Day 1 – In and Out

The hospital didn't have wifi. And the anaesthetic sent me to sleep quietly without the expected blaze of psychadelica. But the op was a reasonable success. My face didn't fall apart, so I haven't had my mouth wired shut. I'm already regaining feeling in most of my face; worst case scenario is that a small patch of my lower lip may be numb for life. In the words of the surgeon: "That nerve is completely encased in bone. It may be gotten frayed."

Anyway, I look awful. But there is no pain from the jaw itself. Blood occasionally gushes out of my mouth and nose, which isn't particularly pleasant. But that's starting to ease off. I can hardly speak, and am generally communicating via pen and paper.

It's pretty amazing to be able to close my mouth properly for the first time in my life. There's still a bit of misalignment: Instead for my bottom jaw being 6mm too far to the left, it's now about 2mm too far to the fight. So not perfect symmetry, but a massive improvement.

Ice packs

The worst thing I had to deal with were the side effects of the lithium that I take for something else. As usual, despite the Patient Safety Alert issued due to the NHS killing lithium patients due to general cluelessness, the junior doctors and staff nurse were generally clueless about lithium. More concern was paid to lithium and its risks by my workplace a couple of weeks ago when I went to India. And the staff nurse was so rushed off her feet that I hardly slept a wink last night due to her loudly moaning about the shifts over Christmas and New Year. Just what you need when you have a splitting headache. PALS can expect an email.

Thankfully, I've been discharged to my mother's, and am being well-cared for by the cat.

Anyway, food-wise, today was pretty good.

Ice cream for breakfast. Minced beef, mash and gravy for dinner, tomato soup for tea.