Day 6 - First Post-Op Checkup

Day 6 was Thursday and the day of my first post-op checkup with the orthodontist and the max fax team.
I was feeling good today, had got on top of my pain medication routine.
I was going to shower and wash my hair but thinking ahead to this being the first day I'd be going out anywhere and knowing I'd be out for a while (my orthodontist ALWAYS runs late), I figured I'd be best not to knacker myself out before I even got through the door, so I skipped the shower (I didn't smell lol) and went for the hair wash instead.

Hair washing was easier today, I could go back to how I normally wash my hair and not feel like my jaw was going to fall off :)
Got dressed, had a yoghurt and waited for my inlaws to come and take me to my appointment.
My mother inlaw is known for her ability to talk so this was going to be a talking challenge for me, just how much would I be able to manage?

I was driven door to door, and me and my mother inlaw waited just inside the door whilst my father inlaw went to park. Once he found us, we headed to the orange seats to wait. It was funny because they sat either side of me, just to make sure that one of them would catch me if I keeled over.
We had a wait of about 45 minutes until it was my turn.

I was called in, and sat myself on the chair. I didn't see my orthodontist because she was away that day so I saw another orthodontist, who  I like much better.
They (ortho and max fax) asked me how I was and I was very happy to say that I was doing really well. That so far recovery had been good. I didn't tell them that actually I had commented to my husband that it all seemed a bit too easy and I was waiting for something to go wrong.
They noticed and commented on the fact that I didn't have a lot of swelling or bruising.

I had the chance to ask who had actually done the surgery and to ask how long the surgery took. Because of me knowing when I went to theatre and knowing when I came back to High Dependency and the timing of my husband's phone calls to the ward, we had reckoned that my surgery had taken close to 3hrs.

They told me that my surgery took 1 hour 45 minutes and that there were no complications, and the nerves did not get cut.
It was here that I found out why my poor husband was being told I was still in theatre at 2pm; I had had to stay in recovery for a long time because there was no nurses to staff the High Dependency Unit to look after me! So if I went down to theatre at 9.25am, say surgery started about 10am and finished at 11.45am, I was effectively in recovery for 4 and a half hours! That might not sound too long after major surgery but to think that for my husband I was in theatre from 9am - 4pm, that's like his entire day waiting to know if I was ok.

They looked inside my mouth, something I hadn't dared to do in case there was a war zone in there, and said that everything looked good. My profile looked good too. Just everything was good.
They asked how I was getting on with the liquid diet and I was truthful and said it wasn't easy although not as hard going as I had expected it to be.

Then came the shock bit, the orthodontist told me that I could very well have my braces off in 4 months!!!!!
FOUR MONTHS!!!!!
I asked him if he was telling me the truth? Was he joking? He asked if I wanted them on for longer and I was like God no! I've had them on for 6 years and 3 months already, you're telling me I can have them off in 4 months?!??!

They measured my overjet, although didn't tell me the measurement and said they were very pleased.
The ortho decided to give me some orange elastics, running back to front, top to bottom,  each side. I've had blue elastics and green elastics before so orange was a new colour, but apparently they are light elastics as compared with green or blue. No problems, I've had elastics before and they don't worry me.

At the end of the appointment the max fax surgeon said I could move from a liquid diet to foods with more substance to them as long as it was still no-chew. He suggested things like mashed potato and scrambled eggs. He said that he had never had a patient who had had problems because of eating the wrong thing. But I also remembered what the other max fax surgeon said and that was at week 5 a lot of people want to start chewing but really that was the worst time to do so.
I was really pleased to be told I could move on to a thicker diet, it also opened up the variety of foods I could consume.

My inlaws drove me home and because it was lunch time and I had been told I could have scrambled egg, I had 1 egg scrambled with plenty of milk, cheese and pepper for my lunch.
I managed to eat the equivalent of half an egg before it all became too cold and rubbery but it felt good to eat with a fork and to have some egg, some protein!

By this time, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep standing up. I was also sore because of being poked and prodded at.
So pain meds taken and I zonked it on the sofa until the kids came home from school.

Supper was mashed potato, mince and green beans. With the green beans chopped up into tiny pieces, they went down just fine.

