Day 2

Day two started much like it had ended: with me feeling weak, shaky and clammy. I was not a happy camper, let me tell you. I had an appointment with the surgeon to clean my nose once again, and I was sort of looking forward to that because during the night, my nose had gotten more congested and breathing was getting a little more laborious. Still not "I'm asphyxiating please help me" laborious, just a little uncomfortable, and it was making drinking water harder.

So we made our way to the surgeon's office, me walking like I was about to pass out, because that's how I felt. I was hoping the surgeon would have a magical fix for everything. He came in, cleaned my nose much like the day before, and then answered the questions I had scribbled on my notepad.

I asked if I could go back to the hospital if I couldn't keep the pain and the faint feeling under control, but he advised against it, saying that he didn't want me to catch anything at the hospital. He cleared me to start drinking the liquid diet vs. just the clear liquid diet, and said that I just needed to get some calories in me and drink more water. When I asked if it was normal that I was feeling faint all the time, he said that I had lost a lot of blood during the surgery and that it was normal to feel weak. Again, he reiterated that I needed to drink more.

The pain in my jaw was about 7/10 but I was too afraid to take oxycodone. I was feeling a bit nauseated at that point and I didn't want to add to it, so the surgeon prescribed Toradol, a non-opiod NSAID painkiller, and another round of Zofran for the nausea. He then removed the extra rubber bands he had put on the day before, which really helped clear my breathing.

With all of that done, I went back home, breathing better but feeling a bit dejected that there hadn't been any magic, quick fix for the rest of my problems.

Back at home, I laid back down and tried to sleep, but once again could only drift off into a super light sleep where I was still aware of my surroundings.

Later, I did manage to have my first bowel movement since the surgery, which was a relief. Other jaw surgery bloggers mention being constipated for 5-6 days and getting sick to their stomach from it. I hoped that it would help with my nausea, but it didn't really change much.

I was taking Zofran a bit erratically, whenever I felt more nauseated and the 4 hours in-between doses had passed, but I often took it much later than that. During the afternoon, my husband suggested that I try to eat something, but the thought of food made me so grossed out and queasy. I agreed to a smoothie made only of frozen fruits and water. I drank a bit of that and it was alright, but I definitely wasn't craving it. Later, I drank another one of those with apple juice instead of water, and I tried some bone broth but wasn't a fan of it. It tasted like burnt chicken.

I forced myself to take a walk down the corridor of my appartment maybe 2-3 times during the day, hoping that would help too. We have this really nice rooftop area that you can access from my floor, so my husband and I would walk verryyyy slowly there, then stand in the sun for a few minutes. The fresh air really did help, so I recommend it if you can sit in the sun a bit whenever you can. I felt a little more alive and awake when I was outside, but I soon would have to go back because of feeling faint and shaky again.

On the way back from one of our walk, we discovered that a flower delivery guy had come by and left a beautiful bouquet at our doorstep. It was from my orthodontist! How thoughtful and awesome of them :) I was so touched, I almost cried. Man, surgery is such a roller coaster of emotions...

So pretty, and they smelled good!

I kept icing my jaw, but I'm pretty sure the swelling had stopped going up. I hit the peak that day, no questions asked.

My "fat suit" face, as we liked to call it.

The super hot feeling in my face was gone since the previous night, and didn't return. The ice helped with the pain though. Honestly, I think it helped more than the painkillers most of the time. I basically stayed away from the pills as much as I could, only taking one dose that day. I was so afraid it would exacerbate the nausea.

Oh, one thing to mention: my hearing was muffled since the day of the surgery, as if I was underwater or something. During day 2, I stifled a yawn and my ears popped. It was SO painful, I won't lie, but it cleared my hearing! After that, whenever I needed to yawn, I tried to contain it in a way that would let it pop my ears a bit more, and over the course of the next couple of days, the muffling was gone. It was kind of contributing to the feeling of being "out of it", so it was relief to get rid of that.

The day eventually went by with me lying in bed with my trusty cat attached to my hip (she's awesome).

When the night rolled around and it was time to go to sleep, I started feeling even worse and I started panicking. I felt like I was going to actually pass out, even though I was in bed. I started shaking really bad and woke my husband up. He gave me some apple juice, but it didn't seem to help. I asked if we could go to the hospital, but my husband reminded me that the surgeon was afraid I'd catch something there. So I drank more apple juice and waited, and eventually it passed. I guess I was having low blood sugar/dehydration.

I started using the humidifier I had purchased that night, and it did seem to help with the congestion. I slept maybe 90 minutes straight during that night, going in an out of sleep. It was very hard to find a good position. Either my neck was hurting, or my jaw because my head was bent too far back or too far forward. There was a lot of tossing and turning.

I kept telling myself the same mantra about day 5 and how I'd feel much better then. "This too shall pass" was basically playing in loop in my mind.