I've been assessing the sensation in my face since waking up in the hospital and I realize that I have a surprising amount of feeling. I thought my whole lower face was going to be numb for a long time, but once the local anesthetic wore off I noticed that I have full feeling in the lower left quarter of my face as well as the middle of my upper lip and tip of my nose. I also have partial feeling in my cheeks, nostrils, and above the corners of my mouth. The only spot that is relatively devoid of sensation is the right half of my lower lip and the section of chin underneath that; however, when I brush my finger against it I feel it tighten and tingle. That's a good sign!
I've also noticed that I find it easier to breathe through my nose now than before surgery. I asked my surgeon about this in the hospital and he said that this is one of the benefits of having upper jaw surgery. It often creates more surface area in the nose and widens the airway. I find I can smell better too! I could never rely on my sense of smell before, but now everything has a distinct smell! I thought this might just be the effect of the nasal decongestent I've been using but I haven't used any today and things are the same! There are candles in the house that I wasn't able to smell before but now the scent is very strong! This is exciting.
One more thing I've noticed that's less positive is my eyesight. Everything seems blurrier now. I've caught myself searching for my glasses only to find that they're already on my face. Maybe this is just a lingering effect of the anesthetic? Or from pain medication? I've been trying to use more regular liquid Tylenol rather than Tylenol 3 for pain management because the codeine in it makes me dizzy and drowsy. I had some yesterday before going to bed because my jaw was hurting a little more than usual but when I woke up in the middle of the night I felt extremely disoriented and I couldn't get my eyes to focus. It's like each eye was doing it's own thing and I had to stumble to the bathroom by hugging the wall. The effects wore off in a couple of hours. Maybe my eyesight will improve once all the medication leaves my body, or I'll just have to go get new glasses.
Glad to hear your feeling better from yesterday! That's amazing you can feel so much already and you seem to be ok with breathing! WOW- that bruise is killer! I hope your eyesight gets better :) :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Nikki!
DeleteYeah, I was quite surprised that I could feel that much already too. I'm not quite sure about the feeling inside my mouth yet. It's hard to tell with the splint in, but I can definitely feel my tongue (it's getting raw from sucking liquids through my teeth!), and when I rub my tongue on my palate I think I can feel that, at least the pressure from it.
About the eyesight, it's been suggested to me that it may be from dehydration. I'll have to up my water intake and see if that helps at all.
Ouchies!! Is that bruise painful? How nice it must be to breathe better! I hope I have that result too! Thanks for the daily updates!! I hope you continute to feel better quickly!
ReplyDelete-Britany
It's definitely nice to be able to breathe better! I thought I would be so stuffed up after surgery that it would take a while to breathe properly, but when I woke up in the hospital my nose was clear! Hopefully you have the same experience! I've been using lots of q-tips to remove any clots too and that helps a lot to keep things clear.
DeleteThe bruise hurts a bit when I rub it or bump my neck but it's not too painful, and I've been using a face cloth between my neck and any ice packs or heating pad to relieve the pressure from those. It looks worse than it is. :)