Days 1-4 review of 3-contour surgery + midface lift (very detailed warning)

I wrote a diary every day after surgery, and personally it was really, really, really hard lol. I couldn't share this anywhere... so I figured I'd post it in the board that helped me a lot along the way. At first it was a first-person diary written when I was out of it and in pain, meant only for me, so there may be a lot of typos and the delivery may be a bit weak. lol I had 3-contour surgery + a midface lift (I wasn't even thinking about the lift, but it seems the surgeon recommended it after looking at my skin quality: not the kind of major lift everyone knows, but something smaller than a mini lift? Apparently many hospitals don't even do this procedure). To be honest, I do not have pain in the jaw and cheekbone areas themselves. It seems the surgeon did a good job with the surgery itself. But what I wrote in detail was the difficulty and pain outside the actual surgical sites.... Especially, my liver is not in great shape, so the side effects from general anesthesia were significant. -----<The day before surgery> I had heard in surgery reviews that everyone said it hurt, but I did not feel a huge sense of crisis, and I was only worried about how swollen I would get afterward. < Surgery day D-day 😈> The moment I entered the operating room, I suddenly got scared. I kept asking them to please make it not hurt, and my breathing got very fast. They kept saying I was trembling a lot, and because I was cold and nervous, my veins were hard to see, so the IV insertion site was changed three times in the middle... They said the vein at the second site ruptured, so the medicine would not go in. So they finally put the IV in the back of my hand, and it hurt so much. They said, 'You will fall asleep now, ma'am,' and I lost consciousness within 10 seconds. When I woke up right after the surgery was over (3 p.m.), the nurses kept calling my name very loudly, and the moment I woke up, my throat hurt terribly, like it was burning. Would this be what a burn feels like? I could not close my mouth, and because of the drainage tube and swelling, my throat hurt like it was the worst day of a cold, maybe even a bit worse than that. (I already have weak tonsils when I am run down.) My throat hurt so much that I was gargling with something like Hexamedine? but I could not spit properly and ended up swallowing it, which made my stomach queasy. And the facial pain felt like I had been assaulted, but even more than that, I felt nauseated and my stomach was turning from the general anesthesia side effects, and that made me vomit 3 times. (The nurse held a bag for me, so I used that - disinfectant-like fluid came out like a fountain.) One hour after surgery, I was completely out of it. More than my face, my arms and legs were tingling (general anesthesia side effect): if I left them alone, they felt like they would burst, I felt like blood was not flowing, they were getting hard, and it was an extreme tingling like I was about to go numb + my throat hurt + I felt like I was going to lose my mind because of the constant nausea. Because of those three things, on the first day I kept repeating to the nurse, 'Ha... this is really too hard...' Two or three hours later, my throat hurt so badly that I had to endure not drinking water for 3 to 4 hours, so I just kept vomiting and thrashing around. That was the hardest part. Even if they gave me my phone, I was in no condition to look at it, I could not use KakaoTalk, and even if I had more than 5 missed calls, I could not even check them. I could not speak, think, or do anything. Because of the anesthetic gas, I could not think normally and was so sleepy that I did not even know exactly where it hurt, but I was in so much pain that I just thrashed around. Around then I noticed the drainage tube. I had thought it was the ECG lead wire attached to my chest, and when I touched it I realized, 'Oh, it is the drainage tube.' About 4 hours later, for about 20 minutes I was again out of it with my mouth open because of the anesthetic gas, and when I came to, I was nauseated again. At 3.5 hours I asked for water, lukewarm water. Not long after drinking that, I vomited forcefully, and when they gave me an extra antibiotic injection they said I might feel nauseated, and then 5 to 10 minutes later I vomited again. Because of the nausea, I could not swallow the sticky, slightly blood-tinged saliva after surgery, so I stuck my tongue out and dabbed it on tissue to survive. So a small trash can was full in 3 hours. I asked for it to be changed, and after that they brought a bigger trash can (a long metal one). I filled that one too and was discharged. Spit it out + drink a sip of water, repeat. After 5 hours, I