DIET FOR FIRST FEW DAYS:
- The colder it is, the better it feels
- No acidic foods like tomato, orange, lemon (It's OK if it's orange jello or something, because it's not acidic, but you don't want tomato soup or tomato sauces)
- I'm lactose intolerant so dairy products are missing from my list, unless they contain active cultures. In general, dairy products can create more mucus, so don't overdo them in the first couple of days
- Gatorade to drink plain or to use in a Gatorade slushie. Recipe for blender:
2.5 Cups of ice cubes
2.5 Cups of gatorade
1 Cups of sugar
(so far this Gatorade slushie makes my throat feel better than almost anything else, besides obviously the pain medication) - Popsicles
- Ingredients to make smoothies
- Drinkable yogurts (but I didn't try these in the first few days because of the mucous issue)
- Boost (high protein drink)--even though nondairy, it does seem to make too much mucous, in the first few days especially, but it's a great source of protein
- yogurt in tube like Gogurt (freeze it and eat frozen, if you like, or just refrigerated)
- applesauce or pudding for putting crushed pills in
- Frozen yogurt, sorbet, or ice cream (again, limit dairy first few days). Chocolate seems to sting more.
- Jello (no chunks of fruit in it, ideally not red if you're concerned about vomiting as red Jello and blood look the same)
- Nonacidic juices, such as apple juice (not lemonade, orange juice, etc.). Berry smoothies, even though I thought they would not be acidic, hurt.
- Soup broth at only lukewarm temperature. Soup that is slightly thicker than broth is OK, if there are no chunks (In the organic section, I found boxes of soup by Imagine, such as creamy potato & leek soup, etc. Despite the title "creamy", they are nondairy. They are more substantive than some of the other things you're eating, but so far at 36 hours post-op, they don't feel as good on my throat as the icy things, but they are tolerable and more filling)
- Thin mashed potatoes, but not too salty
- overly-cooked, soft pasta
- scrambled eggs
- oatmeal
- pureed foods
- Matzah ball soup (not hot)
- mashed avocado
- Chicken noodle soup (not hot)
- Humidifier--this is imperative
- good pill crusher (I got one at CVS)
- a cloth-encased gel icepack to put on your face (the soft ones that are malleable, often made for kids. Ideally 2, so one can be frozen while you're using the other)
- saline sprays (in squeeze bottle, not aerosal) for septoplasty
- Have Afrin on hand in case you start bleeding more than the usual drainage, but otherwise the advice I got is not to use it
- gauze to tape under your nose to catch drips/blood and tape to tape it on
- Method of measuring liquid medicines like little plastic measuring caps that they can give you at the pharmacy
- Salt for making salt water rinses for throat
- Take to the hospital an eye mask like used to block light (see below under advice for why)
- Good OTC eyedrops and bring it to the hospital too--(see below)
- If you can't sleep in a noisy environment, bring a noise machine to the hospital
- Put all your medicines in a little crate/box with a sheet saying what you are supposed to take when. Whoever is helping you will also need to write down when you took what, as it can get confusing (I'm taking pain medication, liquid Tylenol in addition, steroid pack (pills that have to be crushed), and liquid antibiotics, in addition to meds that I have to keep taking routinely)
- I asked my doc for all my Rxs ahead of time, and filled them in advance, so my husband wouldn't have to leave to go get them. Lesson learned: Any liquids that have to be mixed at the pharmacy may not keep for a long time. For example, my antibiotic only lasts 10 days after it's mixed, and I need to take it for 7 days, so I couldn't get it as much in advance as I wanted. Ask them at the pharmacy how long it will last.
- In the hospital, the first nurse didn't tell the night nurse that I need crushed pills in applesauce. So the night nurse put a whole pill in the applesauce. By the time I discovered this in my mouth, I had no choice but to chew the pill. Blech. So make sure every shift knows what you want/need.
- Bring any medicines you've filled to the hospital. I specifically wanted Nucynta for pain, and not the usual Percoset, which tends to make me nauseous. I almost didn't bring it along because they should have it there, but they didn't have it in their pharmacy.
- One thing that I found surprising is that they took all of my medicines and brought it all down to the pharmacy to be checked in (or checked out?) there. Well, it took awhile to get it back from the pharmacy, so I was delayed in some of my meds. Still, I'd advise bringing what you need, just in case.
- They had a mask that could be hooked to a tube providing humidified oxygen. It really felt good to have the humidified air, but it is not a close fitting mask (nor should it be if you had nasal surgery) and my eyes were so dry due to the air blowing in it. I would have loved to have had that eye mask instead of having to wet 4x4 gauze pads over my eyes.
- Regarding the eye drops: I was putting drops in my eyes constantly due to dry eyes from the oxygen and because the scapolomine patch made my mouth and eyes so dry.
- The nurse put an oximeter on my index finger, and I tried to encourage her to move the cord off the top of my knuckle, because it hurts me there. She told me she's been doing this 15 years (so obviously she knows more than I do). The RT came in and moved it to my toe and it worked just fine and didn't bug me. I kept it on my toe, but just unplugged it for my hourly trips to the bathroom.
- Nights and the next morning tend to be the worst pain so far. If you're not at your maximum pain dosage, you may need it during the night, so have it handy.
- I ground up my medicine that I would need during the night ahead of time, put some applesauce in a container with an icepack, added a spoon, and left all this in my room with ice packs to keep the applesauce chilled so I wouldn't have to stumble around the house at night looking for things and possibly measuring the medication incorrectly.
- I put the soft ice packs in a insulated lunch bag with ice packs to keep them chilled, and also kept this in my room. I would often grab my "iron man" soft ice pack and put it on my ear/jaw and sleep on it. I actually asked my doctor ahead of time if I needed ice packs for my face, and she said no, it won't help. Incorrect.
- Do not abandon pain medicine too soon, especially at night.
- The most important things from the above list for pain control/comfort are: Pain medications (taken round the clock initially), Gatorade Slushie, soft ice packs for the face, humidifier, and salt water gargles.