Photos of today:
Today was the day that my son, sitting across from me at the table at breakfast said 'Mum, you are starting to look like your old self again'. No no no my dear, I'm starting to look like my NEW self! :)

Today was also the day that my mum had her operation to remove the cancerous tumour in her breast. I knew she was going to have her surgery in the afternoon so I waited until 4pm to text her partner. I couldn't phone her partner because he can't talk due to having had laryngeal cancer and his voicebox removed a few years ago. So I texted him to ask how my mum was. He texted back to say he hadn't heard anything yet and that I should phone the hospital.
Of course, I wasn't really in any fit shape to phone, I was sore after my checkup and didn't know if anyone on the other end of the phone would understand me. But it transpired that he wasn't at the hospital wioth my mum, he had had to go home because he couldn't get accommodation at the hospital. So the poor man was sitting at home, not knowing what was happening with my mum, if she was ok.
So I was brave, asked my son if he thought a stranger would understand me on the phone and phoned the hospital.
I was told that she was still in theatre and had gone down later in the day. I'd to phone back at 6pm.
I can't remember what I had for supper but I phoned the hospital back at 6pm and was told that she was back in the ward, was very sleepy but comfortable and the operation had gone well.
I texted my mum's partner to let him know and then had a few tears in relief to know that my mum was ok.

Day 5 - Home Alone For The First Time

Day 5 was Wednesday. My husband went back to work and this was my first whole day alone post surgery.

I lay on the sofa under my blanket, I watched lots of TV. I don't normally watch daytime TV but this was a must just to get me through the day.
I missed the company.

The doorbell went mid morning and I opened it to find a flower delivery man (who really didn't know where to look when he saw my face)
These are the flowers that my best friend Jenny sent me. I LOVE getting flowers :)

Breakfast was Readybrek, I managed about half a bowl before I reached that 'I can't eat any more' stage.
Lunch was soup and yoghurt.
Mid afternoon was a cheesecake (I could eat the flavoured cheese part of the cheesecake but not the biscuit base).
It was a lovely sunny day so I made sure to sit outside in the sun at lunch time to get my vitamin D. My husband took my photo for the day. I think I was looking pretty good.

My kids came home from school at 3.30pm. My husband came home from work at 5.30pm. They had sausages, chips, beans and egg for tea....oh it smelt divine! Not that I could eat any of it mind you.

But I was bored today. I felt ok, I had my painkiller routine going but I made myself sit and do nothing, made myself rest.

Day 3 and 4 - Blurry Vision, Evening Horridness & Chocolate Buttons

Days 3 and 4 were Monday and Tuesday.

Prior to my surgery I had said to my husband that he wouldn't need to take time of work, the kids would be at school, he'd be at work and I'd be at home hopefully trying to sleep my way through my recovery. HAHAHAHA.
At the weekend, I knew I wouldn't manage at home by myself so asked him if he would take Monday and Tuesday off. I got a bit of a row LOL, he knew he shouldn't have listened to me.

Prior to going into hospital, I had also phoned my GP to make an appointment to get signed off work. There was no way I was going to manage to go to the doctors!
So he phoned my GP surgery, cancelled my appointment and got me signed off work for 4 weeks over the phone.

Both days were quiet, I mainly laid on the sofa watching TV, caught up on facebook a bit. I didn't really have the head for doing very much and certainly couldn't manage to read. He took my photo of the day

Day 3 Photo

I'm not sure if I was more swollen on Day 3 than I was on day 2, I certainly looked way more miserable than I felt.
Because I'm writing this after the event, it is hard to remember all the details but I wasn't in any fit state to sit at the computer never mind write a blog.
I was beginning to lose track of what painkillers I was taking and when. When I got up during the night, I decided that I would write times on the boxes, so codeine would be taken 9am, 3pm and 9pm. Ibuprofen would be taken 7am, 1pm, 7pm and paracetamol every 4 hours).

My blurry vision was clearing but I still felt like I had something in my right eye. A bit like feeling you have an eyelash in your eye but there was nothing there. I didn't really notice it during the day but in the evening I did.
I managed to go online and find out that it was probably what they had used to protect my eyes during surgery, I think they must have used a gel and tape and blurred vision was a side effect reported in 70% of cases.

