My Sleep Apnea Surgery Experience – Discharge Day

Today is discharge day! 

This is the continuation of my account on my personal experience undergoing the sleep apnea surgery. I had earlier described what happened on surgery day, and the immediate post-surgery matters. I had to be under observation in the high dependency ward for the night. If everything went well, I would be discharged the following day.

Discharge Day Preparations – A New Day Begins

However, before that happened, I had to endure a gruelling night. The effects of anaesthesia screwed up my circadian rhythm. I couldn’t sleep, but yet I was so groggy and couldn’t keep my eyes open to watch TikTok videos. At the same time, my lower back was starting to ache after some 16 hours lying on the bed.

My first “adventure” out of my bed was when I wanted to pee. Interestingly, the nurse let me walk to the toilet by myself. I was of course more than glad to stretch my legs! I did another round of drinking water and gargling, and spent another half an hour trying to lull myself to sleep, before I got out of my bed and went to sit on the sofa in the ward.

Before the operation, I had placed some shopping items in my Lazada basket. I didn’t want to pay for them; in case I died from the surgery, I wouldn’t want the shopping money to be wasted. Well, I survived, so I deserved some retail therapy. I was planning for these stuff to be delivered while I’m on hospitalisation leave.

I spent more time between the bed and the sofa. My initial plan was to “work off” the anaesthesia as soon as I could, so that I could resume normal activities. Unfortunately, I was really knocked out by it. So I was making up for the lost time… like at 1am. I also took the chance to make sure that I could walk around without help, in preparation for my scheduled discharge. 

Post-Surgery Challenges and Discomfort

My nose was still congested so I had to breathe through my mouth. Eventually, my mouth became dry and my tongue stung from the constant stimulation from the dry air. It was like pins and needles, but on my tongue. (afternote: my tongue still hurt at Day 4 from the surgery)

Eventually I lulled myself to sleep at around 4am. And then the nurse turned out the lights at 6am.

My doctor came around to check on me, informing me that the surgery was a success. She managed my expectations with the types of pain and discomfort I would encounter in the coming days. We also fixed our next appointment for follow up. Finally, she confirmed that I could be discharged as soon as my dressing was removed.

Dressing Removal – A New Lease on Life

Following that, an ENT nurse Yasotha came to remove the dressing from my nose. She was very familiar with what she was doing! She laid out the tray table with a diaper like cloth, and then the tray for me to spit out my gargling water. The gargling cup now came with a straw for ease of use.

She told me to sit by the side of the bed and lean over the tray. Following that, she pulled out the dressing from my left nostril. Immediately, I was overwhelmed with (slight) pain, but mostly my tears just poured out uncontrollably. It also seemed like blood was also pouring out from my nose. All I could hear was Yasotha telling me to suck on the water, gargle and spit, repeatedly. As my mind cleared, so did the water I spat. While I pressed on my nose, she cleared the tray and told me the first dressing was removed successfully.

First?

There was another?!!

I wasn’t sure if I was already used to the feeling, but when the next dressing was pulled out, I could see exactly a tube of gauze the size of my middle finger dropping into the tray.

This huge ass thing – two of them – were up my nose the entire day?!

But of course, those were after thoughts. Immediately after the tampon thing dropped, the nurse pressed on my NS button again and got me into the drill of gargling and spitting till I stopped bleeding.

And yes, I could finally breathe through my nose again. After I lost my taste buds~

Crash Course on Nasal Wash

Yasotha rounded off the session by teaching me how to carry out the nasal wash (a.k.a nose douche), which I was supposed to do at least twice a day for the next 2 weeks. Most importantly, I have to do it on the morning of my next specialist appointment, so that I would have a better experience when my doctor clears my nose.

I was still reeling from the shock and joy from removing the foreign objects from my nose, when my lunch arrived. I had requested a liquid diet, but my surgeon upgraded it to a soft diet instead. So I had the luxury of fish with garlic herbs, wintermelon and vegetable soup, paired with my plain porridge. 

I’ve never appreciated the ability to breathe through my nose more. Now, drinking / eating is no longer an activity I have to do while holding my breath. I could chew on the fish while breathing. But the swallowing part was still tough. I actually preferred the wintermelon, which was chopped up and tasted stronger. I also forced myself to take some fruits to take in some needed vitamins.

It took me almost an hour to finish what I would normally complete in 5 minutes. After lunch, the nurse helped me process my discharge. After a quick change and packing of my stuff, I was well on my way out of the ward.

But there was one more order of the day – to collect my medication at the inpatient pharmacy. It took me no longer than a 10 minute wait, and I was already on my Grab back home.

First Day at Home – Settling In

The trip back home turned out to be rather strenuous. My head was heavy by the time I reached home. I used the last of my energy to unpack my medication and hospitalisation gear, took a quick shower (I hadn’t showered for 32 hours! yuck!), and plopped right to bed.

In what is now a usual state, my sleep was short. In between the short naps, I watched more reels and contemplated whether to buy the new Pixel 9 Pro XL. Finally, I got up to make my dinner – from the instant porridge that I had stocked up.

Following that, I had McDonald’s Yubari ice cream as dessert. The doctor had advised eating cold and soft food, and ice cream was the ideal choice. Satisfied, I realised I had forgotten all about my night class, and quickly logged on after missing out on a good half an hour’s lesson!

After my class, I proceeded to do my first nasal wash. Yosatha had advised that I could do my first wash the next day, but my nose was too congested and I thought I could clear it out for a good night’s sleep.

Following her instructions, I douched my nose (clumsily). As a first timer, I wasn’t sure how hard I should squeeze the bottle, how deep the nozzle should be in, and whether it was alright that water was flowing back out from the same nostril. However, I did eventually soften whatever that was clogged up in my nasal cavity, and boy was that the start of a hassle.

The goo was thick, but yet watery. They were drooling out of my nose, but since I wasn’t supposed to blow my nose nor pinch it, I tried to “pull” the goo out and of course I failed. It was liquid after all. The douche sort of activated my nose to start producing thick mucus, so no matter how hard I wiped, new goo will flow out. I took a quick shower and quickly went to bed, so that I could let the mucus flow down my throat instead.

Parting Words

It was amazing how I had survived the rollercoaster ride of a day. Just in the morning, I was wasted in bed, struggling at even the simple task of breathing. My energy regained after my dressing was removed and I could breathe normally. But as I was still recovering from the surgery, my energy bursts were short, so I still spent most of the time lying in bed. And that… was how I ended the day of my discharge.

Read on for more of my journey detailing my decision to take on the surgery, going through the surgery itself and my recovery journal.