Wow! I can't believe that it has already been two weeks since the surgery! There are so many days when I feel like I am never going to be back to normal. Today was one of those days.....then I saw a picture of myself at about 5 days past surgery. When I look at that, I realize how far I have come.
Today was my 2 week check up at the hospital. 7 out of 8 surgical residents were out of the clinic today, so I saw someone relatively new. (Relatively because he was on my case LAST YEAR when this whole process started, but he did not actually perform the surgery. The actual surgeon had her baby last week, which is a funny story for another time!) Anyway, he was able to answer all of my questions and said that everything looked good. Big Doc (the O6 select who was the attending for the surgery) was also out of the office for the day, so I got to meet the O6 who used to be the head of the department and actually signed off on the surgery a year ago after a heart to heart with my orthodontist. It was quite a blast from the past at the clinic today. The bit of information that I did learn today is that I lost 200 mL of blood during the surgery. The expected blood loss for an upper jaw surgery alone is 400 mL and I lost half of that. I am obviously a surgery rock star! :)
In other news, today is Mardi Gras, which, forever and ever at my house, means pancakes for dinner. Who I am to let a little thing like a wired jaw keep my from my heritage. Doc said that I could eat anything I want as long as I don't chew. He also gave me the okay to remove the rubber bands keeping my jaws in the correct alignment to eat. Furthermore, he indicated that I could use any means necessary (tongue, roof of mouth, etc) to get food down my throat as long as chewing is not considered "any means necessary." I decided to take him at his word. I cut my pancakes into Joshua (my 10 month old) sized bites. I drenched said bites with syrup and slid it into my mouth with Joshua's baby spoon. I got it to the back of my throat and swallowed. Really, I only tasted the syrup, but that was good enough. I got my pancakes and I didn't compromise my recovery. Double win!
As for the concern about the dizziness, he was baffled. He told me to eat a little more and drink a little more and report back next week. I did do a little driving today and I didn't have as much of the dizzies this afternoon. He suggested a balance issue that will clear itself up in due time. Makes sense seeing that the biggest thing that made me dizzy was the off ramp on the drive home.
Challenges today:
1. I am hard to understand. My brother told me that I sound like I am playing Chubby Bunny (you know, the game where you shove marshmallows into your mouth and try to say "Chubby Bunny") by myself. It is frustrating because I am working so hard to talk and people look to my mom for a translation or ask me to repeat myself. It was hard enough getting it out the first time.
2. Life is tiring! I am worn out at the ends of the days.
Good things about today:
1. I wore my contacts for the second day in a row. The swelling made my eyes fat and the medicine made them dry so contacts just weren't working.
2. I went to visit my Grandma today for the first time since the surgery. She is always glad to see me!
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