"Virginia is still in the hospital. Looking to be released at noonish today. She had some problems with the nausea probably due to the anesthesia, but is now able to hold down liquid pain meds. Everything went well in surgery except they had to move her jaw more than expected (9-10mm instead of the 6-7mm they expected)."
The problems he mentions were that I felt like I couldn't breathe when I woke up and that I was vomiting for two days. Minor things really, except when you can't open your mouth. The nurses said that my blood oxygen level was fine post-op, but that I just _felt_ like I couldn't breathe. Regardless, they admitted me to the hospital and I was wheeled off to a private room on the 3rd floor north wing - great staff up there! The vomiting sucked - I was throwing up blood for two days, which was not fun, but I didn't drown or anything. They tried to give me anti-nausea meds orally, but I threw them up, so it was all IVs for the first day. The second day, I was finally able to switch to the syringe, so they released me and I was home by around 6 PM. Total time in hospital was about 36 hours.
Fun part was being wheeled from 3North to the College of Dentistry for x-rays on Tuesday morning - lots of people did that double-take they do when they see something unpleasant but are trying not to stare. I was too drugged to care.
Advice - I got a pillow wedge and changed my sheets the weekend before surgery, so my bed was perfect to come home to. The wedge helped me sleep comfortably, even on my side, from the first night and the sheets felt like home. Great change from the hospital bed. I have two dogs and four cats as well and several of them came to snuggle with me when I got home - petting an animal is super-comforting when you feel like sh*t.
So, surgery Monday, home Tuesday night, acupuncture on Wednesday and Thursday. Acupuncture is a gift from the gods. It really helped reduce the swelling and I felt so good while I was getting it. Plus, getting up and walking around to the appointments was good. I had to shower and get dressed and that helped as well. I highly recommend post-op acupuncture. The swelling was noticeably less the nights after each treatment and I have two more scheduled for next week. (I also have an appointment for lymph drainage massage for 3 weeks post-op. One of the other bloggers suggested it, so I'm giving it a shot too.)
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