Today marks the second week after my double jaw surgery.
The journey has been tough for me though since I love to eat food.
I will mark some of my little accomplishments here:
26th Sept:
D-Day of my surgery. The whole process took around 6 hours and I was semi-conscious the whole night. My parents kept on telling me after the surgery that they were unable to recognize me when I was pushed out from the surgical theater to high dependency ward.
27th Sept:
I was more conscious at this time and my friend, who did a similar surgery 20 days before me, came to visit me. She was also the only friend who came and visited me. I sat in the wheelchair for the first time and saw how swollen my face was for the first time. I finally understood why my parents said that. In the afternoon, I got to transfer to the general ward where I was the only young patient. Around me were grandmothers who got their leg mutated due to diabetes. It was difficult to sleep there as my back felt sticky and I woke up every 2 hours.
28th Sept:
The doctors came to see my condition and discharged me at around 10am. I just can't wait to be discharged and returned to my comfortable home. I started drinking more fluid compared to the second day. I showered for the first time after the surgery and my hair was all clumped together. Everything was fine except that my nose bleed and I had difficulty breathing due to blocked nose.
CAUTION: DON"T BLOW YOUR NOSE AFTER SURGERY.
29th Sept:
My face swelled the most on this day and I had to wear a mask when I go out to have my hair wash. My mother became my spokesperson during the time when my teeth are all tied with elastic bands. As the day passes, I increased my liquid intake gradually to keep myself hydrated and faster recovery.
30th Sept-4th Oct:
I had to keep visiting the surgeon almost every day of that week and it always motivated me when they praised that the swelling started to reduce swelling and I am making progress. I also managed to take at least 500ml of liquid intake. Although this seemed insignificant, it is important for me as for the past week, I always feel weak and tired that I had no energy. The first week is always sleeping and drink.
I will skip 5th Oct to 8th Oct as it is either I forgot some important things or there were not many significant things to remember. But I will never forget that on 6th Oct, I cried for 15 minutes as my teeth were grinding when I attempted to drink. It was that painful that I almost cut the bands. I also had several times of almost vomiting during that day.
9th Oct:
I got to remove the elastic bands tied around my teeth but I wasn't able to talk much since I had not opened my mouth to talk for the past two weeks. My first little meal for the night was 1/2 bowl of sesame paste and 1/2 plate of Chee Cheong fun. P.S. I ate 1/2 plate of Chee Cheong fun for 1 hour. Can you imagine how slow it is?!
10th Oct:
I finally managed to use my laptop for the first time two weeks after surgery. I ate coffee bun for 1.5 hours as I wasn't chewing but trying to use the enzyme of saliva to make it soft to swallow. I got to drink my favourite teh c and mash potato. The best part is I could relieve my bowel two weeks after surgery. That was the greatest challenge as I was on a liquid diet and that was a torture.
I really had to thank my mother for taking good care of me during the time when the bands are tied around my teeth. She was my spokesperson and took care of my three meals. She took quite a long leave at work until making sure that I was able to take care of myself. I don't know what more to say but I really want to thank her a lot a lot.
