Surgery is over, but not healed YET

Hi everyone!

I made it through the surgery, I was really knocked out the first day, but the second day I woke to find my face wrapped up in gauze like a mummy! Later in the morning they removed the pressure bandage and I got to see how big the cut was, and how swollen my face was! They had cut me from the top of my right ear,down the front, and then under and behind the ear about 3 inches, then down the back edge of the throat about half was down the neck. I understand to get at the tumor, they have to spread your skin way back to scrape the tumor off the nerves and the salivary gland it was connected to. I'm so glad I didnt see what was happening to me! :-(


I had a drain tube attached to a plastic bulb to catch the blood and fluids draining from it. I got to go home the second morning with instructions to push on the swollen area to push the blood and fluid into the tube, but it was so sore that I could not seem to push hard enough to get anything to move. I felt like a huge toothach on the whole side of my face. The swelling looked like I was going to grow another face on the side.I had to go back to their office on Friday to have the drain tube removed, and that didnt hurt much. They sniped one stitch and pulled in out. The doc who did this was not the surgeon who did the operation, but one of his associates. He told me to clean it three times a day with peroxide and put some antibiotic cream on the stitches. He had me come back after the holiday on Tuesday to check it again. I still had much swelling and nothing was said about it then.


On Tuesday I saw another associate who said that I had too much fluid building up in the site and she had to numb the area and open up a few stitches and press out more fluid to drain out. I tell you--- I cried -- she pushed so hard and she kept pushing on the sore no matter how much I begged her to stop. She then wrapped gauze completely around my face and around the back to get it around the neck area. She put gauze squares to catch any further fluid coming out and told me to come back for more of the same, from my original surgeon tomorrow. I got home and a few hours later the gauze pad was soaked and the wrappings were falling around my neck from the lack of little more tape to keep it in place. Right now I removed the soaked pad and replaced it with some gauze she had placed near my cheek and retaped it with some tape I have at home for now.

I am not looking forward to more of this happening this evening when I see the surgeon tonight at my appointment at 6 pm! I sure hope no friend of mine ever has to have a perotid tumor removed.