Day 16- Happy Thanksgiving!

A very happy Thanksgiving to everyone! So far today I've enjoyed the non-eating Thanksgiving traditions very much, and am very grateful that my family has headed to my grandparent's house without me. I would love to be there too, but smelling Grandma's delecious Thanksgiving dinner would NOT be cool! I will be trying some mashed potatoes and gravy later, and blending up some stuffing with gravy, and have some pumpkin ice cream for dessert!
I had my second post-op appointment yesterday, and the news was GOOD. My bite is perfect, so he asked if I wanted the rubber bands back on. I said no, and he said okay. I said "It was that easy?" He said "I have no idea what you just said, but no, you don't really need the bands right now." YAY! I also asked for confirmation on the splint removal date. If there is even the slightest chance that I'll have to have it on for Christmas, I need to begin preparing myself mentally now. He said that everything is healing well, so we're set for December 22. It'll be a very merry Christmas! I won't even want gifts, just give me food!
Still just as swollen... that has definitely stopped going down for the time being. My chin is still tingling pretty much constantly, although every few hours it stops for about 30 seconds, and that feels great. Except that I get used to the tingling and only remember it after it's stopped for a bit! I'm still drooling like crazy, especially when eating... please tell me that stops soon! All I want to do is be able to eat a meal without feeling like a toddler! It would be really nice to be able to go out and get ice cream... but I'm thinking the messy eating might have more to do with the splint than my mouth, which makes me think I still have another month of only eating in private :( Does anybody know? Anyone manage to become a skilled eater despite a splint?
I hope you all are doing well! Everyone that's able better eat some cranberry sauce for me :) Everyone that isn't I hope you're at least drinking something delecious!

Day 13

Still having trouble with the camera (DARN! I'm missing the most unphotogenic time of my life!) but here's the Halloween costume! Let's hope I can't wear it again next year!


Okay, questions- 1. How do you keep the inside of the splint clean? There's a little gap in the back of mine and I feel like it's letting in all sorts of food goo that I haven't yet figured out how to get back out. I don't like the idea of all those sorts of food being held tight against my teeth, blending to create who knows what kind of cavity-causing disaster.


2. How long does the drooling last? It's getting really old. I'm pretty much about to choose boredom over vanity and venture out into public, but I don't think I can do it while drooling like a St. Bernard.





And now, stories.


This weekend, a rubber band broke on each side. When my mom called the surgeon, he said it was no problem, he would put them back on Wednesday. I don't want them back! I've been able to open my mouth enough to use a SPOON! It's been wonderful! I'm hoping that he'll cut back the number of bands. Right now I think I have 6 on each side. It feels a little excessive. And I will have much to be thankful for if I can eat mashed potatoes on Thursday out of a spoon instead of a syringe! Maybe tears will convince him...


Speaking of tears, the innapropriate crying that I've read about is definitely in full swing. I cried when the rubber bands broke. I cried when he said he would put them back on. I cried when I couldn't find anything I wanted for lunch. I cried like 5 times watching Prince Caspian, which is not a particularly sad movie (I don't think I'll watch Titanic anytime soon...) It's a little over the top.


I had the BEST dinner last night. Zattaran's black beans and rice, blended with salsa instead of water. SO much flavor. I was so excited about it- until I saw what was on everyone else's plate. Grilled tuna steak and asparagus with sourdough bread. Last year I had a student who, when upset, would yell in one long scream, as if they weren't even seperate words, "ITSNOTFAIRITSNOTFAIRWAAAAAH!" That was what I felt like doing. Instead, I stomped off to my lonely recliner and slurped away.

Oh, and I'm working at a doctor's office right now. I took 6 weeks off, unpaid, for this. This afternoon, I got a message from the office manager that said something along the lines of "I know you have 6 weeks off, but the doctors want you to come back tomorrow. They say that you said 2 weeks was all you would need. They don't understand why it takes so long to recover from getting your wisdom teeth out. Ha."

I responded, "Tell them they're welcome to fire me." I really like my co-workers, but am not such a big fan of the job. It's very difficult working with people who, after repeated discussions of how long I will need and why, still haven't gotten it.

Day 10 and First Post-Op Appointment

Ugh. I have been SO bad about updating, I know. And unfortunately, all of my pictures have disappeared off my computer. Now, this isn't bad news for me (it's not like I really cherish this time in my life) but I know that was something that I really liked seeing with other people's stories.
The last few days have been better. I've had a little more energy and was even able to finish up a paper yesterday. The pain isn't bad unless I oversleep in the morning and miss my morning medications. I'm still not much closer to being able to close my lips, but at least they've gone down enough that I can see teeth through them! I've been doing pretty well keeping up with liquids, but horribly keeping up with calories. I'm sick of eating stuff thinned down so much that it'll fit in a syringe, but I can't eat from a spoon yet. To get it thin enough, you have to add so much water, milk, or broth that the flavor is so dull. I really, really miss flavor.
I was really, really hoping that my diet would change after my appointment today. It would have been ideal if he had said, "You're healing so well, let's take the splint out 5 weeks early! Go have a sandwich!" Needless to say, he didn't say that. I'd been hoping at least that he would loosen the bands so that I could fit a spoon in, but with the 3 pieces on top, the chance of relapse is so high he definitely can't do that yet. That was a disappointment. I know I still wouldn't be able to chew, but if I could use a spoon I could at least have ice cream instead of milkshakes with a tiny bit of ice cream vs. milk. Or anything else I blend up, blended a little less.
Despite the chance of relapse, he said that so far, the bite looks perfect. The only problem was that a few stitches on the bottom were pulling out, so I have to be really meticulous about cleaning my teeth or those will get infected. I've been super-anal about that so far, so that should be no problem, but it does make me nervous!
Life is getting pretty boring, though. And watching TV around Thanksgiving while on a liquid diet? No good. But in general, I think I've been pretty blessed so far and I hope it keeps up.

