Eating wasn't on the agenda either. Good thing I had that big brunch, not because I was nauseated after surgery, but because the head wrap kept my mouth closed. The compression bandage was supposed to keep my ears stitched to my head in one position, and effectively kept me from opening my mouth more than about an inch. I could talk, but it came out a mumble. (Most face tightening requires that the ears are almost cut out, and then stitched back in place once excess skin is pulled up and cut off. There will be a small scar that outlines the ear from front to back. I only hope my freckles hid it.)
I didn't have any pain at all the first night, and slept well. The very next morning, bright and early, we were back at the surgeon's office for a post-op check. I was a little amused that they had us come in through the back door; no mummy wrapped bloody patients at the main entrance, please. My stomach was a little unsettled, and while I waited for the surgeon to get his supplies I kept a trash can handy. As soon as the doc dropped the back of the chair and I laid back, the nausea stopped. He removed the head wrap, cleaned everything , applied some ointment, and re-wrapped my head. Still no pain, though the stitches in my eyelids were poking me every time I blinked. He sent me home with an appointment to return in one week to have stitches removed. That seemed an awfully long time in the future.
The first full day wasn't horrible, but I was glad to have the pain pills at the ready. It seemed that I was comfortable for the first hour after I took pain meds, the second hour I began to realize that I was achy, the third hour I was irritable and by the fourth hour my husband was wishing he were somewhere else. We worked out a system where he handed me a pain pill and a glass of water every three and a half hours, and that helped.
It wasn't so much that I was in a great deal of pain, but that things were starting to itch. I was applying an eye lubricant every hour or so to keep the eye sutures soft and moist. I used up the original small tube pretty quickly and DH had to pick up a second tube at the drugstore that night. I was alternating frozen corn with frozen peas on my face, and the eye swelling had diminished enough for me to focus, so I could check my email, but any more reading than that was tiring. Watching TV was tiring, too, so after one TV show I gave that up and opted for dozing. I was starting to look like I had been run over; the bruising from my eyes was draining into my face.
The big issue was my chin, where the incisions were made for the liposuction; there was a four inch strip under my chin that itched and ached. Moving my mouth made it worse, so eating was problematic. But by mid day I was hungry! My husband is an excellent baker, and made fresh rolls for me to eat. I had to tear them into tiny pieces to fit into the little opening of my mouth and then mash them up; chewing was kept to a minimum. By evening my ears were aching, too, and I was counting minutes to the next pain pill.
I wanted to tear off the compression bandage and scratch everywhere! I wanted a shower, I wanted to comb my hair, and I wanted to rub my itching ears. But the bandage is supposed to stay put for 48 hours, and I'm a compliant patient. Sleeping the second night was much harder than the first; I'd doze, then wake and ice my face, then doze, then get up and put lubricant in my eyes. And try not to scratch.
Post Op ride home
24 hours Post OpMy big plans for Day 3; take a shower!
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