My surgeon called me this morning to see if I needed my nose cleaned out again. It's Saturday. His office is closed. How awesome is it that he called to check on me on a Saturday and offered to come in just for me? I am so lucky to have the world's best surgeon. :-) Thankfully I do not need my nose cleaned today - it's still dripping but it's not clogging up. Yay for me!
My swelling is a little worse today. My husband's interesting comparison is that the shape of my face went from somewhat light-bulb like to moon-like. I just remembered that he made me laugh last night - really laugh - and it HURT! My face just doesn't want to stretch into a full smile or anything remotely close. I've had good spirits and have been cracking jokes left and right, but it was nice to have a real laugh work its way into my soul. Thanks for that, baby doll!
The back part of my palate is swollen and mostly numb and it feels like I need to constantly swallow. Every time I swallow the bones in the right side of my upper jaw make little clicking sounds. It's very disconcerting. Per my surgeon this is normal and will stop in a couple of weeks as the bones begin to fuse.
I ate gooooooooooood today. Aside from the act of chewing, I don't feel like I am missing out on anything yet. For lunch I had chicken tikka masala pureed with naan and chicken broth and it was delicious. I had a mini-meltdown just before I ate, though. The 2 syringes the hospital gave me were sticking and no amount of coaxing, oiling, cold water/hot water would get them to work. So, I went to the nearest Walgreens figuring they would have more syringes. No luck, Walgreens doesn't stock them and suggested a medical supply company (which was closed at the time). I resigned myself to eating with a spoon and dealing with the dirty splint but an empty condiment bottle turned up and worked out perfectly. I bought the bottle a month before surgery on the recommendation of another jaw surgery blogger. How it ended up on my kitchen counter in exactly the right place at the right time to short circuit my meltdown and allow me to eat, I will never know....but I am grateful.
Tonight we stopped by to visit our dear friends who are more family than friends, the B family. It was so good to see everyone and I can't wait until the next time when I have a bit more energy. Thanks for the well wishes and love, guys!
On the way home we stopped to get some new juice/smoothie fixins for me and chicken wings for my husband. He was so sweet and ordered a few extra so I could lick the sauce off of them. I had no intention of doing this (what kind of weirdo licks the sauce off a chicken wing????) but they smelled so good and I became that weirdo. They tasted just as good as they smelled. Then I drank my smoothie and took one last lick of the chicken wing for dessert. I suspect much more weirdness as my 3 months of no-chewing goes on.....
After dinner I did something really exciting (for someone who has been unable to properly brush their teeth for several days, anyway). I was able to open my mouth wide enough to properly clean almost all of my top teeth and floss some of my bottom teeth. This was done with the help of my husband holding a hand mirror and flashlight - it was too difficult to see anything and maneuver around by myself in such a tiny, swollen space. The entire operation took close to an hour and utilized 3 different tooth brushes, a proxabrush, a tongue scraper, a strand of superfloss, an oral syringe, a tiny oral mirror, a hand held mirror, a flashlight, a reading lamp, some toothpaste, chlorhexidine mouthwash, several very creative curse words, and a very patient husband.
Speaking of my husband....I would like to publicly thank him for all of his support. He's taken such good care of me while I recover, he knows exactly what to say/not say and when, he's my biggest cheerleader and I couldn't do this without him. ILY baby! Thanks!
I have finally added some pictures - see the link on the right nav bar for Before & After Photos, or click here:
http://jawsurgerysaga.blogspot.com/p/before-after-photos.html
I ate gooooooooooood today. Aside from the act of chewing, I don't feel like I am missing out on anything yet. For lunch I had chicken tikka masala pureed with naan and chicken broth and it was delicious. I had a mini-meltdown just before I ate, though. The 2 syringes the hospital gave me were sticking and no amount of coaxing, oiling, cold water/hot water would get them to work. So, I went to the nearest Walgreens figuring they would have more syringes. No luck, Walgreens doesn't stock them and suggested a medical supply company (which was closed at the time). I resigned myself to eating with a spoon and dealing with the dirty splint but an empty condiment bottle turned up and worked out perfectly. I bought the bottle a month before surgery on the recommendation of another jaw surgery blogger. How it ended up on my kitchen counter in exactly the right place at the right time to short circuit my meltdown and allow me to eat, I will never know....but I am grateful.
Tonight we stopped by to visit our dear friends who are more family than friends, the B family. It was so good to see everyone and I can't wait until the next time when I have a bit more energy. Thanks for the well wishes and love, guys!
On the way home we stopped to get some new juice/smoothie fixins for me and chicken wings for my husband. He was so sweet and ordered a few extra so I could lick the sauce off of them. I had no intention of doing this (what kind of weirdo licks the sauce off a chicken wing????) but they smelled so good and I became that weirdo. They tasted just as good as they smelled. Then I drank my smoothie and took one last lick of the chicken wing for dessert. I suspect much more weirdness as my 3 months of no-chewing goes on.....
After dinner I did something really exciting (for someone who has been unable to properly brush their teeth for several days, anyway). I was able to open my mouth wide enough to properly clean almost all of my top teeth and floss some of my bottom teeth. This was done with the help of my husband holding a hand mirror and flashlight - it was too difficult to see anything and maneuver around by myself in such a tiny, swollen space. The entire operation took close to an hour and utilized 3 different tooth brushes, a proxabrush, a tongue scraper, a strand of superfloss, an oral syringe, a tiny oral mirror, a hand held mirror, a flashlight, a reading lamp, some toothpaste, chlorhexidine mouthwash, several very creative curse words, and a very patient husband.
Speaking of my husband....I would like to publicly thank him for all of his support. He's taken such good care of me while I recover, he knows exactly what to say/not say and when, he's my biggest cheerleader and I couldn't do this without him. ILY baby! Thanks!
I have finally added some pictures - see the link on the right nav bar for Before & After Photos, or click here:
http://jawsurgerysaga.blogspot.com/p/before-after-photos.html
No comments:
Post a Comment