got up, managed to gather a little sense, and said I wanted to go to the bathroom. When I opened the pants where the urinary catheter had been placed, there was some brown disinfectant-like stain on them, and it smelled a little like menstruation? I was startled and wondered if I was on my period - but the nurse said no. She said it was disinfectant. Anyway, the pants were wet with period-like disinfectant? and there was a smell too. But I had no energy to worry about that at all. I had no awareness at all and kept gargling water and spitting in the bathroom. Because of the nausea, when I went back and forth to the bathroom I asked them to change my clothes. The nurse changed both my top and bottom for me then (they were soaked and completely ruined with water and disinfectant, a total mess) + put on sleep socks for me. After 6 hours, I still could not do anything except spit and gargle water. My whole body had no strength, my knees and such felt like they would fold on their own(?) and I felt numb and stiff, as if I were paralyzed. I even started to think, 'Is this some side effect where I get full-body paralysis?' That was scary. I kept thrashing around. My body felt hot and dizzy, and I kept thinking, is general anesthesia this hard? Do I really have to go through this? Do I even need to do this just to become prettier, after already meeting my husband and getting married? I had massive buyer's remorse and kept thinking, I really should not have done this, why did I do it, this hurts so much, this is hell, when will it stop hurting? I kept repeating those thoughts. At 7 hours, the arm and leg numbness peaked. It was bad enough that I absolutely had to walk, so I think I walked alone around the empty 5th-floor hospital wing more than 10 times. The nurses said it was scary because I was walking around too much. lol They kept asking if it might be because of low blood sugar or dehydration, giving me juice, checking my blood sugar, massaging me, and so on, but I kept walking because I felt like I could not stand it. After that, I asked them to remove the IV. After the IV was removed, the tingling went away a lot. I do not know why. At first the vein had ruptured and the medicine did not go in well, and they had put it into the inner elbow joint area and taped it with three strips, so maybe that was why. Even when I tried to lie down, I still felt like my arm was paralyzed, but after taking the antibiotics and lying down in a certain position (interlacing both hands and propping them up), I felt a bit better. Then I slept for about 2 hours. That was Part 1. (About 8 hours after surgery.) In terms of pain, this was the hardest. I had the contour surgery, but I never imagined I would lose my mind from totally unexpected pain. 9 hours later, from midnight on, I kept waking up after sleeping every 1 to 2 hours. My mouth was open while sleeping, so it was dry, and it felt painful every time I swallowed, so I cut a tissue in half, wet it with water, wrung it out, and put it between my open teeth. Man, why did I go through all this hardship? I am not even a celebrity, so why am I doing this? I felt like a celebrity who had done contour surgery deserved real respect, sympathy, and admiration. If contour surgery already hurts this much, how much would jaw surgery hurt?... But still, once the arm tingling and vomiting stopped, I could at least hold onto my sanity. I could not even think about icing. I just blanked out. My only thought was how hard this was. By then, the pressure bandage and drainage tube were so hard to bear that all I could think was, please just remove these, if only these are removed, please. I could not believe how long it felt until the doctor said they would come at 9:30. One hour felt impossibly slow. Every time I woke up, I went to the bathroom to urinate, rinsed my mouth, and prayed that they would remove the drainage tube and pressure bandage soon. < The next day, day 1 😂> The doctor quickly removed the drainage tube the next morning, and honestly the removal itself hurt less than opening me up and disinfecting the area, which hurt more. They said everything looked clean. Then I ate pumpkin porridge and prepared to leave. I felt much better than expected. But after coming home, I started to feel heat and tenderness all over my face, with pain similar to a toothache. Still, it did not feel like bone pain itself so much as the kind of pain that naturally follows surgery. But it was bad enough that I had to keep using ice packs, and I had headaches, feverish heat, tenderness, and dizziness. Even after coming home, I could barely talk to my husband and felt terrible. (Even though we were together, we probably barely exchanged 10 words all day.) I kept waking up every 2 hours at