Hi fellow Bloggers!!!!
What a journey it's been this week alone. I've cried, laughed,bleed, fought, and finally succumbed my situation.
I can definitely say, there is no way of 100% preparing for this surgery. Everything you think you know, or you think you can handle changes the moment your in recovery.
The first 3 days...
The first day was more like a blur in time, I remember people coming and going, nurses checking me often, and kept
Asking "do you need more morphine" why yes please ;) trust me, take all the drugs they give you, no need to suffer through all that.
When I finally came to my senses it was late in the nite, early morning. I honestly felt like I was going to die! I couldn't breath through my nose, my mouth was wired shut, my swelling was soo tight on my cheeks I could barley get air through my teeth.
And to top it off, my mouth was as dry as a dessert. Luckily my wife left me my white board. So I paged the night shift ICU nurse. I explained to her I was thirsty, and I needed water. She denied me water and said she would have to asked the doctor.
I then asked her to rig up some tubes/straws she could rig up between my cheeks so I could breath (I seen this on YouTube) and she denied me that. This nurse was brutal! I honestly thought I was going to die!! So she jacked me up on morphine and Ativan instead :-S
Finally the next morning came, I was alive!!! It was a Miracle. I was then introduced to my day Nurse Lisa. What an angel!! She thought my idea of the straws was a great idea and hooked me up right away. She also provided me all the water I could handle.
And apple juice!!! My overall care experience from those next 2 days where very pleasant!
Day 4 coming home...
So it's day 4 and I get to go home, I figured I would be thrilled to be able to come home and sleep in my own bed. Boy I was wrong!! I missed out on all the hospital perks like instant pain relief, humidified air mask (these are so good) mouth sucker. So non the less thing got a little tougher, but we have made due.
Liquid diet sucks, but I am enjoying the fresh smoothies. I definitely recommend you try and mix Boost or Ensure into any of your meals. You need all the vitamins you can get to encourage a quick recovery.
Day 5 and 6 where by far the worst for pain for me, but with a steady supply of solid pain meds and lots of ice and sleep got better.
As I write this, I'm slowly falling asleep!! Lol it's hard to keep a solid energy level just on liquids alone. But overall today was a great turning point for me. My swelling has gone down a lot, the pain is now just a mild throb. I shaved for the first time and could kinda see my new face below all this swelling and it made me happy.
Anyways nap time and I will leave you with my 1 week smile
Take care
Eric