The question I get asked the most is how did I feel after surgery? I did wake up in the recovery room after surgery finished. I basically opened my eyes, saw the nurses talking to me trying to wake me up, and then immediately closed my eyes and fell back asleep. I do not remember anything else from that moment.
The second time I woke up was when they wheeled me into my hospital room. I felt like I had been hit by a train, a bus, a dump truck, beat over the head with a baseball bat and run over by a car. In other words, I felt awful. At the time, I pretty much thought I was "all there" mentally. However, I didn't realize until the next day that I had a catheter in me (something new to me), that my eyes were not closing all the way, and that I had my jaw wired. I was awake but completely "out of it" mentally. I thought at the time that I was fine, but it wasn't until later that I realized that even my vision was very fuzzy and blurry.
I do remember that my entire head hurt. Yes, it was painful. However, I did not ask for any more pain medication. I just didn't think of it to ask. I was so out of it and not thinking clearly. That night was awful. There was a light on above my bed and I wanted it to turn off, but didn't think to do it myself, or to ask someone to do it. I was awake most of the night because I was in so much pain. It wasn't that my jaw in specific was hurting me. It was more like my entire head was throbbing. I felt sick from all the anesthesia. I just felt sick overall. It may not be that I was physically in that much pain, it was just the way my entire body was feeling from having been through surgery.That was the worst night and the worst pain. From then on, the pain got less each and every day. The pain is no worse than a bad day prior to surgery. In fact, you've probably experienced more pain at some point than you will feel after surgery.
The next day, I felt much better. I was able to get up and move around and go the bathroom after they removed the catheter. That day, my whole entire head stopped throbbing. The pain began to localize more around the jaw area and become more of the pain I had been used to. How much pain was I in? It was similar to the pain I was used to experiencing on my bad days. It wasn't any worse than that.
My final thoughts..... If you can get through that first night after surgery, you'll be okay!
The second time I woke up was when they wheeled me into my hospital room. I felt like I had been hit by a train, a bus, a dump truck, beat over the head with a baseball bat and run over by a car. In other words, I felt awful. At the time, I pretty much thought I was "all there" mentally. However, I didn't realize until the next day that I had a catheter in me (something new to me), that my eyes were not closing all the way, and that I had my jaw wired. I was awake but completely "out of it" mentally. I thought at the time that I was fine, but it wasn't until later that I realized that even my vision was very fuzzy and blurry.
I do remember that my entire head hurt. Yes, it was painful. However, I did not ask for any more pain medication. I just didn't think of it to ask. I was so out of it and not thinking clearly. That night was awful. There was a light on above my bed and I wanted it to turn off, but didn't think to do it myself, or to ask someone to do it. I was awake most of the night because I was in so much pain. It wasn't that my jaw in specific was hurting me. It was more like my entire head was throbbing. I felt sick from all the anesthesia. I just felt sick overall. It may not be that I was physically in that much pain, it was just the way my entire body was feeling from having been through surgery.That was the worst night and the worst pain. From then on, the pain got less each and every day. The pain is no worse than a bad day prior to surgery. In fact, you've probably experienced more pain at some point than you will feel after surgery.
The next day, I felt much better. I was able to get up and move around and go the bathroom after they removed the catheter. That day, my whole entire head stopped throbbing. The pain began to localize more around the jaw area and become more of the pain I had been used to. How much pain was I in? It was similar to the pain I was used to experiencing on my bad days. It wasn't any worse than that.
My final thoughts..... If you can get through that first night after surgery, you'll be okay!