One Week On & In Retrospect

Today I hit the one week mark. Hurrah! Thank God for recovery thus far, pray that it will continue to be a smooth one.

Had a review with Dr Tan this morning. He took out the bands on the front and left side on my mouth only, leaving the right side because my midline was starting to shift already. So the bands on my right side are supposed to create more pressure to pull back the lower jaw into the correct position. Haha when he was about to start, he said: "open your mouth" and I went: "urhhhh" with my teeth clenched together. Hellooo, are you playing with me, or did you forget..? 

I told Dr Tan of the blocked ears I was having, and asked him the relation between it and the surgery. He explained that during the surgery, the soft palate in my mouth was detached so he could reposition my upper jaw, and as a result, it disrupts the liquid thing in my ear, hence causing the blocked ears I'm experiencing. He was spot on in saying that the right ear feels alot more blocked than the left, because that side of my maxilla was moved quite a bit in an effort to straighten it. 

Food continues to be a difficult one. I worry of my lack of appetite as I feel tired having to continuously force myself to drink up. I hardly ever feel hungry which is not ideal I think! My throat continues to feel so sore which further impedes swallowing!

I'm gonna try making the avocado-banana milkshake today in a bid to entice my appetite. Hope it gets better!

Retrospect

Day 1 - 24 hours since the completion of the surgery, I feel drowsy all the time. Pain is subsiding to about 4/10 which is good. Swallowing poses such difficulty. Everytime I swallow, it's only about 1 ml of liquid. Yet, it's like trying to chew on a big chunk of no fat pork all at once. Could only manage 20ml of soup for the day. Time passes really slowly...

Day 2 - 48 hours post surgery sounds like a good thing to me because it means that time is not stand still :) Dr Tan finally got that tube in my nose out and I choked when he pulled it out because I didn't have enough breath to sustain. He pulled it out the same time as he said "take a deep breath", and considering my state, reaction time is at its slowest. Swelling is at it's peak and my face looks like a bloated balloon! According to Dr Tan, normally patients don't swell so far out, all the way up to the eye and temple area. Felt really nauseous twice in about an hour in the wee hours of this morning, and man, do I not want to experience that feeling again. By afternoon, I was feeling alot better, probably also because I managed to get a body shower (like, finally). Although, movement is like a quarter of my normal, and every step I take, I feel the impact of my feet on the ground up on my jaws. It's a really scary feeling. Also, I feel pulsations at the roof of my mouth. Just walking to the sink makes me pant like I've just done the 7 minute workout. Oh dear, I've got lots to do once I recover. 

Day 3 - I managed to sleep 3 hours straight! Which is a huge feat okay, considering that I've been waking every 1-2 hours in the last few days. Random tingling sensations are being felt as I slept, which I read is a sign of the nerves beginning to work again? Anyhow, it's quite an experience! I'm feeling alot more energized this day!

Day 4 - I'm ready to be discharged! But mom can't take leave to sign the papers so I have to stay another night. No complains though, because I really like the bed and constant air conditioned environment heehee. I managed to catch 6 hours sleep straight today which is amazing! If not for my neighbour who is suffering from nausea (poor ah ma), I might have clocked in more hours. My nose is no longer blocked! Hoorah! And I can breathe like a normal human being now wheeeee! I do realise that my jaws are beginning to feel really tight and to manage that, I tilted my head back a little to "stretch" it. It relieves it slightly, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing to do haha. Appetite is increasing as I manage to finish 3 packets of Ensure Plus as directed by Dr Wee; I don't get that gastric pain feeling as much anymore thank God! Oh, and did I mention that I got the tapes across my mouth and jaw/chin out already? FREEDOM!

Day 5 - Discharge day! Things are more or less the same. I feel sad that I have to leave the corner which has been with me through all the sufferings. I'm really going to miss the bed. The car ride home felt so new because every small vibration the car made or transmitted, I could feel them in my jaws! What feels everyday to my family, felt like a jaw-dropping experience to me. Literally!

D-Day.

I am feeling so excited and anxious at the same time! Can't believe that it's already tomorrow! What if I develop some complications during the surgery or the recovery period? No wait, stop it girl. Put your trust in the Lord and commit to Him everything.

Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind the night before the surgery, and even till I was in the OT. 

23 June 2014

6.30 AM - Alarm rings. I wash up like it's any other day; wake my parents up, and had a short prayer before we left the house.

7.30 AM - The car zooms out from the lot, we reach the hospital at 8.

8.30 AM - Our queue number gets called and my mom settles all the administrative matters with a trainee officer. Could see my mom getting increasingly dominant as the clock ticked.. but oh c'mon, everyone starts somewhere :) Still, I'm glad to have my mom settle all the paper work for me. I just need to plonk myself on the bed heehee!

9.15 AM - Time for the lab tests samples to be given: my pee and more blood drawn from me. Don't really know what they're testing for though hmm.

