Operation day!

On my operation day, I got up early in the morning, (I was nil-by-mouth from 12am in the morning) and got ready to go.

My Dad drove me there and my boyfriend met us there.

I got to Leicester Royal Infirmary at 7.15.
We had to be there for admission at 7.30.

After we met my boyfriend, we went to the admission ward and sat and waited.

First a nurse came and saw me and after confirming my name, address, DOB etc, asked me questions about my health. She also took my blood pressure and read my temperature from my ear.

Later the anaesthetist came to see me and after confirming my name, address, DOB etc, she asked me some questions. She asked for me to explain in my own words what they are doing today. I said I am having jaw surgery, she said okay, that's fine, she also asked if it would be okay to use a suppository painkiller up my back passage.

I hesitantly agreed, then I asked if I could have numbing cream applied to my wrists as I hate needles (it should stop me from feeling the needle going in) and she said I can have it later after I have showered.
My Dad questioned this as I'm only having surgery to my face, but they said everyone has to shower with a special gel to stop the spread of MRSA.

Then a guy from the surgical team came and saw me and explained to me what they were going to do.
He said I was second in line, (eek!) and should go down about half 9.
He talked me through what they would do again and said my hip will be the most sore compared to my face. He said I'll have stitches and a scar.
He asked which hip, I didn't know so he said the right hip as the monitoring equipment is on the left so it's easier for them.

He said I should be in theatre for 2 hours and then in recovery for a few hours so should be back at my ward for 4pm.

The nurse came back about 9 and said it's time for me to shower, she asked if I had a dressing gown, I said yes, so I grabbed my dressing gown and slippers and followed her to get showered.

She supplied me with a bag for my belongings, a hospital gown, towel and showed me how to use the shower room. She said I need to use the gel all over, but I can leave my hair. She showed the shower control saying this way is for cold, and this way is for luke warm, it doesn't get hot.

I asked if I need to remove my bra, she said yes and I asked if I needed to remove my pants explaining about the suppository painkiller. She said she'd get me some paper pants.

She said once I've showered put the hospital gown on and my slippers and dressing gown.

After she'd given me the paper pants and gone, I locked the door and turned the shower on, it was cold not luke warm.
I washed myself as quickly as I could, it was a bit hard doing my back as my hair wasn't tied up. I struggled using one hand to hold my hair, and one to rub my back, then switched hands.
After I was done I dried myself off with the towel and got dressed into the hospital gown and paper pants.
I couldn't do the back of the gown up so rang the bell for help and a nurse came and tied it up for me. I put on my dressing gown, picked up my belongings and went to wait again shivering because of the cold shower.

Later the nurse came again to put the numbing cream called EMLA on my arms. She applied two patches to the top of my hands, and two on my wrists. She also put some stockings on my legs, these are to stop blood clots from developing and are similar to flight socks.

About 10 mins later they said it was time for me to go down, so my Dad, my boyfriend and I went down with the nurse to the waiting bit for the surgery.

We waited a few mins there and then a nurse came and took me away to talk to. She just asked for me to confirm my details again and whether I was ready.
I said kinda, then we went back, got my Dad and my boyfriend and I hugged them both as it was time for me to go.

They left and I went to the bit before you go into the operating theatre.
I was told to remove my slippers and dressing gown and get on the bed.

My surgeon Mr O said hello and asked how I was, he did a quick check of my teeth, he asked which hip, I said right (as advised by the guy on the team earlier).
There was a whole team around the bed, a nurse got me to lie down and loosened the ties on the back of my hospital gown.
She then attached the monitoring equipment to my chest.
The anaesthetist came and said hello then she got an assistant to remove the cream from my arms.

They then put the drip in on my left hand (it hurt! it wasn't numbed at all) and talked to me about what I do etc to try and relax me.

She asked if I was feeling sleepy, I said yes and I remember slow blinking and opening and closing one eye for a while and then I was gone.

Next thing I remember is the anaesthetist calling my name and me taking a while to gain consciousness in the recovery room.

My mouth was all wired up and I could feel I was swollen.
I also had two tubes in my nose (one in each nostril).
One went into my stomach, The other was to allow the suction pipe to get to my throat.
I wondered where my boyfriend and Dad were.

I was in recovery from about 2 - 7pm!!
All I can remember is waking up and choking on my blood and spit.
I had an oxygen mask on which kept steaming up my glasses so I left them off.
I also had a dressing on my right hip covering up my stitches.

They managed to work out that sucking the blood out straight from my stomach helped sometimes, but I also needed blood sucking from my mouth too.
I was also given a pen and paper to communicate with them when I needed to.

