Hey all, thought I'd give an update on how things went with FFS operation with Dr. Di Maggio.
Procedures I had done:
- Hair advancement on the sides
- Forehead reconstruction
- Rhinoplasty
- Medpor cheek implants
- Upper lip lift
- Jaw shave
- Chin reconstruction
- Tracheal shave
I guess my first observation is I went into the surgery not realizing how hard it would be. The first couple days post-op were very, very uncomfortable and miserable. Mentally, this was very difficult. Having done it alone, I will personally never let anyone I love travel to a foreign country for major surgery alone. It's simply to much. While in the recovery room, a familiar voice and warm hand would have been massively helpful. This isn't too say I received poor care, it's just a matter of handling such a huge surgery.
It's worth noting here that hospitals in the USA vs abroad are different. I knew and expected this, but it's still a little disconcerting. In most American hospitals, everything is shiny, new, spacious, high tech, and organized. In Argentina, this is not the case. Everything is a bit older, clearly worn from use, a little cramped, and there aren't high tech gizmos everywhere. This is the trade-off you make when saving so much money by having surgery internationally. In my opinion, this had no impact on the quality of the surgery, but I won't lie, I really missed the American standards.
I had some bad luck on my flight from the USA to Argentina and caught a cold. The day of my surgery I was very stuffed up, but I had no fever, so they went ahead with everything. I think my recovery has a been a little bit harder as a result (coughing up more nasty stuff and what not), but nothing disastrous.
The surgery itself went relatively very well. It took 10hrs (which Dr. DiMaggio said is one of the longest he's done). Waking up was painful. They literally wrap your body to the chair, so as they unwrapped me, my joints really hurt. In particular, the heels of my feet and my elbow joints took several days to regain normal feeling/movement. This might have been a result of being taller than average too. Anyways, after surgery I was taken back to my room. Here they removed the catheter (ouch), Dr. DiMaggio showed me the results in a mirror, then bandaged me up, put ice on my face, and I drifted off.
The next 24 hours were a kind of dark/uncomfortable/scary blur. There wasn't any dramatic amount of pain, but it was just discomfort. WiFi did not work, so I had no outside contact. The only person who I could speak to were the translators in the room. Around midnight, the first translator left and I was alone for a couple hours till the second translator came in. During this time alone, I needed to pee for the first time... due to the catheter, this hurt like crazy. It would continue to hurt to pee for the next day (lessening a little with each pee). When the second translator arrived, the TV was put on the WB (Warner Bros) channel and I suffered through some of the worst American television I know (Big Bang Theory, Two and Half Men, etc). During much of this time, I had ice packs over my eyes, that would slowly begin to leak and then roll off my face. Majority of the time I just wished there was a way to leave the ice on my face and yet still remain semi-upright in bed. It never worked.
At some point early, early in the morning I managed to change the station to the news, but then this changed to reality TV. Horrifically, one of the shows I had to sit through was "1000 Worst Ways to Die!"... why the ->-bleeped-<- would they ever allow this in hospital? I was freaking out in my mind. I also was not drinking any water or accepting ice chips, so the nurses had opened my IV drip up all the way. This meant I had to pee every 30min or less.
Anyways, around 7am the first translator returned, I forced down some tea and soup, and by 3:30pm it was time to head back to my apt. I wasn't sure if I was ready to leave, but mentally staying in the hospital is depressing. It's much better to be at the apt. Oh yeah, Dr. DiMaggio stopped by that afternoon and removed the drain from my forehead along with the plugs in my nose and then redid my bandages. None of this was painful per say, just discomforting. The only things that ever truly hurt during the recovery were my feet and the incision on my neck from the tracheal shave (sharp stinging). I had a lot of difficulty with the amount of mucous and blood dripping down my throat, but I just swallowed it all.
Back at the apartment, things got much easier. I lay in bed most of the day on my laptop. My face is SUPER swollen, but I'm told it will be get better over the next week or so. I have headaches and feel some stinging at the stitches, but nothing truly painful. I've noticed if I skip my pain meds, I can start to feel more sharp discomfort though, so I keep taking the meds. I wish I had purchased more soft foods before my surgery. The first couple days I took all my meals by straw (protein shakes, instant soup, tea). Then I moved onto pudding, jello, and yogurt. And by day 4 post op I was having pasta (real food) for the first time. I'm not at day 6 post-op and I still can't chew, but so long as just up my meal into very tiny pieces, I can mush it with my tongue and just swallow it. Fun times.
At this point it's still too soon to see the results of the surgery. Based on what I can see so far, I feel okay. Also, seeing some of the other patients here (who are further along in their recoveries), I think their results look very good, so that helps keep me optimistic. I can't wait to get healed up and head home, but unfortunately I just have to be patient. So that's it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.
