The Big Day: Surgery!

I'm here waiting to be admitted into the hospital and I am so nervous.  My hands are sweating and I slept terrible last night.  I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't really get back to sleep.  Part of it is that I started getting hot and the rest was nerves.  The closest analogy I can come up with is like the last night before school starts.  I had to get up real early to rinse my mouth with this vile rinse that tastes terrible.  I also had to use it last night to prepare for the surgery.  In addition  to rinsing with that liquid, I had to first go to admissions where I waited for quite a while.  It reminded me a lot of going to the DMV.  No one wants to be there, yet everyone is forced to go.  There were so many people there at 5:30 am.  They even had tickets which would state which patient they were helping.

I look chipper in this picture amid the chaos in surgical admission.

My hands were sweating a little bit and I was wishing that I didn't have to do it.  I think I ended up waiting to be admitted for about an hour.  Then I had to go upstairs to the third floor to go to the surgical admissions where they had me dress into various gowns.  Surgical admissions was pure chaos.  I was supposed to be prepped for 730 am surgery but they didn't even start putting in the line for me until way past that.  I basically sat there for an hour until people started showing up close to the surgery time and then everyone came at once.  I saw the supervising anesthiologist, the nurse anestheiologist, and two resident anesthesiologists.  I also saw a fourth year surgical resident, a second year who I guess I was her case, and then the two surgeons.  The pure chaos there at the surgical admissions delayed my surgery by an hour and a half the surgeon said. 

I just remember being walked to the surgical room and just being terrified.  They knocked me out right as they were strapping me in.  Good thing I'm not claustrophobic or have a fear of being tied up.

Most of the rest is kinda hazy and my Mom had to help me with later.  Some I do remember.  I mostly remember waking up in recovery before going to my room and being hot.  I think I even asked for water but they wouldn't give me any.

I was really out of it here.  It was hard to find one with my eyes a

re open.

I don't really remember too much else. I do remember the surgeons coming in and saying they were surprised at how little swelling I had. I remember that distinctly, but it is hard to know where that happened. I thought it was in recovery while I was waiting to go to a room, but my Mom says it was not.  Eventually, someone came and got me and brought me upstairs where I spent the night.  I didn't know it at the time, but I was in the neurology wing.  One nice thing is that at this point I wasn't banded shut yet.  I wish I had taken advantage of that fact.  I was kinda coming in and out from the drugs  so most of the night is pretty blurry.  I do remember that my surgery was a 5 mm bilateral saggital split ramus ostestomy and LeFort I.  I think my Mom said that was another 5 mm.  Plus, I also had genioplasty at the same time.  I figured I was out anyways so might as well do it.  I now wish I hadn't as that added another 6 mm.  All in all, my jaw profile came forward 11 mm, and my upper jaw rotated at the back like 5 mm.  I don't remember a whole lot when he explained it but I do remember him saying that they had to cut through my sinuses and that they were rather full so a lot of congestion would be expected after the surgery.