I had a nurse left in charge of me, but she wasn't always there.
I slept most of the time I was there in between waking up and coughing up blood.
I remember once waking up and coughing lots of blood out which I was spitting out as I didn't want to swallow it and it dripped all on my hospital gown, down my chest and settled to dry on my stomach. I was looking at other nurses around, but none of them came to help me and I felt helpless.

Later when they decided it was time to get rid of me, they came and cleaned me up. They didn't do a great job though as they didn't clean up the dry blood on my stomach.
They did give me a new gown though and cleaned up my face.

Two nurses came from my new ward and took my bed up to the ward where my anxious parents and boyfriend were waiting.

I got to spend some time with them and it was nice to see them. My mum had come to the hospital from work and they were all worried sick as I wasn't out of recovery for a long time.

The first night wasn't great.
I kept coughing up more blood from my stomach and my parents and boyfriend were worried. They kept holding me up.

The nurses later came to clean me up (after asking my parents and boyfriend to vacate the room).

I tried to tell them about the dry blood on my stomach and after a few attempts at speaking I showed them and accidentally exposed myself as the paper pants had been cut on the right side so they could take some bone and so I wasn't covered up.

Two nurses gave me a bed bath. (The younger nurse joked with me "it's like preparing for old age" as she could probably see I was embarrassed).
They took the pants off me and gave me a hospital nightie instead of a hospital gown.

Later I told the nurse I needed a wee and she asked if I wanted a bed pan or commode.
I said bed pan, she brought it back for me but I couldn't use it as I'm bladder shy so she got the commode. The commode is basically a wheelchair with a removable seat which has a hole and bed pan set in the centre.

I got helped onto it (because of my hip) and while I was on it they changed my bed sheets.

When I was done I got back into bed and my parents and boyfriend came back into the room to sit with me.

Later the nurse came to give me painkillers in my drip and when she was putting it in she could see it was causing me pain. She said it would have to be removed and a new one put in.

At 11pm my parents and boyfriend were asked to leave and they didn't want to go as they knew I hated drips etc. My Mum was reluctant to go as she was worried about me over night.

By this time I had my own sucker tool so I could suck out blood/spit buildup from my mouth myself.

They reluctantly left and my Dad and my boyfriend (they both have the week off) said they'd be in around 11 when visiting hours start.

After they went I had a nurse come and try to find a vein for a new drip, she put a new one on my right hand.

Forgot to add that during the night (before and after my parents and boyfriend left), the nurses kept checking my blood pressure and temperature regularly and I eventually got rid of the oxygen mask so I could put my glasses on and see!

I then went to sleep (or at least tried to...)

Photos my boyfriend took will follow soon..

Pre-operative assessment

I went for my pre-op to the Leiceser Royal Infirmary's (LRI) Maxillofacial department.

First I got called in for an x-ray.

When I went back to wait to be called again, my boyfriend told me another nurse had called me and that he'd told her I was having x-rays taken.

After a while I got called again and the nurse asked me questions to fill in some forms. I had my blood pressure, height and weight checked.

Then I went to speak to someone else who had the consent form for me to sign. The x-ray taken earlier was already up and he had had a chance to look at it.
He went through the risks etc with me, then he had a quick look in my mouth and took notes.

He basically told me everything I knew, my top jaw will be brought forward and lowered, a hip graft is needed to fill the gap when the jaw is lowered.
The bottom jaw will be taken back.

He also told me how they do it.
The top jaw is broken clean and once moved is fixed with metal plates and screws. A slice of bone is taken from my hip and put in.
The bottom jaw is cut in straight vertical lines at the back and then moved back.
Because of the awkwardness of the operation all done from inside my mouth, they can't use metal plates to heal it, so the only way for my bottom jaw to heal is to wire my teeth shut as soon as I'm out of the operation!

He explained that they used to do bottom jaw operations differently and that that way had a 1 in 10 chance of patients having permanent lose of feeling to the chin, cheeks, lips, tongue etc.

The way they are doing it only has a 1 in 3 chance of lose of feeling.

I asked if they will cut from the outside of my face and he said they will only cut inside the mouth so I will have no scars.

He asked if I had a preference to which hip they remove bone from.
I said I don't. He said as I am having bone taken fro my hip I won't be able to walk properly for a few days.

After that I was just asked to go to the Blood Test Centre to have blood taken before I left the hospital and I would be done.

So my boyfriend and I went to the Blood Test Centre. We saw that there was an hour wait. My boyfriend got the number (they call numbers out so we know who's next) and we got a bite to eat and waited.

