Posted by Michael_needs_sleep on September 23, 2008 at 09:01:01:In Reply to: Re: Phase 1 - Post op update posted by sleepy-in-seattle on September 22, 2008 at 20:00:05:
Thanks for the responses... It's now day 6 post-op. Yesterday I had a followup appt and it appears all is going as expected. No infections or anything. But certainly the pain dial has been turned to 11. My nose and face are more of a dull ache, but still a 4 out of 10 pain-wise.
My throat though is another story. The sutures are gagging me and had forced me to vomit a few times. Now THAT was painful. Let me tell ya. My throat is still very swollen and this morning it felt like it was swollen shut. Obviously it wasn't otherwise I'd suffocate. But I've never felt it that tight before.
There's ups and downs suring this recovery, that's for sure. I'm suspecting that because I had so many things at once, that's why I'm still towards the peak of the pain/discomfort.
Yesterday morning I stopped taking the pain meds since I was so nauseous. Although this morning I did take another dose, I'm going to try to ween off in order to save my stomach!
I'm STILL not able to eat solids though. Swallowing is hard at best. Besides the pain, it's just too tight in there to fit much down my throat. That and I'm still getting some up my nose. Not nearly as much though, so it would appear that flap is starting to recover. So that's a plus. But anything with small chunks or anything I can't swallow whole gets stuck. So that pretty much eliminates anything except for Velveta shells (macaroni shells). I pay for it afterwards with pain, but I can swallow one shell at a time. That helps get much needed calories in me. I can't use the blender method like most here since again, those small chunks get stuck.
I'm in good spirits though despite this being significantly more difficult than I expected. One thing I noticed is that I feel like (comparatively) I have a fire-hose of fair coming thru my nose!!!! I mean really. I can smell the coffee in Columbia from here!! When I went into the city (Chicago) for my follow-up, I was absolutely amazed at how many scents I picked up on. It was like having a new super-power or something. Captain Smells A Lot!!!
I feel like it’s most certainly worth all this. I haven’t slept much since when I lay down I cough too much. So I sleep (sorta) in a big chair in the living room. But, that said, I feel like the 3 hours or so I DO get are as restful or more than the 6-7 I’m used to. So we’ll see how long any improvement lasts, but for now I’m hopeful.
Either way, I’d do it again just to know I’m at worst just one big step closer to getting better. And I’d STILL lump all these procedures together like I did just to get it all over with. I’d rather have 1 recovery period that is really painful than 2 or 3 that are manageable.
**** One thing I did want to bring up for all you reading this. I haven’t read anything about this little miracle device on anyone’s list of recovery items. But this thing is AMAZINGLY helpful!!!!! It’s a sinus rinse bottle. My girlfriend accidentally got this instead of a moisture spray I asked for.
But let me tell you… I used it on Friday morning (surgery was Wednesday). ALL of the nasty blood/mucus/other blockages came out and my nose went from clogged and blocked to a 6 lane highway of air!!! It was the single biggest relief so far during the recovery. Really, I cannot say enough about this. I’ve read how MMA patients need to go have their noses cleaned in order to breathe. This does it for you and it’s amazingly effective.
It’s “sinus rinse” by Neilmed. CVS, Walgreens and the big name places have it. Seriously, this is something we should get the word out on to all those having an MMA or any of the related surgeries. Sorry to babble, but this thing was that good. No pain at all, easy and took 30 seconds. Poof!! All the junk was cleaned out.
Again, thanks for the responses. Keep ‘em comin! I’m still battling the recovery and would love to hear from anyone else who’s gone through this! Still working on the blog – typed up the content, now just figuring out the templates and such. I’ll post it soon for all to see.
Michael