Day 5: The Up & Down Rollercoaster Ride Begins

Hello again Everyone. 

I would have created this post yesterday, as yesterday was my Day 5, but I just didn't have the energy, and so many weird things started to happen that I figured, I wanted to let the day play out to see what else I might experience, and then update on Day 6.   

Let me start with that constant "pressure feeling" we recent jaw surgery patients keep talking about.  Day 5 was the first day that I didn't have this feeling.  Well, I did, but in a different kind of way.  I woke up feeling fine. I had made it through another night semi-comfortably and having slept most of the night, with the exception of waking up  a couple times due to nightmares and night-sweats.  I kept dreaming I was falling or tripping over something, and then would wake up startled because my body would manifest the falling feeling by "jumping" in my sleep.  This was really annoying, but mostly because I found myself drowned in sweat when I would wake up.  When morning came, I took a long shower (w/o getting my head wet), and realized in the shower that I felt like my face had gotten smaller.  I was only feeling that pressure feeling in certain parts of my face: my nose, right under my nose, the corners of my mouth,  my chin, and a bit in my jowls.  I looked in the mirror, but I couldn't see much difference in my face between day 4 and day 5, even though my face actually felt different.  I kept icing on and off, and later realized the other major change, I could feel the inside of my teeth with my tongue.  I hadn't realized that I couldn't feel my teeth before.  So, feeling them all of a sudden was a (welcome) surprise.  I also realized that I couldn't feel the roof of my mouth so much.  I guess I hadn't realized that I couldn't feel that either in the earlier days.  I can feel my tongue run across it lightly, but not like before surgery.  Having this new feeling in my mouth, made me sensitive to very hot or very cold things toward the end of the evening. Up until this, I kept asking to be served water, and some of my protein meals as cold as possible, but I realized that the cold feeling in my mouth it really hurt my teeth.

Also, I realized I could move and "strectch" my lips a whole lot more than before.  I can now kinda smile.  I was able to look under my top lip, and saw that it's raw with callouses and cuts, I think from the hooks and wires rubbing against my lips while they were swollen.  I managed to brush lightly, and use my water pik very gently to help my mouth feel a bit cleaner. 

I ran out of pain meds, and was inbetween doses when I started to get really uncomfortable in the late afternoon.  I was uncomfortable because while the I could feel more of my face, I'm not sure I wanted to.  The pain was getting more real and not so much just "discomfort."  This may sound weird, but I started to feel the incision points, and the parts where I have screws in my face more and more as the day went on.  This was especially the case right below my nose because I have screws on each side that the Doc put in to help even out my top teeth/gums.  I could also feel the screws in my lower face start to tingle.  In fact, I think all that tingling from the days before was my face starting to feel all of the screws and hardware in my face (and of course the swelling going down).  I kept icing my face, this along with the pain meds, was the only thing that seemed to provide comfort. 

I also noticed some light bruising begin to show up particularly on the left side of my face (where she took my maxilla up 4mm to even out my cant).  I also noticed streaky yellow marks down my neck for the first time.

Also, right before bed, I started to get the urge to yawn.  I can't begin to describe how weird and uncomfortable this is.  I had feared the day when I would want to yawn (or sneeze),  and didn't expect it to come so soon.  I did my best to take deep breaths in through my nose and then just try to let it out through my nose, but this is so hard!! I could actually feel my lower jaw fighting against the bands to open my mouth to let out the yawn! And the more I held it in, the more the yawns kept trying to come.  Along with this, my left nostril decided it was time to get stuffy, so I reached for some Afrin (I think my 3rd or 4th time only) and inhaled only in that nostril.  I felt much better after a few minutes and then decided to take some pain meds and try to get some sleep.

Day 5 was definitely not my favorite day.  I was happy to "feel" improvement, but it was uncomfortable, and really made me think back to when other jaw surgery bloggers talk about good days and bad days.  While day 5 wasn't a really bad day, it definitely wasn't one my best days either.  Which is disappointing because I want to believe that this gets easier with each passing day, and not harder.  I guess it's more complicated than that.

Another blogger asked me about whether I felt much hunger as a result of the liquid only diet.  At the time, my hunger really wasn't that bad.  I managed to feel comfortably "full" from the liquids I was consuming, but on the evening of Day 5, my appetite seemed to come back with a vengeance. I was sooo hungry, and ate drank lots of pureed soup.  I also had my first bowel movement yesterday  (sorry if that's TMI for you, but when you go through this, your docs will tell you how important it is to get this going asap after surgery).

Here are some comparison pics.  I have an added bonus for you guys!  A day 3 photo.  :)  Turns out my sister actually took one of me while we were out on a daily walk, and I had forgotten about it.  She emailed it to me last night, and I figured I'd put the pics up together for your comparison.  I feel like like I look a bit more swollen on Day 5 than Day 4, but I THINK it's because I don't have as much "overall" swelling in the face anymore. The swelling seems to be focused on my jowls/cheeks, and under my nose.  I really can't wait to go see my surgeon tomorrow.  I want her to tell me that I'll be allowed to open my mouth more often now.  I'm sooo over this being banded shut thing.  Also:  I'm not sure I've ever looked more unattractive than in these shots.  I'm REALLY looking forward to when I can put up some "normal" recovery pics, in which I can at least have clean hair.

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5