dawn too, doing ice packs and oral disinfection. It felt like a rotten tooth and all the nerves were rotting inside my mouth along with the heat, which was awful. I kept walking around while icing. This whole review was also written on day 1. On day 1, I only felt okay for a brief moment in the evening; otherwise, I had no energy or clarity to do anything that day. < Day 2 after surgery 😩> In the end, while I was sleeping, around 4 a.m. I had severe pain, so on an empty stomach I cut an antibiotic tablet in half and took it with Torreta, and that seems to have caused a problem. In the morning my stomach was all turned upside down and I almost vomited (I barely managed to endure it with ice). So I ordered rice porridge, and I felt alive again. Carbs are the best. I added a little soy sauce and ate it together. Then I took my medicine and slept again. When I woke up, I ate beef-and-vegetable porridge with beaten egg, half of it. After eating that, I also ate some Together ice cream. I felt somewhat better. Once the nausea went away, my mouth kept opening, so when I slept at home I used anti-snoring tape (a disposable tape I bought at Don Quijote in Japan to keep my mouth from opening). Using that made it so that sleeping with my mouth open hurt my throat less (I still could not fully close it because of swelling). I kept eating and getting sleepy, repeating the cycle. Then in the evening I got hungry again and ate beef-and-vegetable porridge. But unlike before, it felt like something was stuck, so I stopped and ate plain rice porridge instead. But I still could not eat much, and after taking antibiotics, about an hour later while sitting and watching TV, the nausea came back (I had felt the plain porridge tasted a little bland). Again I held ice in my mouth and endured it while sitting there, telling myself, please do not vomit. Then around 11 to 12 p.m., I suddenly craved egg soup, so I made egg soup with tuna fish sauce broth. The salty taste made it tasty. I added a lot of water. Still, after eating a bit, I got tired of it. So I tried to make porridge, but when I put the eggs into the blender, white foam came out, and when I tasted it, the nausea came back, so I threw it away and drank watermelon juice instead. Fruit juice is the best... it stimulates my appetite and helps the medicine go down well. After that I took all of the antibiotics at once. Then I did about 30 minutes of cold compresses on my face + walked around the house. Thirty minutes later I lay down. While sleeping, I choked on saliva and coughed more than 10 times. It still felt like it was not coming out easily. Then I slept longer than yesterday. I woke up every 2 to 3 hours, did gargling and cold compresses like the day before, and slept again. < Day 3 after surgery 💛 - The day I start feeling human again> In the morning I had kale and green grape juice and pumpkin soup, and took my antibiotics and other medicine. I started to feel alive again. Fruit juice is the best for me. Green grape juice was the best. It was refreshing, and because I could actually eat something well, I had far less of the antibiotic side effects and nausea, so my condition felt much better. The heat and tenderness were still there a bit, but much improved. After eating, I walked around the house a bit, did ice packs, and washed my hair with waterless shampoo from Depend. But maybe I did not wash it well, because it is still a bit greasy. I started to feel much better. Most of the lower jaw swelling and lower lip swelling had gone down. But the swelling reduction could be seen in real time. All through days 1 to 3, the pressure dressing itself was so intense that the lymph nodes underneath swelled up and hurt terribly, so I did the pulling-down massage strongly but only in intervals, and loosened it from time to time. I did this for about 4 to 5 hours a day when it hurt, including while sleeping, eating, and walking...? Not too much. Still, I did not swell up too badly. Then I ate lunch and took a nap. Since my mouth always opened while napping, I put on the anti-snoring tape I bought in Japan. It is a great item. Sleeping with my mouth open hurts my throat too much. My biggest pain even now seems to be my throat. And now that I was feeling better, I started talking to my husband and even practicing speaking for lectures. After napping and waking up, I did more cold compresses, and by then about 72 hours had passed since surgery (current time is 14:42, and I woke up from surgery at 15:00). It does not seem like there is much new pain left now, which is such a relief. At the same time, my appetite exploded!!! At first, I was not even interested when my husband sat next to me eating fried chicken or whatever; I only felt pain and had no appetite, which