After just over an hour, my number got called and I had blood taken.
After that I went back to work.

Admission date changed

Today I finally managed to confirm my pre-op which is on Mon 3rd July.

I rang for over a week trying to confirm as it says if you don't confirm your operation will get cancelled.

When I rang up the lady said since you have a pre-op where they will get all the info from you, you don't need to come in on the 13th for your admission, you can come in on the morning of the operation.
She said it'll save me from just waiting around.

I'm much happier being admitted on the morning as I think I would have worried too much staying in hospital overnight and probs wouldn't have slept very well.

She said she'll sent me a letter to confirm.

Hooks and measurements galore!

At this appointment I had a lot done.

First Mr S wanted to remove my wires, so he set about the lengthy task of trying to open my stubborn brackets.

Nicky the nurse got sent to get a water jet to help unclog my brackets.
The first jet wasn't very good and Mr S wasn't very happy with it.
So they experimented on me with a new spray which was much more powerful.
It vibrated the brackets open as it was so powerful!

He used it with warm water which felt much better then cold water.
The ony bad thing was all the spray that went on my face as it was very powerful!

Mr S asked how it felt from my point of view and whether it had caused discomfort.
I said it was fine.

Once the brackets were open, Mr S marked on the wires the gaps between the brackets and then removed the wires.
This felt weird as my false tooth is attached to my top wire so I had my gap back.

Mr S then attached hooks for my operation onto the wires he had earlier marked.

Once he'd finished that, he closed my brackets up (without the wires in) and prepared me for some molds/impressions.

I needed to have 3 sets done. Mr S said this is so the surgeon Mr O can cut them up and play around with them to figure out what the best way to move my jaw is.

After the impressions were done, he then got me to bite on a piece of wax to show my bite, then he got another piece of wax which I bit and he attached it to an appliance which measures how my jaw is held together.

It looks kinda like this.. (<< see link)

After that I rinsed and Mr S reopened my brackets to put the wires with the hooks attached back in.

He then gave me a small mirror to hold in my mouth on each side while he took photos.

Nicky then handed me a mirror and damp cloth so I could clean my face up.

Mr S then wished me well and said he's looking forward to seeing me after the operation. They also gave me an appointment for the 18th, 4 days after my operation.
Nicky said that as I'll be groggy I will always be the first one in.
She said if I'm not up to it, I can ring or get someone else to ring to cancel it.

Photos of new wiring and hooks: (click images to see close-ups)


Open bite


Closed bite


Top


Bottom


Left


Right


Hooks in detail!

Pre-op cancelled

Today while I was at work, I had an answerphone message on my mobile.

I listened to it at lunchtime and found out that it was the Maxillofacial waiiting list calling me.

I rang them back and the lady told me my pre- op appointment for tomorrow is not on as they don't hsve a clinic day on Thursdays.

She said she's changing it to the Monday and will send me a letter to confirm.

All is well!

This was the first time I went my bus to my appointment, it took nearly an hour!

My boyfriend wasn't able to take me but met me there.
Luckily he told them I was running late.

The first thing Mr S asked was if I had any problems, e.g. broken brackets etc.

He said the last thing you need at this point is anything delaying my surgery.

He set about having a look at my teeth, but had problems with the chair and tool controls, so he said to Nicky his nurse to grap a torch as he wanted to get me sorted and could cancel any other appointments.

Mr S eventually got the controls working, then changed my elastic ligatures.
(He missed a few though :o(
I still have some emerald green looking ones, oh well...)

Just when I thought I was done, he said hold on, got some lip separators out and tried to find the correct size.

After three pairs he found some small enough for my mouth, got me to hold them in position and he took photos of my teeth.

Appointment over, I'll see them in July for my hour long appointment for measurements etc. Joy!

Operation date is set!

I got my operation date through the post today.
I was a bit annoyed to receive it just 2 days before my 25th birthday, but oh well... it made me all nervous.

The admission date for my operation is Sunday July 13th at 2pm at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
The operation is scheduled on the following day.

It says on the letter:
PLEASE CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS LETTER IMMEDIATELY AS FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN THE CANCELLATION OF YOUR OPERATION.

That made me even more nervous!

It also has a date for my pre-operative assessment (June 26th 10am)

I also need to ring up on the day of my admission to confirm a bed is available!
Shouldn't they keep one for me as they know I'll be coming in? Hmm...

So I confirmed both my operation and pre-operative assessment and got that sorted.
Now i've just got to wait.

I also received my orthodontist appointment for the measurements etc needed before my operation. That's on July 3rd.