Rewind....Surgery Day.

I have been a terrible blogger. It is now October 26, over 5 weeks since the day I spent in the OR having my face rearranged.

I will go back to surgery day and work my way up to date.

I had to be at the hospital at 0630 on Sept 18. I live just over an hour away from the hospital so my Fiance and I went down the day before just to be sure. After years of waiting for this to come there was going to be nothing to stop it. We arrived at the hospital nice and early and got registered.

Then I was off to the pre-op waiting area. I changed into a fancy hospital gown and slippers and then waited and waited and waited.... my surgery was scheduled for 10:30. I was pretty nervous a this point which made me feel sick to my stomach, I took some gravel with a drop of water which really helped my belly. My fiance and my mom were both with me keeping me calm... thank you Mom and Ry. Soon enough I was off to the OR. I met my Anesthetist and Oral Surgeon in a waiting area. They asked a few questions, I answered. I asked, they answered. Then I was taken to the OR. The nurses were great. The anesthetist came in and started an IV and before I knew it I was out.

I woke up in recovery... sorta. I think I was in and out for a while. I could hear what was going on around me but didn't really care. I do remember my eyes shot open when I was surrounded by nurses and a physician talking about my heart rate. I was tachycardic (increased heart rate). I asked the nurse if I could write. My first question was how high, followed by is it a sinus rhythm, how much blood did I lose and have you hung the blood products yet. They understood that I was one of "those" patients, a patient that works in the field. The nurse was very sweet and answered all of my questions. My heart rate was 120-160, coming down. I was in a sinus tach. I had lost a lot of blood, estimated at 1 Liter. The blood that I donated for my self was already hung and running.

At this point I had no pain however my throat was sore and my mouth was so dry. I asked for a cold neb (cold humidity) about a dozen times... every time they looked at me like I was silly. I asked if they could at least turn down my oxygen flow (I had an oxygen mask on at about a million liters/minute). They did turn it down but I was on a cold neb kick so I persisted.... and never got it.

I spent a few hours in recovery and then I was off to ICU.

These pics are 3 hours post-op...I am feeling ok. No pain, just a tad uncomfortable. I spent the first night in ICU. Morphine was my best friend. I could not sleep. I layed there uncomfotable, high on morphine (just kidding...kinda) staring at this weird religious picture on the bulliten board in my room. I am not a religious person at all...more on this sometime in the future, so having this bizarre picture eyeing me was a little creepy. My nurse did come in at one point and ask if I wanted some Benadryl to see if it would help me sleep. Why not I thought. It didn't help, just made the religious picture a little more creepy.