Post op Day 1

So you made it though surgery, felt great coming home and now you woke up this morning (assuming you slept) with a nasty sore throat I assume? Hopefully you didn’t but that was my experience the day after my surgery. Now granted, my pain was no where near what I had expected it to be based upon what I had read, so please do not think that this is terrible thing. It just kind of sucks no matter what but you will get through these first couple of days. (As it turns out, these are actually the easiest, go figure!)

So the first night I was home and into the first day post op, were pretty easy days for the most part. The biggest problem I had was that I had to prop myself up with so many pillows, sleeping was a real challenge. The other problem was on day 1 post op, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I was so tired from not sleeping and my pain medication was making me drowsy, I would literally dose off wherever I was about 20 minutes after I took my meds. Not a big deal, but that was the only sleep I really got during the first 48 hours. In one way that was really good because it allowed me to stay hydrated easier but on the other hand I was super grumpy and miserable without sleep. Other than that, the first day home plus the day after were actually pretty easy and not anywhere near the misery I had expected from other’s experiences.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind during the recovery process but specifically during the first few days at home:

1. Stay hydrated!! Keep drinking, all the time. If cold water does not work try it room temperature. Whatever you do, you must drink constantly! That is the key to recovering from this surgery and any slight discomfort in drinking liquids greatly outweighs the negatives of dehydration.
2. Get a cool mist humidifier and run it all the time. This won’t make your throat magically better but based upon other’s experiences it really seems to help. I used one from day 1 so I cannot honestly say what the difference would have been without it but others swear there is a difference.
3. Chew gum! This honestly helped with so many different things I am surprised Dentyne hasn’t tried to require a prescription for their “Ice” gum. Really, this gum helps keep the jaw and neck muscles moving and helps sooth the throat. I was chewing a piece the last half hour before I could take more medication.
4. Ice everything! Ice the neck, the throat, the back, or anything else. Keeping the ice packs on the neck the first few days I believed help keep the swelling down and lessened the amount of discomfort I experienced.
5. Find out about taking pain medications in smaller doses more frequently. For instance I took half of the recommended dose every 2 hours instead of the full amount every 4 hours based upon a nurse’s suggestion. That was a huge help in managing the pain as I was never in a situation where I had to stare at the clock waiting for the magic time that I could take my meds. The only downside was waking up every two hours in the middle of the night to stay on top of the pain but I would do it this way again because it really worked.

Those are not ranked in order but number 1 certainly is the most important. Everything else really helped me and I hope it helps you too.