Now that I was at home, I was determined that I was going to get my teeth clean. After having scrupulous dental hygiene for the past 6 years, not being able to clean my teeth properly was really hard.
So I started cleaning any teeth I could see. I didn't want to guddle about too much and certainly didn't want to go in and touch my wounds but teeth had to be clean.
Top front teeth could be cleaned just fine. Cleaning my bottom front teeth was weird because the gum was numb.
I could feel stuff sitting at the back of my mouth/throat that was making me gag.
I took my corsodyl mouthwash.
And then I thought, something still isn't right, so I stuck my tongue out as far as it would go, which wasn't very far and found that it was all white and furry. YUCK!! So more toothpaste and I got my toothbrush in my mouth as far as I could get it along my tongue and scrubbed until I could see nice healthy pink tongue again.


By 8pm I was feeling absolutely horrible. I was feeling very nauseous. I don't know if it was lack of food in my stomach, or if it was too much liquid in my stomach or side effects of the painkillers or just that I was tired. But it really wasn't pleasant. So I went to bed about 9pm and my husband came to sit with me until the medication kicked in and made me go to sleep. I slept about the same as the night before.
Food wise, I had yoghurt and ice cream and plenty of water. I didn't feel too hungry so as long as I was drinking plenty I would be ok.
I did have a strong fancy for egg and chips. Very weird for me because again, not something I would normally eat.

Day 4 Photos

Day 4 saw the start of the bruising. But I think the swelling was beginning to go down, well it certainly wasn't swelling any more.

Today I  really fancied some chocolate so we went to the corner shop. The corner shop is about 2 minutes walk away, or 6 houses away from my house. I felt a bit silly having to ask my husband to come with me but I was scared that I was going to faint. So holding on to his arm, we walked very slowly round to the shop. I couldn't walk too fast because I could feel the vibrations go through to my jaw as I walked.
I bought a packet of milk chocolate buttons and a packet of white chocolate buttons.
The man at the shop didn't know where to look when he saw me. But then I supposed, last week I looked ok, today I looked swollen, bruised and missing a tooth. By the time I got to the till I was feeling decidedly wobbly so knew we had to move home quickly, just concentrate on staying upright and put on foot in front of the other.

The afternoon was spent reading a magazine and sleeping. I did manage to 'eat' 3 milk chocolate buttons. I broke up a button into 4 pieces and let it melt on my tongue. But it just didn't give me that proper feeling of eating chocolate so I gave up. Put the chocolate buttons away for a time when I could eat chocolate properly. Keep reading because a story about these chocolate buttons comes up again!

Foodwise I ate/drank: yoghurt, angel delight, tinned chicken soup (tinned soup went down ok) and still lots of water. I also managed to eat some jelly! It was very nice :)
Had the same 8pm nausea hour as day 3.
Sleep wise was pretty much the same, waking up about 3am in need of painkillers.

Day 2 - Swelling and Going Home

Day 2 was Sunday. Quite a momentous day for the girl who didn't think she'd get there!

I woke up feeling a bit miserable. But having read lots of blogs, etc online I knew that day 2 or 3 was going to be when the post-op blues hit. I was so swollen, I actually felt like if I swelled any more, my face would burst.

I had apricot yoghurt for breakfast again...did I say that if I ever see an apricot yoghurt again it would be too soon?

The doctors came to see me and commented that I looked miserable. But I wasn't as miserable as I looked. LOL my husband said it was a shame that the swelling and cracked lips made me look downright miserable when I wasn't too bad.
Doctors said I could go home later in the day or I could stay another night and go home Monday morning, the choice was mine.
To be honest, at that point I was in no way fussed as to where I was going to go or stay. Going home sounded nice but I had no energy or motivation to even get up and get dressed never mind step outside and go home.
At about 10am, I was wheeled down to X-Ray to make sure that everything was in the right place. Cue a quick scoot looking for my as yet unworn dressing gown and still in my pyjamas and slippers, I sat in that wheelchair all the way down very long corridors and all the way back along very long corridors. At x-ray I was faced with that familiar machine that you have to put your head in and bite down on this silly plastic stick thing and then the x-ray machine whirs round your head. I was a bit tentative and the radiologist asked me if I had had one of these done before but it wasn't that that bothered me, it was the idea of having to open my mouth (could I open it enough with all the swelling) AND having to bite on that plastic stick...really, you want me to do that? Somehow I managed, maybe the x-ray was a bit wobbly because my jaw muscles didn't like it much, but I did it.

