6/30 - man... i'm tired

tired of my surgical wires.
tired of not chewing.
tired of being puffy.
tired of not having feeling in parts of my face.
tired of my nose hurting.
tired of the rough spots on my cheeks and lips from all the metal and swelling.
tired of my constant glossy skin.
tired of having my jaws closed for the majority of the day.

tired of sleeping on my side. doctor said that i can't sleep on my side until eight weeks. aggh. two more weeks. two more very long weeks.

rough day. just sayin'

but with all that being said - i am still very happy i did the surgery. i know i still have a long road filled with obstacles. but damn... i've come a long way. everyday i feel a little more numbness and swelling going away. baby steps i keep saying. baby steps. hey- at least i have been able to stop using sippy cups and baby spoons. yay!

tomorrow is my six-week post-surgery anniversary. i will video myself again reading about the dog. :) i will also try to post up before and after pictures from day one to now. should be interesting.

but never tired of apple sauce. especially strawberry apple sauce. :) 

6/29 - new gap

i had my girlfriends over for dinner and movie night. it was nice. i made lasagna and green beans. i bought a super yummy chocolate silk pie with whipped cream topping. i was able to eat everything after cutting it up in tiny pieces... except the cookie crust on the pie. that made me a little sad. i know, pathetic. but i just know how much better the pie would have been if i had some of the crunchy goodness of a cookie crust. some day soon...

ok, no more food talk for today. how about tongue and teeth talk? i noticed the past couple of days that i have a little sore on my tongue. like it keeps getting cut on something. well i examined my mouth. low and behold i have a new gap between two of my bottom teeth. WOW. that is something very new. i guess the bands have pulled the teeth around. hopefully my orthodontist can shed some light on this new little find.

also - i have loaded up every un-used surgical hook with the braces wax. the bumps have been healing a bit. i removed the was yesterday for awhile to brush and the eat the lasagna. in just the few hours that i had no wax my lips became irritated again.

so i suggest to anyone and everyone that has these darn surgical hooks to just wax up and stay waxed up. it sucks to have additional stuff in your mouth competing with your lips and cheeks, but damn. i can totally tell a difference in the pain level of said lips and cheeks. it looks a little odd to have the clear lumps also... but who the heck cares?? i have chipmunk cheeks. a little extra weirdness in my mouth is the least of my worries. :)

6/28 - hospital fees and cyndi lauper...

i received an explanation of benefits notice from my insurance today in the mail. it only references the actual hospital visit, not the surgeon or anesthesiologist fees. but man, i am super happy to have health insurance. just sayin.

 

also - highlight of my day... went to see cyndi lauper perform on her she's so unusual anniversary tour. i would have given anything to be able to whistle, scream and cheer like a normal person. i did do some serious singing along. once again i had a super sore mouth and my cheeks felt like they were on fire by the time i settled in for bed.



6/27 - work lunch

not much to report today. we had a department lunch at work. i managed to eat the chicken pasta and a brownie. it's amazing what you can eat when you spend a million minutes cutting it up into a million little pieces. someone laughed and pointed out the fact to the entire group that i was crumbling my brownie all up to eat it. i was a bit snarky back to her.

geez. she is clueless. i was out for two weeks. then when returned i was definitely not my normal self. and to top it off... i know she has seen me with my sippy cup. but oh well.

6/26 - one more big step

SWELL MICHELLE IS IN THE HOUSE!!quick, but important post today - i returned to radio lollipop tonight. this is a huge step to having my "normal" life back. every day it seems something new happens. but tonight... everything felt right. i returned to radio lollipop. i have seriously missed volunteering. it was a little tough. but i was lucky, none of the kids pointed or laughed at me talking with my bands in. ironically the craft for the night was pizza and the theme of the night was junk food. WTH?? what kind of luck is that? we had to talk about eating all sorts of junk food and favorite toppings for pizza. haha 

6/25 - five weeks... and one day

i forgot to take pictures yesterday. so here are some from this morning. i can really start to see the different shape to my face. i need to dig up the pictures from when we started all of this. i will try to get them and post up next week for a 6-week comparison. should be interesting.

in medical news - i've been in some pain lately. things are really starting to wake up. and every time i take my bands off i think it alerts muscles and nerves to start waking up. so i have been having that damn tingling sensation. it comes and goes and all over in patches. joy. then i put my bands back on and it settles back down to normal. i hate to admit it, but i feel safer with my bands in. weird, i know. but oh well.

in food news today... i ate a peppermint patty today. yes, i cut it up in a million little pieces and it took me a lifetime to get thru it. but yum. i think i will have another one tomorrow.

in other food news, i've been craving chicken salad. so i made a big bowl of it. i ate a ton of it for lunch. no bread or buttery/salty crackers... just shoveled it in with my baby spoon. quite delectable.

6/24 - five weeks!!

can't believe it's been five weeks. i really have been fortunate with my surgery i think. i really haven't had any extremely low moments and really no complications. now, don't get me wrong there were a couple days/nights those first couple of weeks that i really second guessed my choice of having this surgery. but i feel i have come a long way.

i am excited about the next few weeks and learning to chew again. talking without the bands has been an adventure. my jaw seems a little confused and lost in it's motions. but i am sure it will be fine with time.

my teeth touch in ways that they have never touched before. that feels weird in so many ways. you know how the edges of your tongue kinda has a specific shape that over time has confirmed to the spaces between your teeth. well, now those areas have changed. so even the sides of my tongue feels weird. i wish i could explain the odd feelings that are happening inside my mouth, all around my nose and my puffy, somewhat numb cheeks.

i celebrated with some fish and rice for lunch. it was super easy to eat so i was happy. yummy lemon fish.

in other news... the lovely lips bumps are extra painful today. joy. happy five weeks to me!!