I want to eat way too many things! Especially chicken, pizza, gopchang, spicy food T_T I regret not eating everything ahead of surgery. I ate two burgers the evening before surgery, the kind you have to open your mouth wide to eat (since I wouldn't be able to open wide or chew for a while...) and started fasting.
- Pre-op preparations I stopped by Daiso (boxed tissues, paper cups, paper soju cups, sauce containers, etc. / but sauce containers leaked and were inconvenient T_T paper cups solved everything. The paper soju cups were handy for gargling). Stopped by the pharmacy (cough/phlegm medicine, 2 boxes of Tripline, 2 boxes of New Vein, 2 boxes of Danggui Su-san, 2 boxes of Tylenol 500 mg, etc. / I was told Tylenol is a fast-acting dose that can be taken every 3-4 hours, and since its active ingredients differ from the hospital pain medicine, the hospital also said to take extra Tylenol. I was worried about bleeding, so I started the pharmacy medicines from day 4). Ordered from Coupang (humidifier, 2 ice packs, lip balm, bucket hat, pumpkin porridge, New Care, protein drinks, neck pillow, lumbar cushion, triangular cushion, small toothbrush, etc. / With the tightening band and a bucket hat, a disposable droplet mask was light and comfortable). Altogether it came to about 300,000 won. (Just the pharmacy alone was 100,000 won...)
- Pre-op tests They did 3 tests: blood test, chest X-ray, and electrocardiogram. I had them at a partner hospital. Exactly 100,000 won.
- Right before surgery I was told to go to the pharmacy in advance to get the medicines prescribed right before surgery. They gave me sterile water and Hexamedine gargle solution and told me to mix and use them. I got antibiotics, painkillers, and other morning/evening medicine for 7 days, plus eye ointment. That came to over 50,000 won... so expensive. There are a lot of small extra costs besides the surgery fee. Oh right, the cost of having my hair washed at the salon after surgery too!!! You have to budget about 20,000 won for that.
- After the pharmacy trip before surgery Please check your card limit carefully and prepare in advance... I had never swiped such a large amount before, so I was shaking lol...
- Fasting before surgery 8 hours fasting before surgery! No water either! Absolutely no chocolate, gum, candy, or anything like that!
- Final design consultation with the surgeon and consultation with the manager The manager explained the post-op precautions.
- General anesthesia before surgery I lay on the operating table, and the assistants checked my name, what surgery I was having, and whether I had fasted. They inserted an IV into my arm, and I said the needle was thick so it hurt. They inserted it away from the bend of the arm. They also wrapped me up and said I had to keep both arms straight like a military posture. The anesthesiologist came in, explained anesthesia aftereffects, and after confirming it was a revision surgery, checked a bunch of things. When I said I had fasted, they kept asking again whether I had really not drunk any water. I got anxious, thinking, what if I had unconsciously drunk water in the morning...? So I said, "What if I did drink water? I didn't eat, but... I'm worried, what if...?" The anesthesiologist laughed and said, "You ate it yourself, so why are you asking us?" and we all laughed lol. The mood loosened a lot. They talked to me a lot, which I think was good. Also, because I had a history of surgery at the dentist long ago, I couldn't open my mouth as wide as other people... so they checked how little I could open it. They explained that when they operate, that kind of thing doesn't usually happen, but if it were that restricted, in the worst case a tooth could break (that's all I remember T_T), and so on. They asked if I would still proceed, got my consent, and then went into anesthesia.... At that point I'd already come this far, so even though I was scared, I just thought, whatever, and agreed T_T lol.
