When you first woke up from surgery

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#16 Post by **ohmyjaw** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:17 pm

I was never offered any "calming" drugs prior to surgery. If you need it, then definitely ask, but I would have declined, because I wanted to be aware of everything that was going on as long as I was awake.

I had the catheter too. My surgery was around 6 hours, I think, so it was definitely required. They left it in until the next morning. It really wasn't that bad. The tube going in my nose, down to my stomach, was worse. If you can avoid that, good for you!

#17 Post by **phil** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:50 pm

OzzysMom,

The first of my three surgeries, I remember waking up in the recovery room, and immediately saying, "I feel sick." You can imagine what followed!

The second and third ones, I was so drugged that I don't remember anything until after I was in my room, and I just remember feeling groggy and weak, and wanting to see a familiar face (which I did!).

That's basically my experience!

Be well, and at peace,

Phil

#18 Post by **~danielle~** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:47 pm

First off i would like to say that i HATE HATE HATE hospitals lol. I hate the smell and the lights and the annoying beeping that the machines make.. pretty much everything about them.

But i have to admit.. my hospital stay was almost.. fun? I checked in, waited, got dressed, waited some more, then was taking to the OR. I was so scared about the needle for the IV that I didn't have any type of worries about the surgery. they told me they would give my some drugs in the IV to calm me, and boy did they work

... I remember waking up to a really nice nurse telling me that it was over, everything went fine, to open my eyes... stuff like that. My first thoughts were, " my teeth TOUCH!?!!" and "somebody FEED me!!" (they were hesitant to give me anything for a while because they thought i would be sick- even though I was fine.) I was a pretty drowsy at first, but really happy. The best way to describe it is feeling drunk.

Then i was wheeled into my room (that i shared with a few other people) and I (somehow) managed to keep up a conversation with a lady in the bed beside that had just had knee surgery until she was released a few hours later.. That night, the lady in the bed to my other side started freaking out because the nurses wouldnt let her take her regular meds since they had already given her morphine and a few other new ones (hmmm..). I was up for hours listening to her yell and scream while the nurses tried to get her a ride home and such.. I thought it was hilarious though- there was a younger med student working and she the lady totally freaked her out so she spent the whole time at my bed changing my ice packs or getting me apple juice. It was AWESOME.. must have been the drugs

I was wide awake all night didnt have any entertainment at all.. but i still liked it. My only bad experiences there were.. looking in the mirror because i was REALLY swollen and started to bruise really bad (even my surgeon said that it wasnt normal to bruise and swell the way i did) But all around FUN.. i didnt want to go home.

sorry for the novel of a post

I had fun with that one lol

#19 Post by **FuzzyPants** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 12:54 am

I have vague memories of someone calling my name to wake me up. I didn't open my eyes, but could speak. Then the conversation was:

"How did it go?"
"Great. You'll be pleased with your new bite"
"How long did it take?" I knew it was supposed to be between 1-1/2 and 2 hours, so anything longer could have meant complications.
"Just under two hours." (Whew)
Somebody wiped my face and mouth.
"I can feel that (whew again). I'm cold. My throat is sore."

They gave me something for the pain that made me a bit loopy and I tried to wave and say thank you to the nurses as I was wheeled out of recovery.

When that wore off, lunch was served and I gladly slurped on broth and tea. I tried to eat the jello but could not get it past my elastics without slurping loudly. I gave up in consideration for my poor roomate.

Recovery really has not been too bad or painful. There were some blue days, like on day 5 (my puffiest) and day 21 (my hand slipped while trying to pull a pillowcase on and I hit myself in the jaw resulting in tears because everything seemed so hard. Pity party for one?)

In a way you are lucky to have surgery in Costa Rica where you can recover in peace and have people doting on you!

#20 Post by **fromjersey** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:03 pm

I only had sliding genioplasty so it was no big deal for me. Surgery was about 1 1/2 hours. I woke up and saw my girlfriend in the room. That's because she was called in to take me home. But then I was told there was a little bleeding and doctor had to put in a few more stitches. It didn't hurt and my girlfriend watched doctor do that. I was happy, actually overjoyed after waiting for so many years! --not in pain and my girlfriend took a few pictures of me. I did the typical thumbs up sign. The nurses started dressisng me so I could be driven home. I don't know if there was any "recovery" time or not. I had my silly jaw bra on and some blood seeped onto it. I never felt any nausea. Biggest problem was very sore throat for days, from that tube. I wasn't in a hospital, but in my O.S.'s office. I was age 79 when I had this done, Sept. 2007. I think I'm in pretty good shape. I take lots of vitamins and eat OK, mostly vegetarian and some fish. Lately have been eating goat yogurt. I figure nobody tortures the goats.
Helen

#21 Post by **OzzysMom** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:58 pm

I appreciate everyone posting your experiences, both good and bad. At least it puts things in perspective for me.