This gave me the incentive when I got back on the ward to have a shower and get dressed.

Showering was hard. I hadn't anticipated it to be aside from knowing it would be difficult to wash my hair. I normally wash my hair over the bath with the showerhead in my hand so as not to get water in my ever troublesome ears. But I knew the only way my hair was going to get washed was to wash it in the shower.

So still with the horrid cannulas in my hands, I attempted a shower. I must admit, it felt good to be clean. I even discovered iodine in my ears! What did they do in theatre, slap the stuff all over me? :D

But I didn't anticipate that it would be difficult to dry myself! I had no jiggling ability so had to slowly pat myself dry one handed rather than a proper drying down.

I managed to whack myself in the jaw putting on my bra! Didn't hurt too much. Who knew bras were such dangerous things!

By the time I was showered and dressed, I felt like I was going to go home after having done all this effort.
My vision was still blurry. Today my husband said it was probably because I didn't have my glasses on. But I knew I couldn't see as well as I normally do without glasses.

Lunch was lentil soup and another apricot yoghurt. I struggled with the soup, the texture more than anything else. I was learning that I couldn't fit a tablespoon sized spoon in my mouth, I had to use a teaspoon.
Cold things were going down better than hot things. Hot things couldn't be consumed as soon as possible because they were too hot and I couldn't tell the temperature on my lips but you had to consume hot things reasonably quickly or else they went cold and once they started going cold, it just was horrid. I'd get so far and then have to stop because I just couldn't get it over my throat.
I also felt very much like a baby shoveling teaspoons of sloppy food in my mouth.

At 2pm, my inlaws arrived to visit. My mother inlaw was quite taken aback with how I looked and the fact that I couldn't talk very much but she tried to hide it. My father inlaw looked like he just wanted to give me a huge hug but knew he couldn't really because of how much I was swollen.

Chatting a little bit, cause I couldn't talk much, I said that I could have sworn I smelt bacon in the morning and that I fancied a bacon sandwich. Which was really odd; my husband and kids have bacon sandwiches for breakfast every Saturday morning but I just have one very occasionally. I couldn't even get a bacon sandwich in my mouth never mind eat one. My father inlaw suggested I take some bacon, a bun and some tea and just blend it altogether...BARF! What was he trying to do? kill me?? :D :D

About 15 minutes later my husband and kids came and I informed them that I was allowed to go home.
After collecting my medication (paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine but all in tablet form now) and being informed to wear my TED stockings for another couple of days, I was on my way.
I knew there was no way I was going to be fit for walking all the way from the ward to the car and knowing that I am infamous for fainting (and hadn't fainted as yet), I sat myself in a wheelchair and my husband trundled me downstairs.
He left me with my inlaws and my kids until he went and got the car. Me and him in our car and my inlaws took the kids home.

When I walked through the door, I cried again (LOL anyone sick of all these tears yet??) but this time happy tears. I kept saying 'I can't believe I made it, I can't believe I made it home' and my husband said 'yeah, because you didn't think you would did you?'

Didn't want to go to my bed so got myself comfy on the sofa, under a blanket and heaps of pillows. It was good to be home. But I knew it was going to be challenging.

I can't remember what I had for my supper. I do know that despite having made up batches of soup and my husband making some more, just the smell of homemade soup was making me heave big time.
I probably had yoghurt, but not apricot this time thank goodness!

Mainly spent the rest of the day resting, watching TV and marveling at just how well I had done. I was also glad that I could now have proper ice for the swelling. In hospital, I was beginning to feel like Father Jack from the TV show Father Ted but instead of shouting 'drink', I was shouting 'Ice!' The ice packs really did help; when I could get them.
My husband got my bed all ready for me, with HEAPS of pillows. I had been sleeping/resting with my head elevated in hospital. My favourite brushed cotton duvet cover was on, drink of water and painkillers on my bedside cabinet and I was ready for as much sleep as I could get.

I slept 9pm - 2.30am, woke to take painkillers and slept til 5am. Woke in pain again so took more painkillers and got up around 7.30am.

