Day 5

Hello again,

I wanted to try and write a little today since I haven't had a chance to really write about my experience so far. Today is technically day 5 (if surgery day was day 1), so I should be through the worst of it all.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, I went to the hospital with Jeff and my parents. They immediately took me back to start prepping me for surgery by getting my blood pressure, temp, hooking me up to fluids, and all that good stuff. Then they let Jeff and my parents come back and keep me company while I waited for the anesthesiologist to come give me the good stuff. :) I was extremely calm somehow throughout the night and that morning...I think denial is a very good coping mechanism sometimes. :) Then I remember being in a room getting some drugs to calm me down...and then I woke up in recovery. Just the way I had hoped it would be. My surgery lasted approximately 2 hours, and everything was said to have gone as planned.

I do remember being uncomfortable in the recovery room, where I think I stayed for about 3 hours. I remember the nurse kept trying to wake me up and was saying my name wrong and it was making me mad. Then she'd go help someone else and I'd call (or rather, moan) because I didn't want to be alone. At some point, they moved me into my own private room and I remember people coming in and out and telling me everything went well. My wonderful friend Eboni came to see me at the hospital and brought me flowers and a card, and I feel horrible that I pretty much slept the whole time she was there. So, I'm giving her a shout out now--thank you so much!!!! :)
I stayed in the hospital overnight and went straight to my surgeon's office the next morning around 10am. Mostly I was just in and out of sleep while at the hospital, although I did get up and walk around some and tried my best to eat/drink as much as possible. Another really cool thing was that I could smile the same day, and I could open my mouth (with bands on) about 1 finger width. I am extremely lucky that I didn't have to keep a splint in after surgery. So I can pretty much take my bands off to eat and brush, and put them back on when I'm done. One of the other doctors at my surgeon's office showed me how to place my bands and an assistant brushed my teeth for me and suctioned my nose (which felt WONDERFUL and scary/tickly at the same time). I have to say, drinking lots of water and trying to keep a good attitude through all of this must be working wonders...I know it would be really easy to get down with all the frustration of being numb and uncomfortable and not being able to do everything you want to...I have had to make myself accept the help and focus on the positives of everything.

One really positive aspect is that I've experienced very little pain so far. The sore throat from having a tube during surgery was definitely the worst part. Everything else is a slight annoyance, like having my nose completely clogged and not being able to blow it, and my mouth drying out and being numb inside along with the sore throat was definitely not fun. The numbness is slowly going away, as the first day I was numb from just under both eyes all the way down to my jawline. Now it's mostly upper jaw, nose, and a little in the chin area that's numb, so I'm super excited that it's going away quickly. As far as meds go, I'm pretty much just taking ibuprofen now, and if it I do start to experience some pain, I'll have the minimum dose of lortab elixir. All in all, I can't really complain much at all.

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, two friends came over after my parents had to leave. It was really great to have people around, and to feel almost normal again. I do want to thank my parents and Jeff for taking such good care of me so far--you all helped so much! Also, thank you Zhanna and Linda for telling me I look cute, even though we know I look like a chipmunk. :)

I think that's all for now. I'm going to try to actually take a shower BEFORE my pictures today, so I'll post those later. And today's a good day- I can have milk now!!! I am definitely going to get some ice cream...possibly for dinner. :)