Day 7

Well, some things are getting better, some are about the same. My nose is so much clearer, which is really nice. I'm hoping I don't have to take Sudafed crushed up at all anymore, because it's disgusting crushed up and really hard to swallow because it's so small. At the same time, it's better than not being able to breathe!
The swelling seems to have stabilized. It's gone down a lot since the hospital, but now it's not going down any more.
I know I need to be eating more, but nothing sounds appetizing. Three or four times today I went up to the kitchen to grab some soup or a smoothie. But one glance at the basket of KitKats on the counter and anything I could eat suddenly seemed totally repulsive. I think the main problem is not having options. I really like food, and I like thinking occasionally during the day about what I'll eat next. Usually it's cereal. I know, it wasn't made for dinner, but it's so good! There's no fun in eating when my choices are so restricted. I think I'll ask for some little ice cream cups, like the ones Edy's makes that are a single serving in all different flavors. Then I can look forward to picking out a milkshake flavor that evening. I hope that helps, because right now every little thing exhausts me. I usually have SO much energy, so that's a big change for me. I used to be able to commute 3 hours a day, work a draining job for 9 hours, and go to school full-time online. Now all I do is schoolwork, and that's all I could possibly do in the day. It's frustrating.
I'm adding in job-hunting tomorrow, though. The commute was bad at my peak, I don't want to do it now. Plus the doctors I work for are not very understanding and will not accept that I don't have the same kind of energy. If I could find something in special education, where I really want to be, now, that would be so ideal.
I hope that everything is going well with everyone! Pictures will come soon.

Day 6

First of all, I wanted to list out the things that have been helpful to have.
At the hospital-
*LOTS of really nice, soft tissues. I didn't bring any, and went through 5 boxes of gauze, at least, before anyone could bring me any. After that, I still went through 3 big boxes of tissues. I hope that my nosebleeds were a little out of control, because I haven't heard of other people having quite that issue. Still, it never hurts- all that does hurt is having to use hospital tissues! Very rough.
*Button-up PJ's- Because when you finally get your ticket out of there, of course you don't want to be pulling a shirt on over your face
At home-
*It's a little pricey, but I would really recomend a VitaMix blender. I got it from my parents for a combination birthday/Christmas present. It is amazing. You can make anything in it. Of course, you probably aren't interested in salsa or peanut butter (but you will be!) but you can just toss in some veggies and make raw vegetable soup that is wonderful and good for you. It makes incredible smoothies, too. I know I was told no smoothies with berries because the seeds will get stuck in the splint, but this blender actually gets rid of all those as well. Pretty much everything I've eaten since surgery has been made from this thing.
*Okay, it sounds weird, but cloth diapers work really well for keeping you from drooling all over yourself. I have one tucked into my shirt all the time, and hold one underneath my mouth when I'm trying to drink something. It's weird, yes, but much better than sitting in your own spit!

Well, on to day 6. Things are going better. I was absolutely unable to take any liquid/ground up meds last night. My surgeon had told me that I was not only allowed, but encouraged to stretch my jaw as far as it will go within the rubber bands. It's just far enough to squeeze a skinny Advil tablet in there. It's really tough to swallow, but a lot better than what I had been taking. So I'm taking a lot of Advil every 6 hours, and it pretty much takes care of the pain.
The swelling is about the same since yesterday, and the bruising is starting to really come in, coming upwards from my chest, which is the opposite of what I thought would happen. My lips have almost completely peeled, and the places they split in the hospital are pretty much healed. They're still huge and not even close to closing- I really hope I can do that again before the splint comes out in 6 weeks! All in all, I feel like I'm looking a lot less terrifying, but I've still got a ways to go before I want to go out in public!
The hunger is not bad yet, maybe because I'm pretty sure I'm required to drink twice as much water as I normally do and that's keeping me full. Whatever, it works for me, because drinking is so messy and it's much worse when it's something other than water.
Hope everyone is doing well!

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.

Here we go...

12 hours from now, barring any unforseen problems, I'll be in surgery. Eek! It definitely came up quickly. I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be- most things are purchased, and what isn't my mom is going to get while I'm in the hospital. Most of the time, living at home post-college is kind of lame, but this is one time it's most definitely NOT! I won't list out what all I've bought right now, but I will make a list of what's been helpful post-op!

The final list of what will be happening tomorrow is as follows: a septoplasty, to make room for the movements made in the 3 piece Lefort 1, and a sagital split osteotomy and genioplasty on the bottom.

I am rather upset about one thing. When my friend had knee surgery this summer, we totally sent her in there geared up to meet a hot young doctor. As Kelly said, that probably won't be happening in this case!

Short term, I'm most nervous about breathing issues. I've read about people having some tough times with that, and that freaks me out. Long term, I wonder how hard it's going to be adjusting to the new look. Sure, I don't like my current profile too much, but it is me. After all these big changes, I wonder how I'll feel about it.

As for last meals... I have basically used surgery as an excuse to eat whatever I want for the last week. Last Friday a friend held an early Thanksgiving dinner for me, and since then I've pretty much been full all the time. I went out for Mongolian BBQ tonight (delecious stir-fry!) and am wrapping up my weekend of gluttony with an extremely crunchy chocolate chip cookie. And I just ate the last bite, so no more real food for 6 weeks :(



I'll leave you with a Halloween picture... who am I? Hint: I made good use of the braces


Well, the "Add Picture" option is not so much working, and I have to be at the hospital bright and early, so I guess you all will just have to wait for Halloween :)