Day 1 Post Op

Day 1

Day 1 was Saturday. I spent the night in the High Dependency Unit with another patient in the bed across from me. He sounded really sick, like something was wrong with his breathing or his throat. I wondered if he'd had his tonsils out and was bleeding as a result.
So there were 2 patients and 1 nurse.

I was given an apricot yoghurt (the first of many) for breakfast. I had also taken in 2 Oats So Simple porridge pots with me. The nurse made one up for me but I couldn't manage the lumps in it. So yoghurt it was. And water, plenty of water! I'm not normally a plain water drinker but the last thing I wanted to do was end up with a headache because I wasn't drinking enough. I also knew that the more I drank, the quicker the IV would come down.

I managed to use the commode a couple of times; all that water and IV made me pee. I felt like I was constantly peeing LOL!
I was helped up from my bed and transferred to a chair, given a basin of water and my toiletries so I could have a wash. I changed out of my theatre gown and into my pyjamas.

I don't really remember much about that day other than that I managed to sit in the chair until about 11am before needing to go back to bed. I thought I did really well.
Doctors came to see me again and my morphine was stopped after lunch time.

My biggest concern of that day was the patient in the other bed. Once I was washed and 'dressed' they pulled the curtains back and I got to meet my room mate. He was an elderly man, who did indeed have something wrong with his throat (but not tonsils). But he didn't know where he was. He wanted to go home. He wanted to phone his sister. He kept trying to get up even though he couldn't walk, he kept pulling his wires, etc off. He was very confused. He really needed someone watching him every minute. Poor man :-(
But of course there was only 1 nurse and she had 2 patients to look after. So I ended up watching him whilst the nurse was busy doing something and shouting on her when he kept trying to get up.
On the one hand, I wasn't getting the care I should have (for example, my pain killers at 2pm weren't given to me until 3pm) and really I shouldn't have been watching out for him but on the other hand, I felt so sorry for this man. I hope, he is ok.

I spent the afternoon in bed, but I texted my husband and told him not to take the kids with him to see me in the afternoon, I wasn't fit for them.
When my husband came to visit, I told him that my vision was blurry and my eyes felt gunky. He did wipe some gunk from my right eye but put my blurry vision down the anaesthetic. I wasn't convinced but nothing else I could do.
My day 1 photo was taken

The swelling was beginning.
I had apricot yoghurt and ice cream and loads of water at lunch. I also got some scotch broth but that is 1 of 2 soups that I just can not abide so I didn't even try it. I think I tried a cup of tea but couldn't have it hot because I couldn't tell the temperature and didn't want to burn myself. But cold tea isn't very nice.

This was the day that I began to drown in tissues with all the drooling.

I was told by the doctor to start using corsodyl mouthwash 4 times a day. Since I couldn't clean my teeth, then just to let the mouthwash sit either side of my mouth to keep my wounds clean.

Later in the afternoon, I was transferred back to the ward.
I got some very salty vegetable soup for supper. There was also some jelly (which I couldn't manage, I had established that anything I consumed needed to be runny and smooth and water was the best thing to drink).
My husband came to visit again, this time with the kids who had brought me flowers and cards :-)
Struggling to think what else happened, the rest of the day passed in a blur of taking painkillers (paracetamol, ibuprofen and codeine all in liquid form), going to the loo and just resting with as much ice packs as I could get.

I got a second injection of drugs to thin my blood. This was my third injection, although I don't remember when I had the second. The nurse who gave me the injection this time told me it would be less sore if I got the injection either in my leg or my stomach. I didn't fancy a needle going into my stomach so leg it was. It still hurt!

Surgery Day

At 7.30am on Friday 5th September, my husband and both my kids sent me texts to wish me good morning and the tears started again!
At 8am I got into my theatre gown and was given a premed whilst I watched the clock tick round to 9am.
I was pleased I was first on the list so I could get it all over and done with and not spend the day feeling starving and waiting.

They came to take me to theatre at 9.25am. I was wheeled down in my bed and taken to the anaesthetic room. The anaesthetist told me that they were just going to put me to sleep the usual way, no need for fibre optic stuff. The nurses were still attaching me to wires and stuff and the anaethetist said something about my hand feeling strange and then the next thing, that was me alseep.
This anaesthetic guy was good...No counting backwards from 10, no I'm going under feeling and I didn't even feel the anaesthetic going up the veins in my arms.