Well, I am leaving for Costa Rica first thing in the morning. Once I'm down there, I'll stop in and say hello.

Wish me luck!
OM

#22 Post by **PuppySmiles** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:50 am

KarlClayLA wrote:It was not scary, was very calming actually and "sleepy" feeling.

I have a very detailed description of my experience in the details section http://www.thisisjustwrong.com if you haven't read it already. Click on "A Perspective on Surgery." Its not gorey and graphic but its not all whistles and bells either. You may be curious about the "Notes from the Recovery Room" section as well as it also pertains to your question.

I love that Karl actually has a lot of good information, and is quite reassuring, meanwhile he's got BLOOD in his pic. How many of us have that kinda dichotomy goin' on?

#23 Post by **didrake** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 2:15 pm

I remember been woken up by people talking to me, when i opened my eyes there was various faces looking at me and a nurse was saying my Mum had been ringing to see if i was ok. I remember thinking thank God and looking at the clock, not believing how long id been down. Then the surgeon appeared and said it went well, someone asked how i felt, i said sick. Next thing they gave me this amazing anti sickness injection. I was really drowsy, i remember been wheeled back up to ward. But i couldnt even walk to toilet as my legs were literally like lead, this was a couple of hours later. It was in loo i started feeling sick again and thought i was going to faint, but i didnt and i had another shot of the anti sickness magic! There wasnt much pain, the worst thing for me was bleeding which was probably worse as i had all my wisdom teeth out as well as lower jaw surgery.
I was really scared just before, but you are through to the other side before you know it

#24 Post by **kaycee** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 6:24 pm

OzzysMom,

I would add that in addition to the mega sore throat, I was hooked up to both air socks and an automatic blood pressure cuff. So what I remember most were my legs being squeezed every couple of minutes and then my arm every ten minutes or so. There was also the pulse/temperature thingie on my finger, an ice pack on my face, an oxygen mask for a little while and of course the IV. I also remember an odd sort of awareness of what was going on around me that I couldn't participate in because of the grogginess. No pain, just a dull ache, the nurse kept putting the morphine pump in my hand and pressing the button with her hand over mine. I couldn't leave the recovery room until the OS gave the okay, but since he was tied up in surgery, I ended up in recovery for about six hours.

Something I was not prepared for was the extent to which the muscles in my neck hurt. I couldn't move my head without putting my hands under my neck for support, my neck muscles were virtually useless. This lasted for about a week, it made rolling over in bed quite painful. I asked my OS about it later, he said my head and neck are moved around in ways that I best not know about.

I had a catheter during surgery but it was removed before I woke up. Their standard procedure is that if a surgery is longer than 4 hours (maybe its 3) then you get a catheter. My OS also cleans out the stomach after the procedure in case some blood bypasses the dam set up in the back of the mouth so as to minimize/eliminate nausea. I did experience some dry heaves which the nurse said was from trying to sit up too quickly. (When the nurse said it was time to pee and did I want the bed pan or the commode, I said the commode and tried to sit up quickly to prove that I was up to it, well, big mistake.

)

I knew I wouldn't be able to drink anything from a cup right off, and I remembered from giving birth that all you can have are ice chips, so I asked for ice chips for the sore throat. (I really must have been out of it to be thinking about being in labor!)

I was moved the orthopedic ward after, still wearing the air socks. I had to wear those until I was discharged, and it was really a pain everytime I had to go to the bathroom, the nurse had to disconnect the socks and then reconnect them after. She called them Fred and Ethel.

Good luck to you this week. I'm sure you will do just fine. Let us know how you're doing when you feel up to it.

kaycee

#25 Post by **Thathrill** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:57 pm

Lucky for me, I had knee surgery 7-8 months before BSSO. I had an idea of how I would react somewhat in recovery. Plus they used the same anesthesia which didn't make me sick at all.

Well for lower jaw surgery, I recall being awakened by a recovery nurse who said I have been there over an hour and everything went well. I wasn't in any pain other than my throat being sore. I was also groggy and would sleep at random 15min intervals. I was surprised that my jaw wasn't banded shut and everyone was shocked at how well I could talk considering I just got out of surgery. LOL I was fairly calm and all I wanted was to drink water. I was more surprised that I wasn't hungry as I love to eat. Well the recovery room was packed and I was told that I would be delayed going up to my room because the hospital was packed also. They were concerned about my pain and kept forcing meds on me when I didn't want them but I was so tired that I could only accepted it. Overall the only thing that I didn't like about recovery was having to wait forever to be sent to a room.