- After surgery, aftereffects of general anesthesia I'd heard so many times that the aftereffects of general anesthesia are really hard, and I also remembered having it long ago, so even up until I lay down on the operating table I wanted to run away so badly... T_T When I woke up, I had a urinary catheter and an IV in. I'm the type who's very timid, so even if it doesn't hurt, it's hard for me to accept having something stuck in my body. Even though it didn't hurt, I couldn't move because I was afraid it would hurt. But the nausea was really hard. Every time I talked or breathed, I could smell the general anesthesia gas (I was worried because I heard some people take months for all that gas smell to leave. They say shallow breathing is bad, but I tend to breathe shallowly, so when I tried breathing deeply I actually got dizzy and gave up T_T... Fortunately, the gas smell was gone after two days). I wanted to just sleep or drink water, but they wouldn't let me sleep for 2 hours and I couldn't drink water for 4 hours. Personally, I couldn't focus on TV and it was too distracting to watch. My younger sibling was there as my guardian, and hearing them talk on speakerphone with my boyfriend after surgery, saying I came out fine and exchanging little catch-up small talk, made it feel kind of like I was eavesdropping, which actually helped me focus lol. Something I can focus on? Hmm, focusing too much is exhausting, so maybe just light small talk like a radio in the background that I can half-consciously pay attention to would be good T_T I wanted to keep my eyes closed and not move T_T The nurse told me I came out of the operating room at 3:40. I think I started remembering things around 4:20. They said I could be discharged at 5, but also said I could stay longer if I wanted. Around 4:35, when I said I wanted to go home, they removed the urinary catheter, gave me anti-nausea medicine, and said I could leave after about 10 minutes. The hospital felt so suffocating that I wanted to leave quickly too, so I came out, but I absolutely could not take public transportation. I got a taxi, and the taxi driver drove like crap, so I felt really sick. I couldn't even speak, and of course it was rush hour so everything was heavily jammed... sudden braking and sudden acceleration were truly awful. Ugh T_T Even after leaving the hospital, I was still struggling with nausea, so it felt like I was trapped inside my body. So suffocating. I think surgery is more about enduring the suffocating, uncomfortable feeling than the pain...
- Sensation right after surgery From the sensation posts I looked at, about 70% of people said there was no problem with sensation in the jaw, and about 30% said sensation was slowly coming back, but for me the right jaw and right lower lip had no sensation at all.
- After discharge after surgery Bring clothes that are easy to open, with buttons or a zipper, because it's hard to get your head through while changing. I think a zipper was more convenient than buttons. I went in wearing a buttoned knit and brought a big hoodie zip-up, but after surgery I felt so cramped and hot. Even in the changing room, since I was dizzy, I just wore underwear and threw on the hoodie, and that was perfect T_T If you have a big bag you can cram things into, that's good, because the hospital gives you a small shopping bag with the things they provide, the pharmacy medicine bag (a little bulky because of the sterile distilled water), and all the stuff you brought yourself. You don't have the mental room to organize everything one by one, so it's better to have something you can just shove things into.
- Surgery day They said to drink water only 4 hours after waking from surgery, so I finally drank water at 7:40. They said to wear the tightening band today and sleep with it on. They said to wear it for 2 days, but if it feels too suffocating, it can be taken off the next day. They said wearing it too long can affect blood circulation, so after the next day wear it for 2-3 hours and then take it off, but if it feels too suffocating, it's okay not to do it often. When I got home, changed clothes, organized the medicines, and went to drink water, it felt like gas was being released through burping as I moved around T_T That's when I understood why light movement helps.
- Evening medicine on surgery day They said if the medicine feels too hard today, I can start it tomorrow. Since it's antibiotics, I shouldn't take them on an empty stomach... right? I had bought New Care in advance, but taking it would mean gargling, which felt too cumbersome, so I thought maybe I'd take it after removing the tightening band in the morning, but I was afraid I might wake up in the middle of the night in pain, so I drank New Care and then took the medicine. Pain is the worst... I kept doing ice packs from the day of surgery. And Gemini (paid version T_T) told me to start Danggui Su-san on day 3, and that from day 1 I could take the hospital medicine together with Tripline and Banosin, so I did, but maybe because of that, there was a bit of blood in my mouth T_T Maybe not, but it felt unpleasant, so from the next day I just took the hospital medicine. I was worried that not stopping the bleeding would make recovery slower. (Banosin is an anti-inflammatory medicine, so I think it would have been okay to keep taking it.)
- Surgery day: sleeping You shouldn't sleep lying flat; you have to sleep sitting up, so prepare a lumbar cushion. A neck pillow also helped quite a bit. They said not to bend my face forward. It was much more uncomfortable than I expected, so I kept waking up. While sleeping, my throat filled up with phlegm, probably because of the airway intubation during anesthesia, and it was really hard to breathe while sleeping. I took the cough/phlegm medicine I had prepared earlier, and since there was still some left from a cold I had before, I took one sachet of the syrup version? Sinetura? and slept well.
- Day 2 after surgery I thought, Huh? It's not as swollen as I expected? Maybe because of the Tripline and Banosin I took yesterday? But every time I gargled, blood kept coming out, so I felt needlessly anxious. Everyone, just start taking it from day 3 T_T The pharmacy definitely didn't tell me exactly when to start. They just said you could take it anytime, so that's why I asked Gemini. Damn!! It said if you're worried about bleeding, start on day 3. And I only took the hospital medicine.