I woke up in recovery, well kind of, I remember being really desperate for a pee and somehow balancing on a bedpan and peeing for Scotland! I also didn't wake up feeling groggy or in pain, just one minute I was put to sleep, the next I was waking up. I think I was in recovery a long time. I also remember seeing an ex boyfriend of mine working in recovery! He didn't speak, but either I had broken his heart when I dumped him all those years ago, or he decided that the circumstances really weren't appropriate for a 'hey long time no see' conversation :D
Whilst in recovery I do remember a nurse telling me that she thought I had beautiful hair and asking me if it was naturally curly.
Now anyone who knows me, knows I *HATE* my hair so to have someone ask me in recovery about it just seemed pure madness!

As far as I'm aware, I was transferred to the High Dependency Unit about 4pm.
I was on oxygen (through nasal cannula), and now had 2 cannulas in my hand, one for an IV of Hartman's Solution and one for my morphine PCA.
 
I know my husband and kids came to see me and I remember chatting to them, I think I was more out of it than I thought I was. My husband did tell me that he had phoned the ward at 11am to ask if I was ok to be told I was still in theatre. That was ok, he knew I was first on the list but that the op would take 1.5hrs - 2hrs. He was told to phone back at 2pm. He phoned at 2pm to be told that I was still in theatre! The poor man was starting to panic now. He was told to phone back about 4pm.
Finally he phoned about 4.30pm and was told I was back on the ward. I can only imagine what that must have been like for him, having his wife 'still in theatre' for 6 hours' when the op was supposed to only take 2 hours max.

Here is my first post surgery photo, taken about 6 or 7 hours post-op (excuse the ice cream splodge, was the first thing I got to eat)

The surgeon came to see me and said that everything went well and was looking good.
After I saw the photo my husband took, I was amazed at how I was looking; the difference in my face shape was amazing! I could feel tears again. But there's a funny thing about jaw surgery, you can't cry properly because you can't open your mouth properly.

I had been worried about the morphine because I'd had a morphine injection when I was a lot younger for a migraine headache and I hallucinated with it. But fortunately this time, the morphine did it's job, no hallucinations and I think I had a comfortable night.

I wasn't in too much pain. I kept saying that it was a cold sore and the nurses and doctors were thinking I was yabbering about a cold sore as in what you get on your lips, but what I meant was that the pain was like the pain you get when something is freezing cold.

I know at one point during the night they had to stop the morphine because I was only taking 10 breaths a minute.

I was surprised at how little pain I was in, I was expecting it to be really painful, like worst pain ever. But it really wasn't.
 

Week Prior to BSSO + Wisdom Tooth Removal.

Hey guys! I made it through! I actually made it through :)

I guess my story begins on Monday 1st September when I woke up with a sore throat. Cue absolute panic that I was going to have my surgery cancelled. And I mean panic! Tears and everything. The last time I had a sore throat was back in April. I didn't go to the doctors because, well, what can a doctor do for a sore throat? Eventually by the end of the week, my husband took me to the doctors where I was diagnosed as having a throat infection and a chest infection. I also lost my voice completely for 11 days.
So to wake up with a sore throat the Monday before my surgery, was just bordering on devastating.

I phoned the ward who told me that no matter what, to just come in for admission on Thursday as planned.
I went to see my GP, I got the worst GP to see ever, who had a quick look at my throat with the help from light from the window because his otoscope wasn't working. He proclaimed my throat was a bit red, prescribed me antibiotics and told me that if the hospital got wind of this, they'd be cancelling my operation.
Nice.

With hindsight, really it would have been much better if he had prescribed me something to ease my anxiety. After all, this was big surgery I was facing and I had even said to him 'I'm scared'. But hey ho.

I didn't know if I actually had a sore throat or if it was just anxiety with my upcoming surgery. So I spent Mon, Tues and Weds frantically taking anything and everything to get rid of this throat and 'cold'.
The orthodontist removed my false tooth on the Monday afternoon.
All I could do was wait until I saw the anaesthetist who would tell me if the surgery would go ahead or not; it would be his call.