was strange. But now I do. On days 1 and 2, I did not even have the mental energy to write anything, and even when I tried to write this, I would put it down because of headache, dizziness, or fever. But now I feel okay lol. It is amazing how everyone seems to start feeling better at the 72-hour mark. I suffered terribly from general anesthesia and had severe side effects, but it really does seem like once you pass the cursed 72 hours, you are fine. That feels amazing. My husband says the swelling seems to have gone down a lot. I can see it too, and it is not that swollen anymore. He said my cheeks look like hamster cheeks and that they are cute; thankfully. Now I am craving pho, so I am planning to order some. Originally I was so busy being in pain that I did not even have time to think about other work schedules or anything like that, but now that I feel okay, work worries are starting to pile up...! It is kind of interesting to watch the swelling go down day by day. After ordering pho and feeling better, I took my medicine and worked a bit, but the medicine made me sleepy again, so I slept for about 2 hours and woke up. Around 9 to 10 p.m. I ate crispy nurungji and steamed egg again. But some of it got stuck in my teeth, so I rinsed my mouth with my fingers. My mouth is still very swollen. I think I had about 4 to 5 packs of pumpkin juice today. Around 11 p.m. I took my medicine and also took Triplane again as always, did cold compresses, and called the hospital to ask whether I could remove the cheek stitches and bandages tomorrow and wash my face and hair. Around 11:30 p.m. my condition improved. Then when it became 12, the medicine made me sleepy again... That night I coughed continuously about 20 times. I think it was because I lay down. So I sat up more and went back to sleep. I slept well. Even when I open my mouth, my throat does not hurt that much now. Now, <Day 4 - hospital: bandage removal + intraoral disinfection + hair washing + swelling laser> 😮‍💨 Being cared for at the hospital makes me feel a bit better, but now they removed all the tight stuff around the lower jaw, and because I had midface lifting too, they put several new layers of tape back on the center of my face They scolded me for having too much food residue in my mouth. I want the swelling inside my mouth to go down quickly, but how am I supposed to gargle properly? My mouth is so swollen it is really hard. Now the swelling has moved downward like someone who just had wisdom teeth removed. The contour surgery side effects make me look like someone whose salivary glands are swollen, lol. And yesterday the swelling lump that had been in the center of my throat has now moved down to the middle of my clavicles. I am still trying to do gentle lymphatic drainage massage. I started doing everything people say helps except facial massage from last night: loosening the shoulders, loosening the armpits, massaging hands and feet, and so on. I came back on the subway while walking hard to reduce swelling, and as soon as I got home I had pumpkin juice + Pocari + steamed pudding egg custard + one more pumpkin juice + antibiotics + painkillers + stomach protector + Renopti collagen + Triplane, and swelling medicine, then went to the bathroom. The residue from removing the sticker under my chin was so sticky that I gently rubbed it off with soap. After doing all that I was wiped out I also slept at 3 a.m. yesterday but had been up since 8 a.m., so it felt like I had been running without resting at all...? Looking in the mirror is so exhausting, and because I cannot brush properly, I get a toothache-like feeling, like pain from cavities after sweets, while my face looks like someone whose salivary glands are swollen and who is having contour side effects, so I feel down. What exactly did I do this for...? I am not going to become a celebrity now or anything... Still, looking at the line, I feel like I may have an idol-like bone structure, something like Go Youn-jung or Karina...? My face will probably get smaller. Still, I am not sure yet... It is so hard and I still do not know whether I see the effect, lol. I found some stability by asking Gemini how I should reduce swelling. I have basically become close friends with Gemini. I keep asking Google follow-up questions too lol. I am trying to get praise. But this seems to help a lot... It helps me stay mentally strong while reducing swelling, and it is good that I am doing well! Hearing that kind of thing gives me strength too... For now, this is my review up to the afternoon of day 4, while working with the pulling-down tape + ice roller and trying to endure sleepiness. I do not know what will happen when the medicine kicks in again tonight, but this is where I am for now...