SARME surgery and post-op day one

The big day has come and gone so I thought I would give you an update on the surgery and my recovery since then.

I had to report at the hospital at 1.30pm on Monday 11th March, which meant that I couldn't eat after 7am that morning.  I couldn't sleep well anyway as I was nervous so I was awake and having breakfast at 6am.  I pottered around as much as I could Monday morning (including making the last video) and then set off to the day surgery in Randwick.

I still felt nervous on arrival but the team of nurses and my anaesthetist came to chat to me at different times to go through various questionnaires and I felt confident in their hands.  They advised me that I wouldn't be having the four teeth removed at the same time as my surgeon and orthodontist had decided they would come out later.  

The day unit was a little different than a hospital ward, and I had to wait in reception until they were ready for me.  As soon as they called me through it was time to gown up and go straight through to theatre - no sitting around in a hospital bed for me.

Giving away my age again

In theatre I saw my surgeon Dr Tsakiris who came to assure me that I would be ok everything would run smoothly.  I feel so confident with him that any nerves or worry I had started to disappear instantly.  I also saw Andrew again (the anaesthetist who came to originally talk to me) and while all the team were busy with their jobs their focus was on me - asking if I was ok, keeping me chatting about what I did for work etc.  The drip went into my hand and before I knew it I was breathing oxygen through a mask.  I remember the coldness of the anaesthetic going into my hand and remember saying 'that feels good' before drifting off to sleep.

This was only my second experience of general anaesthesia and it felt like I woke up as soon as I had fallen asleep.  The surgery actually took around 1 hour and 40 minutes.  I was a little groggy when I came around and kept drifting in and out losing track of time, although I did feel quite relaxed.  I remember the nurses calling my escort to come and pick me up, and it felt like only seconds later until he arrived, even though it was 30 minutes.  My surgeon came and spoke to me and said that everything had gone well.  After a short while longer in recovery I was on my way home and soon enough was resting up in bed.

On my way home from the hospital

Resting up in bed

And so here I am one day after my SARME surgery.  I have been quite surprised with the pain levels in the fact that they have been low to non-existent!  I guess I must be very lucky as I have read from other blogs that people have been in tremendous amounts of pain after this procedure.  I am religiously taking the antibiotics and the panadeine forte (very strong painkillers) they prescribed me so the pain does not creep up on me.

While there has been no pain there is a lot of pressure and numbness on my upper jaw and the swelling is very, no extremely noticeable - think Joan Rivers meets Alvin and the Chipmunks.  

I am not allowed to spit or blow my nose for two weeks and this is because the sinus walls are damaged during this kind of surgery and need to repair.  I'm not even allowed to sniff which is frustrating as my nose is clogged, but I have been prescribed some nose drops for this.  Sometimes I have sniffed without realising which has caused some blood to come through to my mouth, but not tremendous amounts.

So what else can I say?  Well apparently a lot because I have not lost my ability to talk!  I thought it would be too painful but if you watch the video below you'll realise I'm the same old me!