The reason I decided to have surgery Since the upper grades of elementary school, my lower jaw looked more protruded than my upper jaw. I went to a dental clinic, but they said it was not a case where jaw orthodontic treatment would make my jaw go in, so I did not get braces, but I lived constantly worrying about my jaw Even after becoming an adult, I still had a complex about my jaw, but double-jaw surgery is a major surgery, so I was very scared, and I needed time for the recovery period, so I kept putting it off. Then I felt that if I delayed it any longer, I would never be able to do it in my life, so I went for hospital consultations. From the time I started looking for hospitals, I only considered oral and maxillofacial surgery departments.
So I had double-jaw surgery and two contouring procedures, square jaw and chin, at Y Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery!
Day 1 After arriving at the hospital, I was shown to my room, changed clothes, signed the surgical consent form, tried fitting the wafer, and heard the director’s explanation about how the surgery would proceed. Before surgery, I started getting scared, thinking, what if I don’t wake up,, haha After waiting a bit, I went in for surgery, lay on the operating table, got an IV placed, and had an oxygen mask put over my mouth. After that memory, I immediately heard someone waking me up, so I got up and moved to the hospital room. There were many things attached to my face, breathing was uncomfortable, and they said I had to swallow nasal discharge, blood, phlegm, and so on. Every time I swallowed, it felt like the tube inserted in my nose was hitting my throat, so it was hard They said I shouldn’t fall asleep because I needed to get the anesthetic gas out, but rather than feeling sleepy, I kept waiting for the time when they could give me water, thinking maybe breathing would get a little better if I drank water! When it was time to drink water, the nurse brought me water, but I couldn’t drink it Because of the tube and wafer in my mouth, I didn’t know how to swallow the water and couldn’t swallow Maybe thanks to the pain-control injection, I had no facial pain, so only the wrist with the IV hurt lol When they first gave me antibiotics and other medicine through the IV, they said I might feel nauseous, and really, strangely, I suddenly smelled something and felt like I was going to throw up badly, so I retched. It was so hard then that I asked the nurse to suction me and all that
Day 2 In the morning, the nurse came and removed the urinary catheter and nasal tube, so just being able to walk to the bathroom made me so happy I had swelling laser treatment, the director removed the drain, and they told me to practice fitting the upper and lower jaw wafer! I tried practicing drinking water, but even using a sauce bottle was hard for me I couldn’t even open the New Care they gave me I walked back and forth inside the room, watched some Netflix, and in the evening walked around the hospital a bit too! More than the stuffy nose being uncomfortable, because I was breathing through my mouth, I drooled so much that it was uncomfortable I heard the night nurse explain post-discharge care and received the discharge kit.
Day 3 I got swelling laser treatment, they put in the last medicine through the IV, and removed the IV needle. My wrist had really hurt.. I felt worried but also relieved, thinking, finally discharge..! haha The director checked whether I was biting the wafer correctly and said now it would be a fight against swelling haha I got my medicine, took a taxi home, and showered, and it felt so refreshing. Because I had to take medicine, I tried putting about 40 ml of New Care in a sauce bottle and drinking it, but I spilled all of that too, and swallowing was so hard, so my mom helped by squeezing it straight into my throat For the medicine too, my mom put in one pill and squeezed water from the sauce bottle, and it was just a series of pain Once I got home, I realized being in the hospital had been comfortable..
Days 4-5 Sleeping sitting up was pretty doable except that I was bothered by drooling. When I woke up, I was swollen to the point that there was barely enough space left to breathe, so I really felt like I wouldn’t be able to swallow water or New Care. My face was sticking out beyond the compression band to that extent As soon as I woke up, I got dressed and went out for a walk to reduce swelling. Taking New Care and medicine was such hell for me!
Days 6-8 Yellow bruises started appearing on both sides of my lips! Even when I drank as much New Care as possible, it was about three packs..? and I really felt my stamina had dropped a lot With dizziness I had never experienced before, even when I went out for a walk, I came back home after 30 minutes
Day 9 I went to the hospital for my first appointment after surgery! The subway was okay, but when the bus jolted, it gave my jaw a bit of a shock I got swelling laser treatment and they disinfected the area, and the stitches on the upper lip side really hurt~ Still, they said I could now remove the wafer to eat and even brush my teeth, so I was so happy After removing the wafer and drinking water from a cup, I could gulp down water refreshingly, and that made me happy While brushing with the small-headed toothbrush I had bought, I checked for the first time where the stitches were, so I realized I had to be careful. I bled the first time I brushed
Days 10-19 The bruising disappeared in about a week? And I became able to eat human-like food such as soft tofu, steamed egg, completely blended porridge, soup, sweet potato latte, strawberry-banana milk, and so on It’s not that New Care tasted bad, but I didn’t realize eating something with a spoon could make me this happy,, Since I still had stitches, I didn’t eat anything red or oily. I’m waiting for time to pass quickly so the day comes when I can eat foods I can chew haha I also finished all 10 days’ worth of medicine, and being able to have dairy products feels so good!! As for swelling, I don’t know if it’s a plateau or because the kinds of food I can eat have increased, but it’s going down slowly.. Still, now when I speak, I can pronounce words so others can understand, and I can sleep for a long time, so I’m happy! For the first week after surgery, taking medicine was so hard and I was so dizzy that I regretted the surgery, but time is medicine! It’s amazing that I get better day by day haha Thinking that I’ll keep improving, I hope time passes quickly~~
Day 20 It was my second hospital visit after surgery~! Since I was going to Seoul to have the stitches removed, my energy had recovered enough that I could shop and go to the hospital too! After swelling laser treatment, while waiting briefly, I was scared to have the stitches removed, but maybe because I was expecting the swelling to go down faster~? it was bearable! Since I still had the wafer in my mouth, I couldn’t help drooling a bit
Days 21-28 After removing the stitches, the swelling in my lower lip went down right away! Since there were no stitches, the best part was being able to eat spicy foods like soft tofu stew and cut-up ramen~
Day 29 My third hospital visit after surgery! It was the day to attach braces. The joy of being able to live without the wafer and the worry of starting orthodontic treatment came at the same time I was grateful that they explained in detail how to brush with braces and which foods to be careful with haha
For food, I’m still eating things I can mash with my tongue and swallow like before, and I’m practicing chewing with soft foods! It has only just been one month, but thinking that things will only get better from here makes it bearable to hold back from foods I want to eat! I want my mouth to open wider soon so I can eat with a big spoon haha Thank you for reading this long review!