Days 1-5

Do you count surgery as day 1, or is it day 0? Whatever, I had surgery early in the morning, so I think I get to count it as a day.
Surgery went off without a hitch, starting right on time at 8. We were there at the time we were told to be, 6:30, and the check-in wasn't even open yet! Too bad I wasn't allowed to eat- one last bagel from their cafe would have been so good!
Once we got in there, they got me all dressed and in a bed. The surgeon and anesthesiologist came by, and they put in my IV (gross!) They put something in there to relax me and I don't remember anything after that at all (I guess it really worked) I'd be interested to know how much longer I was in there, because that was a good 20 minutes before surgery was supposed to start. I'm also interested in hearing what I was doing during that time!
The next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room. I was pretty disoriented, but didn't care enough to be concerned. I don't really remember anything about that place, except that there was someone moaning a few beds over and that was pretty annoying. They moved me up to the ICU for the night, I'm not really sure why. They said it was standard if you're as swollen around the face as I was. I was doing fine with breathing until around midnight, when I woke up and my nose was gushing blood. That was pretty continuous until around 5 in the morning, and since then it's been really on and off. It's still leaking a little bet, but it doesn't gush as much.
Day 2 they moved me down to a regular floor, which was much nicer. The point of the ICU is that you get a lot more attention, but I think they were short a person. I was only checked on when I called for someone, and then I didn't get any medication for about 45 minutes, when I rang for it a few more times.
My room was really nice- it had a couch and its own bathroom, as well as a lovely view out the window of a brick wall. I'm not sure what the point of the window was.
By that night I was really stuffy from the constant nosebleeds and in a lot of pain. It turned out that the doctor in the ICU had decided not to give me my main pain medication because I have reddish hair and redheads are prone to bleeding while on this medication. So I had been taking the supplemental meds as my main meds, and nothing as a supplement. When they called my surgeon to check on that, it was a very quick conversation and I got my main meds at 6. After that the pain was much better.
The pain was better, but that night I did have a bad anxiety attack- my nose was so stuffy and my face was so swollen, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I had read about that happening, so I knew to expect it, but it's really hard to comfort yourself by saying "I knew this would happen, and nobody's died from it so far" when all you can think about is that you can't breathe.
By Friday, my fourth day in the hospital, I was going nuts! I was told I would be released by 4, and started counting the minutes around 2. That made it even harder that I didn't get released until 6!
Things have been going okay at home. My biggest problem is that it's really hard to take the pain meds. I can't take the liquid Percocet at all. I've always been totally disgusted by liquid meds. I have to hold my breath while pouring them for anyone else to keep from gagging. The first couple doses were hard, but last night I actually threw up (for the first time since surgery!)while trying to take the dose. This morning I tried again, and started gagging as soon as I looked at it (not a pleasant experience when your jaw is broken in multiple places!) They gave me huge Motrin pills as well, which my mom has been grinding up and dissolving in gingerale. But it's so big- usually about 40 mL, and it tastes like soda with chalk in it. I almost got sick the last time I took it, so I'm afraid that one isn't going to last much longer either. The pain is getting pretty bad, which makes it much harder to try to keep taking liquids like I'm supposed to. It's already 5, and I've had less than half of what I'm supposed to throughout the day. Did anyone else have the same experience or have any ideas to try? I almost want to be back in the hospital, getting nice shots of morphine in my IV rather than this horrible stuff, but I don't think that's an option.
I'm glad that the worst is over with, and praying that I never, ever have to do this again.