So I finally had double-flipping-jaw surgery! It was quite an adventure, and one that only people very interested in jaws will want to hear about in close detail. My friends have had whatever garbled version I could manage through very swollen lips, and I'm sure even that was TMI. Well, here comes a massive overshare! You only do this once and my surgeon (the affectionately known 'Jaw God') encouraged me to document my progress. Plus, when I figure out blogging and people actually known this blog exists, maybe just maybe it will be helpful for other brave souls embarking on their journey to a better bite.
Day 0
I had to get to the hospital for 7am, so my poor jaw supporters had to get up ridiculously early to get the cab from South West London to the hospital in Harrow. My family don't live in London, and I wasn't sure I could face any emotional outbursts (as much as I absolutely love my mum!) so three of my best friends came to hospital with me. Considering they were there for about 12 hours, this was no small ask and I'm extremely grateful!
So highlights of Day 0, before I was, you know....unconscious......
I was in the hospital, and the first they do is give you these compression socks to put on, and then they put your ID band around your wrist and ankle. The socks were prrrrretty sexy I tell you! I was feeling very nervous (obviously) but I've read so much about jaw surgery that it was really actually the anaesthetic that scared me, rather than Jaw God hacking away at my face. I've met him so many times, researched his work, spent a good while thinking about all this, and utterly trust him, so there were no doubts there. Jaw God came in to say hello and gave a brief run down of the surgery (we'd talked it over a million times by that point so there was no need for a the full brief), and took some pictures. These will be my official final before shots I guess! He was very reassuring, as ever, and told me "don't worry darling, I'm not going to sell your kidneys". Good to know! The only thing he said that freaked me out a little was the chance of needing to do a bone graft from one of my hips. He asked me to choose a hip! I chose my left one because I already have a small scar there from falling off my bike as a kid. Luckily, they didn't need to do this in the end...I remember the first thing I did when I woke up after surgery was pat each of my hips! Haha.
Then the anaesthetist came in (hereafter known as Sleepy). I'd spoken to him once on the phone and he'd been extremely nice and reassuring. He explained that anaesthetic is usually absolutely fine, and his total calm made me feel better. To be fair, I'd done that classic thing where you freak yourself out by googling medical information. Never do that. It told me that the risks of dying from anaesthetic with no other complications was 1 in 100,000. You might be surprised to know I did not find this a particularly reassuring statistic!!! This was helped slightly when my friend Alex played 'guess a number between one and 100,000' and not once did I guess his number, Good calming strategy huh! Anyway, Sleepy came in to say hello, and mentioned something about the tube they use to help you breathe during the surgery. He explained that you have to be semi-awake when they take it out, and that there is a risk of blood from the tube going into the lungs and then you can develop pneumonia! This was something I didn't know about and really frightened me, but in this poor lovely Consultant's defence, just about anything would have freaked me out at that point. He was just explaining the risks as he has to, and I'll save you the anguish and tell you now that I have no memory of them taking the tube out, and did not develop pneumonia!
There was a bit of a wait after that, so we watched TV, read magazines and generally chatted, until a nurse came in and told me it was time to get my gown on and go to theatre. It was all in quite a hurry at this point! My surgeon had had two other patients before me which he described as "minor" and "intermediate"....guess he was ready for whatever I was classed as! I got quite nervous, obviously, at this point, and my friends ended up coming down with me to the room just next to theatre. They said their fond farewells just before I went in to get my anaesthetic.
Sleepy was amazingly reassuring yet again, and in my mind took on the stature of a sort of Superhero. He said, quite proudly I thought, "and now I will give you a drug that is 100 times more powerful than morphine!!" In this went to a drip in my arm. "Ooooooh spinning" I remember saying. Then all I remember is the consultant and the nurse casually talking to me about my job for a few minutes while I awaited some kind of notorious countdown, but it never came, They did an excellent job of quite literally lulling me to sleep, and the next thing I remember is waking up!
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