad everything went well! I am so sorry I have been absent for forever! Days 3-4 are tough, and I know what you mean about the numb thing hahah glad to have someone who knows this too. I'm glad your pain was managed for the most part, hooray for zale!!! Its all uphill (for the most part) and if you need any food ideas that arent "blended nastyness" let me know I can give you some. Hey, your cheeks may be swollen but at least you didn't take the "biggest lips" title (Dr. Simpson said I'm tied with one other guy for Biggest lips after surgery) as silly as it may seem, you look great. Yay for the best team in DFW (at least I like to think so) Dr. T and Dr. S!

    Glad things are going well!
    Feel better!!!

    Niki :)

    ReplyDelete