How am I sleeping? I can say that the first night, I was mainly knocked out. Starting the second through now, sleeping has been difficult. I would try not to take the hydrocodone, until I was tossing and turning in my bed so much, that I just got fed up with it. I am drinking less hydrocodone now, typically 10-20ml suggested, but I would try to take less than 10ml. I needed water right after I would take it because, again, gross. I've been sleeping on a regular bed, not much elevation. What's been really hard is that I am usually a side sleeper. When you have jaw surgery, you can't really sleep on your side anymore. I would try to sleep on my side by putting the ice pack on the side I wanted to sleep on, and that would help a lot. I still had the ice pack because my face still felt warm to the touch. I believe they suggest you switch to a warm compress eventually, but the ice pack still felt nice so I kept using. During the day, I spent most of my time on my massage chair that moves to a laying position, which helps a ton because it keep my head elevated. I'm starting to worry that my face my not go down in swelling so I'm doing everything I can to keep the swelling controlled.
I knew if I kept avoiding food, I would starve to the death so I try to blend a Campbell's tortilla soup to drink out of the syringe. It was pretty successful but the feeling of all of those little tiny pieces getting stuck between your teeth is really gross. Pretty much you are constantly going to the bathroom to wash out your mouth as best as possible.
It was also the first day I felt good enough to take a bath! I suggest, if you can, take a bath instead of a shower. It takes a lot of energy to stand there and raise your hands, which is crazy to say, but you barely have any energy to walk so I'm sure you can understand. I just made the bath with lavender bath salts, which is supposed to be good for relaxing your muscles. I couldn't really wash my hair yet because I didn't have enough energy but I felt much cleaner and nicer afterwards.
The pain is actually getting tolerable during the day. I pretty much forgot to take Penicillin, which is probably not good for me. I am still thinking to myself, this is crazy, why did I do this, and I want my jaw un-rubber-banded NOW! I am hoping my feelings change in a few days.
Take-Away:
1) Sleeping is difficult if you're a side-sleeper.
2) Your face is still hilarious.
3) You can lay off on the pain killer.
4) Ice pack still feels good.
5) Soup will need to be further blended.
6) Baths > Showers
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