- Day 3 after surgery Oh, suddenly the swelling came up a lot. I knew it would be very swollen until day 3, so it should have been swollen from yesterday, but because of Tripline I feel weirdly uneasy, like maybe the bleeding was delayed and the recovery timeline got messed up too... My face felt puffy and hot. I think I'll need ice packs at dawn. I kept waking up at dawn and could really feel the heat in my face. It was too much trouble to go all the way to the freezer, and I wanted to keep sleeping, so I just slept T_T And I kept coughing while sleeping, but even taking cough medicine felt like too much trouble, so I just didn't know what to do and slept T_T But coughing seems to strain the face a bit. Green bruising started to appear on the cheeks and along the sides of the jaw, near the candy-swelling area.
- Day 3: day to go for hospital cleaning They removed the tape from my face and disinfected inside my mouth. It hurt quite a bit T_T That evening I started applying eye ointment. It's an antibiotic ointment, so from now on I just need to apply it twice a day. I can use it together with the morning and evening medicines and the bruise cream. I was planning to start Danggui Su-san from day 3, but because my swelling started later and the bleeding was slower to stop, I'm just going to wait a few more days T_T And shoes with cushioning seem better. I wore fairly comfortable cushioned flats, but even so, walking transferred impact to my face. Also, since I was told to eat a liquid diet for 1-2 weeks, New Care was a good choice, but because my lips were so swollen that my mouth wouldn't close properly, the front teeth area was getting dry. New Care is surprisingly viscous, so even after gargling well, it stuck firmly to my front teeth and formed a film. I couldn't brush, so it felt really gross. Honestly, egg custard or egg soup would have been better. I chose New Care because I was worried about eggs getting stuck in my teeth and being hard to gargle out, but I never thought the viscosity would cling to my teeth like a film T_T They said after disinfection, starting from day 3, brush with a small toothbrush without toothpaste! I went and got 20 minutes of swelling-laser treatment, where they shone infrared-like light on my face. I don't know what the mechanism is, but I guess it helps~ That's all I can think of for now~ Banosin is an anti-inflammatory medicine, so it probably would have been okay to start it from day 1. They said not to eat anything warm until day 3, because it widens blood vessels and interferes with hemostasis inside the mouth~ I ate egg custard warm to my heart's content, and Gemini only told me that too late T_T... I've come to rely a lot on the paid version of Gemini, but it only answers what I ask and often gives wrong information, so I ended up suffering for nothing. From the very first day after surgery, I couldn't open my mouth enough to even get one pill in, so I was worried T_T but by day 3 I could open enough for one finger to fit. Because of the lip swelling, the opening was narrowed too, but the weight of the swelling hanging on the jaw and cheeks made opening the jaw feel even harder.
- Day 4 Not much different from yesterday?! Whenever my head hurts a bit, I take Tylenol. The swelling is the same. Yesterday the heat was bad and it was very puffy, but the heat is definitely less now. The swelling is still puffy T_T In the evening the heat suddenly came back, so I did even more ice packs.. Actually I thought the swelling would go down sharply from day 5 onward, so if it's like this, will it really start going down tomorrow...? I wanted to take swelling medicine, but my mouth still tasted like blood and there was still blood mixed in when I gargled, so I skipped the swelling medicine again today.... I've been in Invisalign for 1 year and 6 months, and I was wearing it. You have to wear it 22 hours a day no matter what. Since I had taken it out from the time of surgery, after that my mouth was so swollen and my jaw couldn't open, so I couldn't put it back in... I was so anxious that I tried putting it in on the evening of day 4. I couldn't feel my teeth parts either, so it felt weird when putting it on, but thankfully it went in T_T I had to put it in with so much effort, and I was worried that in the morning I'd have to take it out again, eat, take medicine, gargle, and put it back in. I guess I should be thankful that it's at least possible. I had already used up all the gargle solution, so I bought one sterile distilled water and one Hexamedine and made it again.
- Day 5 Ugh, I kept coughing while sleeping again today. Should I have taken the cough medicine? But it was so cumbersome T_T The syrup is already getting tiresome too. Would it have been better if I had the pill version? I don't know. My face still has some heat, like I have a fever, and I also had a headache like a fever, so I took Tylenol as soon as I got up. The swelling seems to have gone down just a little. There is still blood mixed in my mouth T_T Why is my hemostasis so slow? Drinking liquids is annoying because of the stitches in my mouth, and taking the Invisalign out and gargling are both such a hassle. It would be so nice to have a clean meal-replacement pill that protects the stomach before taking medicine T_T The bruising below the jaw, along the double-chin line, and on both sides near the candy-swelling area started turning yellow. But there is also yellow bruising along the sternocleidomastoid line on my neck. I don't know if I just noticed it now or if it appeared suddenly. It only hurts like muscle soreness when I touch it. At night, suddenly on the left chest underarm side, I don't know whether it's an organ or where exactly it is, but when I inhaled I felt a sharp, stinging, vascular-grabbing pain. So I couldn't breathe in more and just inhaled very very gently, and the pain lasted for a minute T_T When I asked Gemini, it scared me a lot, saying the peak is 4-7 days after general anesthesia and that if a blood clot is slightly blocking a pulmonary vessel, pulmonary embolism could happen, so I should call 119 immediately T_T I hadn't heard any such warning from the hospital separately, so I guess nothing serious will happen.
