Today was even worse than the day before. I try to normally be an optimist, but today was terrible. I slept very bad. I was in pain most of the night. I slept in my parents' bed to be near my Mom since she was so worried about me. Before going to bed, I had taken some Tylenol with Codeine liquid and some Claritin. Every couple hours, I would have to get up and go to the bathroom and could never really sleep that well. I also couldn't sleep in any reclining position because then mucus would start sliding down my throat and I couldn't handle that. When I finally woke for the last time, I had some breakfast of some ensure, some juice that I liberated from the hospital with me, along with my medications.
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| Here I am in the morning. Not too happy at this point. |
I realized in the night, that I really wasn't getting much from the Tylenol so I decided to do without. I took my Sudafed liquid, Ibuprofen, and antibiotic. It was a ton of work. By the end of eating and rinsing with chlorhexadine and putting on lip ointment, it was over an hour later. I was still trying to work all of the kinks out of eating with a syringe. It is a lot harder than it sounds. Imagine not being able to open your jaws, you have sores at the tops of the gum line and in the very back so you can't poke back too far. In addition, you can't feel your lips at all. On top of that, there is also a splint on the roof of your mouth so your tongue has to slide further back to swallow. It is really hard. It seemed like all I did all day was eat, take medicine, and go to the bathroom. In addition, I had the fun time of each time my head would move a little, a snot blood mix would come tumbling out of my nose. I don't think I talked about that much before but because I had upper jaw surgery, they had to break into my sinus cavities. Also, during the 6 hour surgery, I had a breathing tube go through my right nostril. That means that the nostril was sore and bleed a lot. I also had discharge from the sinus cavities as they empty. Primarily, the blood was not fresh red, but maybe a shade or two darker. I have to use this saline spray fairly often so that things don't dry out.
In addition, I read that congestion can be a problem which is why I'm taking the Sudafed and Claritin and using the saline rinse. They were not kidding about the congestion. I feel like a lead weight on my chest. I also can't blow my nose at all because my sinus cavities are exposed. I think I have to wait 2 weeks. This next part is going to sound really gross so feel free to skip the bracketed part. ******************************************************************************
So because I can't blow my nose, I get these clumps of like tarry, glue-like obstructions that take residence in my nose. They start to harden if I don't get them out fast enough or don't water them enough. Somehow, I have to get these balls of glue out of my nose. Unfortunately, the way I found out about this is when one took residence up there and I didn't know until suddenly it was hard to breathe. It got really large, about the size of a small ball bearing. Now try to imagine how hard it was for me to get out. I have something that large up my nose, but I can't blow my nose. It has the consistency of a glue ball yet I'm also worried to work too hard to get it because I have exposed sinuses. It took about a half hour of work but I finally got it loose. I'm not going to share a picture because it was that bad. Also, it didn't come out in one piece.
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It sounds like I'm Darth Vader or an Emphysema patient when I breathe through my nose. I have to constantly battle the congestion. All day, I'm drinking fluids to help keep things thin up there so I can breathe. I know my family is worried about me today, because I haven't really been communicating much, but just making it through the day took everything out of me.
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| Head on profile as I am going to bed |
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| Side profile |
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