We survived the first night! Overall, things still continue to go really well. Sarah (Chris's mom) and I got to visit with him last night around 8:45 PM. He took a little longer than 3 hours in recovery and we were anxious to see him because they initially told us he would be in his room at 7:30. It was a long night! He is swollen (totally expected) but definitely coherent and looking good. He has a strong jaw line!! The surgeon requested that he talk only when absolutely necessary, so he's been writing down notes on a pad of paper to communicate. His drug-affected notes are difficult to decipher and we had to ask him to rewrite multiple words. We were laughing that we will keep the paper and one day look back at it with him and see if he can figure out what he was trying to say.
We all have learned so much in the process. He learned how to use the suction device to remove any mucous/blood that comes up after surgery. We watched him learn how to do salt rinses, which also helps with cleaning everything out. We have to coat his lips with blistex and cover his brow stitch wound with vasoline or neosporin and the wound on his nose (where the breathing tube was rubbing for 8.5 hours!) with an ointment - we can't let these areas dry or it may scar. He is relearning to swallow and it was great to see his eyes after his first sip of gingerale - his mouth and throat are dry and I'm sure it felt very soothing to have cold gingerale - he was very happy.
I left the hospital around 10:45 last night. The staff was great and called a security guard to walk me to my car. I got home safely, spent a little time unwinding with the pets, and got about 5-6 hours of patchy sleep. Sarah stayed over night with Chris and said she was able to get some sleep and woke up a few times when they came to check in on him. She had peace of mind being able to see him and make sure that he wasn't leaning his head too far to one side, which could compromise the jaw or cheek augmentation.
I got back to the hospital around 6:30 this morning. Dr. Gunson came in shortly thereafter and was able to tell Chris what happened during his surgery and answer all his questions. I am sure he had places to be and things to do, but it really feels like he gives you 100% of his attention and he's in no rush when he comes to visit. We are so grateful that we found Dr. Gunson and that he was Chris's surgeon. Chris heard some cracking sounds in his jaw this morning, for example, that he thought was a problem. Right away Dr. Gunson assured us that some air got into his face during surgery and hearing those sounds are completely normal and expected.
Dr. Gunson removed the pressure bandage around his face and we all kept talking about how his swelling isn't that terrible. Yes, it's there, and yes it will get worse (peaking sometime around day 4-6) but all things considered, he looks great. He also has minimal blood issues. Many patients need a patch taped under their nose to catch blood, but Chris said that his airway is actually not congested and fairly clear. Dr. Gunson was really happy with this result and I'm sure Chris is much more comfortable being able to breathe. Dr. Gunson thought that if he hasn't had blood in his nose by now, that it won't happen. He also thinks his congestion may be less than average, but we should continue with decongestant medicine pro-actively.
I am back at work but will keep tabs with Sarah on his progress today. They want him to get up and walk and transition him from his morphine medicine in his IV to liquid medicine. It looks like he will go home this afternoon if everything continues to go as planned. He still has many more milestones to go, but we are all so relieved that the surgery is done and we're just going to take it one day at a time.
No comments:
Post a Comment