- Day 6 morning I woke up safely. From around day 3, every time I swallowed saliva, the area under my jaw (the double-chin line area) hurt like muscle soreness, but it's a little better now. There's still a slight heat in the swelling, but it's not getting worse, and it seems to have gone down just a tiny bit. I saw a review saying it starts going down little by little from day 4 and then from day 5 it drops fast day by day, so maybe I'm not a swelling type after all.. If I support both sides of the candy-swelling area with my hands and open my mouth, only two fingers can barely squeeze in. If I don't support it, only one finger can still fit. Still, compared to the first day when I could barely get one pill in, it's much better. The right jaw and lip show no sign of sensation coming back. I'm scared it will never come back T_T I went out a little every day for errands. Today too, after going out and coming back home, at some point I looked in the mirror and thought, oh, I look a little bit like a person? Have I gotten used to this puffy face T_T At night the heat was almost gone and only the reduced puffiness remained. Just the heat being gone makes me feel a bit alive. It makes moving around feel worthwhile!
- Day 7!!! Tuesday I don't feel heat, only a bit of puffiness!! I went to get my mouth disinfected and swelling laser treatment. I had already told them by chat that my mouth kept bleeding, so I think the message got through well because the nurse carefully checked inside my mouth. They said the bleeding is because one side is still swollen, and that the stitches aren't wrong or anything. For some reason that side of the jaw is harder to open.. Keep applying the eye ointment through this week!
- Day 8 Even when I brush a little, if my mouth is pulled even slightly, it stings and bleeds T_T... There are 4 absolute no-touch spots inside the mouth, but only the lower left area keeps doing this... The other spots don't hurt even if I pull them a little, but here, even a slight pull makes it sting and blood comes out quickly. It's not just blood coming out normally; taking the Invisalign in and out is very, very slow and careful, so it takes a long time. That makes the mouth open a little more, and every time that happens, blood comes from the stitch area T_T Other places are fine, but only the area that was healing keeps bleeding, and even the slightest stretch makes it sting. And when I open my mouth, both jaw joints near the ears feel like they're being compressed? It hurts like pressing on a bruise. The problem is it also hurts when closing. For now, I think it's best not to irritate it. As of this morning, the hospital medicine for the week is finished, so from tonight I have no more medicine. Even though there is still blood in my mouth, starting tonight I'm beginning Tripline, New Vein, and Danggui Su-san. When opening my mouth, the area in front of one ear feels like the jaw joint? It feels so compressed that it hurts T_T
- Day 9 It feels like the swelling is plateauing a bit T_T Every morning when I wake up I feel the throbbing jaw and the numb, anesthetized feeling in my jaw and lips... tomorrow morning will be a little better, right... The jaw joint still hurts Even warm compresses hurt. Every time I brush, it feels strange because I have no sensation.
- Day 10 The stitches inside my mouth have started to bother me a little less. The bleeding is still there But the stinging is gone. But when can I sleep flat on my back again? When can I wash my hair by myself, bending forward? When can I crunch and eat kimchi? T_T It's still vague, so I guess I need to be careful. Especially chewing probably needs to be guarded for several months.
- Day 12 I went to the salon again today to have my hair washed, and every time I look in the salon mirror I sigh T_T At home I thought the swelling had gone down a lot, but in the salon mirror I realized I'm still a long way off T_T
- Day 13 Yesterday the left temporalis muscle hurt so much that when I applied warm compresses... wow, today the left jaw opens well too T_T The day after tomorrow is finally the day to go get the stitches inside my mouth removed, but when will sensation return to the right jaw and lip? ㅡㅠ..
- Day 15 The stitches inside my mouth were removed too! For the next two months I was told not to open my mouth wide. So they said not to eat things like ssam or dried squid. Now I've booked the one-month follow-up appointment and that's it. I still look pinched because of the swelling, and there is no sensation in my jaw and lips