9.30 AM - The hospital porter (I didn't know they had that) brought mom and I up to the ward for more admin procedures to be done by the nurse. It was a really decent ward. No frills, plain but tastefully and warmly done. Totally my style. Mine was a 4-bedder and right next to a window. Soooo pretty :)

9.50 AM - Time to head to Dr Tan's clinic! Mom signed a indemnity form from the hospital holding herself responsible should anything happen to me outside. Our appointment was supposed to be at 10, and we really had to speedy gonzales there. 

10.05 AM - Waited for a tiny bit before being called by the clinic's nurse to go in. Saw Dr Wee and Dr Tan for the last time before the surgery. On a side note, their clinic is really nicely done. Each consultation room has a view outward towards a settlement of bungalow and terrace houses amidst rather lush foliage on a hill. A really calming view for the patient and it brings in natural light too.

10.45 AM - We leave the specialist centre and Dad, Mom and I sit at the void deck to eat breakfast. Well, excluding myself. I was just watching them eat.

12 PM - We return promptly to the hospital at 12 and I was so dying of thirst. I could feel body telling me that I was heaty and really needed water, but yet, I couldn't drink!

1.45 PM - The nurses bring my surgical gown to change into and a bed to wheel me to the OT. 

2 PM - Surgery is supposed to start, but the anesthetist is late. Dr Tan comes over to greet me with his 'hello deaaar' (rather odd, but sweet), and assure me that this was a big decision to make, but a good one at that. I had no idea why I kept tearing throughout waiting to enter into the OT. Perhaps it was the lack of familiarity in environment and I couldn't see well because I couldn't bring my glasses in. But most of all, I think I was deep down afraid of unprecedented things that could happen during the surgery. Can this be called pre-surgery depression?

2.45 PM - the anesthetist FINALLY arrives and looks at my file and asks for my weight. His speaking had this really annoying atas accent, an impression made worse by him making me wait so long >:/ I was tearing all that while :(

2.50 PM - Was wheeled into the OT and transferred myself unto the operating table. Totally went against my fantasies. I thought I was going to be lifted by brawny doctors and nurses haha! The anesthetist begins to sedate me although he was just supervising a junior staff. When she pressed the wrong spot he went: "No, not here! Hereeeee." He told me that the table had a bed warmer installed so I'd be toasty warm and i replied "Oh, cool." My head began to feel so heavy and I knew that the drug was taking effect. It was like the gravity pull on my head was 5 times heavier just on my head, and at the same time, I felt like blood was rushing away from my head. 

6.15 PM - Dr Tan called my mom to inform that the operation was successful. 

7.30 PM - Dad, mom and sis arrived at the ward to see my bloody state (as I look at the pictures my mom took). I remember continuously drifting in and out of sleep and the nurse asking how much pain I felt on a scale of 10. I signaled to her 5-6/10. That night, I woke up countless times because I couldn't breathe and kept wanting to suction all that bloody gunk out. My throat was so hoarse, partly from the tubing inserted during surgery and my continuously breathing from my mouth. I saw my mom sleep over and having to wake up each time I did, to observe the nurse help me and be on standby for any more help needed. I felt so bad that she didn't have a good posture for sleep - she was sleeping cramped up on two chairs.

Recount to be continued..

Pre-Op Visit to Orthodontist & Surgeons

Hello, it's been a really long while since I last posted. Sorry I didn't keep to my monthly postings :(

As I write this, my bones are trying to heal... yup, I've been for the surgery and am back home already. So these posts are going to be in retrospect.

While my surgery was initially projected to be in August, the orthodontist, Dr Cheng, gave the green light for the surgery to proceed during my visit in end May, since my teeth were ready already. What he meant by 'ready' was that my incisors were straight enough for the surgeons to know how to position my jaws together during the surgery. Yay! I was so happy that it could be done earlier because I had to much wanted to start working as early as possible (instead of bumming around at home - human nature). 

So after that visit in May, I was to return to his clinic for the last pre-op visit in early June, where he would collect two sets of mould for the surgeons and take some x-rays. If you would look at the picture below, the braces look really unorthodox haha. Thin metal wires replaced the coloured bands and those 'T' hooks between every tooth was installed (with much force). 

Everything silver!

With my two sets of moulds in hand, I gladly marched into the surgeon's clinic, where Dr Tan had a last look at me while Dr Wee (the assisting surgeon) took down the measurements for my face. Only then did I realise that my face was really longer on one side than the other. I'm not being nit picky on facial asymmetries (for that is what humanizes us) but mine seemed quite serious (to me at least haha). If you'd look closely at the picture on above, the right side of my face shows more gum on the upper when i smile. I don't know the term for it, but I will find out. So that's my maxillofacial problem, so to speak, in addition to my crossbite.

I had one last consultation with Dr Tan and Dr Wee on the day of surgery (only because I was overseas the week before). They ran me through the  things I would be experiencing in no less than 24 hours - post surgery depression, difficulty breathing and swallowing, weakness, uncomfortableness factor x10 (as per Dr Wee's lingo haha). Many more.

As with any surgery, I had to fast 8 hours before the surgery. I felt it so difficult, especially when I saw my dad buy some of my favourite teh from the hawker centre. Sigh. It really worried me because if I couldn't handle this, how would I handle the initial days of recovery? Thank God it's been well so far.