Saturday, July 4, 2009

Day 4

Post surgery folk, help me out. This breathing thing is starting to freak me out a tad - at one point last night I had panicked myself into thinking I might drown in my own snot. Obviously, I didn't, and by some miracle I slept for over 5 hours straight, but this morning I'm still feeling uncomfortable.

Breathing through the mouth, of course, not on option - though it was one I employed a bit too much last night and ended up with some crazy jaw strain/pain. My left nostril is still swollen to all eternity and barely passable when I'm NOT bleeding from there (which I still am, off and on). So pretty much, my trusty right nostril is pulling overtime and getting tired.

I've got a humidifier going and that really helps (though heats up the room and it's HOT here in the pacific northwest right now). I've tried q-tips dipped in hydrogen peroxide/water... I have Afrin, but can only use it twice a day. Any suggestions?

Other than that whole debacle, things are doing pretty well. I got in a little bit over my head with pain last night - I'm starting to realize that once it really starts to hurt it's almost impossible to get it to come down. Just have to keep on pain meds. My jaw bra is helping - and I think just as much as for support and compression than the ice.

I'm getting funny twinges, already. My favorite is the vibrating sensation - it literally feels like a small little portion of my face is vibrating like mad - but then I throw my hand up there to figure it out, and nothing's actually happening. Just nerves regenerating, doing their thing. I'm really, really numb still - pretty much my entire face from the eyeballs downward. I have weird pockets where I can feel as the drool passes them by, but that's about it.

Finally took a shower this morning - it was kind of a production as Nick and I had to tape up the hip (which is it's own spectacular bruise that none of you will ever see, but it's fantastic!) dressing and get my weak butt into the shower, but I sure feel better now that it's over.

And, naptime...
Day 4 pictures:



7 comments:

holski said...

Hey Steph,

I recommend a cool mist humidifier and hot showers. Also, I remember being prescribed a saline spray that I could anytime I wanted. You should ask for that! I used it constantly.

Don't worry, this will pass soon! Hang in there.

Holly.

Danielle A. said...

Saline nasal spray. Send Nick to the store to pick some up...it should be in the with the Afrin, stuff like that section.
It's generally used for cleaning out the nasal/sinus passages. It might sting the first use or two, but shouldn't be too bad. Perhaps it might help with Lefty too. Also, I'm not sure about what this might do to your jaw situation, but if you can breath in steam, by leaning over a hot pot of water, that might help. Get the humidity straight up in that nose! Although, with the current weather around here, maybe not! lol

Katherine (Kate) said...

Sheesh the hip is going to be a nuisance, as showers would be high on my list to suggest, too. (Are your lips blue? ;) )

Not that it helps, but it sounds like you're doing the right stuff, Steph. You can try the Saline spray to try and loosen things up. Swelling and the amount of gunk that has to work it's way out is a big pain for the breathing, but it does go away. REALLY. Sounds dumb but I either concentrated on each individual breath 'In 2,3-Out 2,3-In 2,3-Out 2,3' like a mantra and reassured myself that oxygen IS getting in there, or did my darndest to be distracted by whatever was handy, when the thinking got to be too much like work.

Hang in there, girl, this part sucks and feels like forever, but it will end. You're doing everything right. Keep it up, Hon. :)

Lindz said...

I'm about 10 days post op, and I haven't used the saline spray, but something that really helped me clear my nostrils is one of those bulb syringes that you use on babies. It has pretty much been a life saver for me, especially at night. Also, just walking around some seemed to help get some of the junk out. Good luck!

caitie said...

i know what you mean about the nose thing. i had upper jaw surgery in may and they also 'widened' my sinuses or something, so for a few weeks the insides of my nose were FILLED with blood/crusty dried blood/were so gross and it was hard to breathe.

i'm not sure if your nose is bloody inside but ugh that was a pain in the butt-horrible, but my nose healed fully by 3-4 weeks i'd say (and it's weird because my nose is a little bigger than before b/c they widened my sinuses i guess)

caitie said...

oh and i totally forgot, they gave me two nose sprays in the hospital and prescribed me two more bottles, so those were a blessing :)

if they didn't give those to you- i'd reccomend picking up some .. helps with the healing

MistzfitArtisty said...

omg Im so glad to hear I have a humidifier and nasal spray