I think this will be more helpful for people who have surgery coming up soon or people right after surgery, rather than for those who are planning surgery. For reference, I had surgery at a university hospital.
I was admitted the day before surgery. I spent the whole day eating good food and chatting with my guardian, then the next day I joked with the person pushing the wheelchair as I went in and lay down on the operating table. While you can talk, eat, and laugh, do plenty of it haha
On the day of surgery, I barely swelled. I was connected to a blood drainage bag, an IV, and a urinary catheter. Since they put painkillers, steroids, and something else through the IV, I didn’t think it hurt at all. After the anesthesia wore off, I just slept soundly, had my blood pressure checked, and slept again. That’s what I remember.
From day 1 to day 4 after surgery, my face kept swelling up. Other than occasionally waking up at dawn with a blocked nose and not being able to fall asleep, there was nothing unusual. I really felt it was a good decision to bring a neck pillow. It was much more comfortable because it fixed my head in place. There was actually a suction device in the hospital room, but the nurses seemed too busy to manage it. I understood why, so I had no complaints and just put saline in my nose and did sinus irrigation by myself. Around day 4, the doctor in charge does suction about once a day. I heard some people have difficulty matching their bite, but in my case, about 1 year of preoperative orthodontic treatment and the surgery both went well, so there was no problem at all.
Until about day 7, if I lowered my head or moved around a little quickly, I would inevitably get a nosebleed. But the joy of being out of the hospital is greater haha There was no problem with the surgery itself. But there was an unavoidable psychological low. My face was swollen, the inside of my mouth felt tight, I wanted to eat delicious meals, and I couldn’t speak. At that time, my confidence dropped quite a bit and I felt depressed. My family supported me by going on walks with me, making me laugh, and encouraging me, so thanks to them I got through it smoothly. It was about time to slowly stop the painkillers and antibiotics prescribed by the hospital, so I had some headaches. The feeling of pressure being applied inside my mouth all day became stronger. Also, the area around my nose was swollen, so my nose was completely blocked like sinusitis, and I heard water sounds in my ears at times, but that soon passed too. I kept wearing that plate that holds the bite, whether it’s called a wafer or splint, and rubber bands.
Until about day 11, when I gargled, phlegm? nasal discharge? mixed with a lot of nosebleed came out. I gargled frequently with water, wiped frequently with a toothbrush (the toothbrush I got from the hospital was too hard and large, so I separately used a soft Curaden surgical toothbrush, a CS1006 toothbrush with a small head, and a Daiso tongue cleaner) and water, and diluted Hexamedine 1:1 with water and gargled 3 times a day. I have a Waterpik (oral irrigator) at home that connects to the sink and adjusts water pressure, and when I set the pressure low and lightly rinsed inside my mouth, it felt much fresher. The swelling started to go down a little. The double chin decreased. As the swelling went down and the nasal congestion naturally decreased, I didn’t really feel worried anymore. I could gradually sleep in a position closer to lying down. When eating, I remove one pair of rubber bands. At that time, it’s clumsy, but anyway I can speak enough for the other person to understand. I couldn’t talk much, but it was still nice that I could talk.
I’m currently on day 16. The swelling is still going down and my original face is slowly starting to show, but it’s not going down as much as I want. Do you know that meme of a dog bitten by a snake? About that much. Since it will take more than two months for a lot of the swelling to go down anyway, I’m living comfortably. They said cold compresses are almost ineffective (the effect is maybe the psychological satisfaction that you’re doing something? haha), so I didn’t do them. Everything else is fine, but maybe because of the stitches, the inside of my upper cheek feels awful when I laugh widely! But still, after laughing, I’ve become a bit numb to it now. I just tried seeing how far my mouth opens, and even with rubber bands fixed around the molars, one finger can fit in. I mostly ate New Care, but it gave me diarrhea, so I’m eating thin rice porridge with finely ground carrot, beef, and so on mixed in. For snacks, I sometimes ate pudding, Japanese-style steamed egg, or soft ice cream with no chunks.
It’s hard to judge the surgical result with a face swollen like a dumpling, and I’ll probably feel it once the swelling goes down a bit, but I like it. My family also says that if it was going to be like this, they should have had me get double-jaw surgery earlier instead of doing orthodontic treatment when I was young (thinking orthodontics would fix my protruding jaw and asymmetry). Anyway, I hope everything goes well for everyone.