I honestly couldn't decide what was worse, my surgery being cancelled or my surgery going ahead. If it was postponed, it would impact on work, money, appointments, getting my tooth put back in. If it went ahead, I was faced with the possibility of not making it through. My husband assured me, if I didn't make it through he'd give me a good send off and make egg sandwiches :D :D


Thursday 4th September rolled round. Admission day.
My suitcase was all packed with the following:
2 pairs of pyjamas
4 pairs of knickers
4 pairs of socks
toiletries (including travel size shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste (free sample from the dentist), a soft, small headed toothbrush, hair stuff and a tub of aloe vera Vaseline)
tissues
2 magazines
1 puzzle book
a spare carrier bag for dirty washing
2 porridge pots and a tub of strawberry custard for post-op eating.
clothes for 2 days
slippers
dressing gown was carried as extra
my kindle fire
my mobile phone.

I removed most of my jewelry before heading to hospital.
I also took some photos before I went in.

Surprise surprise, my sore throat disappeared along with 4lbs in weight from stressing!
I was due to arrive on the ward at 2pm. I had previously decided that I was going to take my wee suitcase on wheels and trundle up to the hospital by bus. But the state I was in, my husband took me up to the hospital during his lunch break. He left me sobbing in the day room whilst I had to wait for a be (he wasn't being cruel, he had to go back to work!). I REALLY wasn't sure if I could do this whole surgery thing at all.

At 2pm, I was shown to my bed in a 6 bed area of the ward, overlooking the carpark, and then followed the usual questions from nursing staff. Then the doctor came to do the routine check over. The doctor decided to put a cannula into the back of my hand. There was one doctor and one medical student. The medical student (final year) got his turn first...it HURT! I felt so bad, poor guy. The doctor got round 2 and thankfully got the cannula in. Not pleasant. I am a wuss when it comes to pain. And I hate cannulas, I don't know if I have particularly thin skin or my veins are so close to the skin surface, but once I have one in my hand, I can't use that hand without it hurting.

Once the cannula was in, it was time to take blood. I'm pretty sure they took all the blood from my hand LOL. My poor hand turned blue, it took a while but they got the blood they needed.

Supper time and my last meal arrived. Mince, tatties and sweetcorn and peas followed by apple crumble and custard. Wasn't the best food in the world by any means but ate it because I knew it was going to be the last decent food I could manage.
If you are wondering what I had as my last meal before going to hospital, I had chicken parmesan and spaghetti one night and then a platter of ribs, chicken dippers, garlic bread, dips, nachos, etc the night before that. But because of all my stressing, I didn't actually enjoy any of it.

After supper time, the anaesthetist came to see me. The man I needed to see to tell me that my surgery was still going to go ahead. He was LOVELY! He explained that unless I was coughing stuff up, had a temperature or if I wouldn't go to work in my current condition then everything would be just fine for surgery to go ahead.
He also explained that because of my Pierre Robin Syndrome, he would have to talk to his superior to find out if they would put me to sleep in the usual way or if they would have to intubate me whilst I was still awake using fibre optic intubation. He explained that if they did do fibre optic intubation then I would be given lots of local anaesthetic up my nose and sedation. It didn't sound pleasant but it did sound safe.
I was told that I was first on the list for theatre in the morning.


I was seen by the surgeon who did something with plastic plates??? and I signed the consent form.

I also had to get more blood taken because something went wrong with one of the blood samples from earlier.

In the evening my husband and kids came to visit. I had stopped crying previously but when the time came for them to go, I started crying again. This was going to be a hard bit, seeing them go and me having to stay by myself knowing that I wouldn't see them again until after my surgery; if I got through the surgery that was. I was pretty convinced I wasn't going to make it through. I also thought this was going to be the hardest part of the whole thing, I didn't know if I was strong enough to get through this time.

At about 10pm I had a cup of tea and a slice of toast. I had got my pyjamas on and my TED stockings on. I had also been given a very painful injection in my arm to thin my blood. I was given a sleeping tablet and eventually nodded off.
I woke in the early hours of the morning, as I had been doing for about the past 2 weeks. I kept waking up about 4am in panic....I've now called the hours of 4am - 6am the Hours of Doom.
I was nil by mouth from midnight.