Day 8

My healing process is inching right along. I still feel like a have a huge face and I noticed that my open bite is kind of back. I think it's because I haven't had the rubber bands on for the past couple days. I'll see Dr. Franco tomorrow and let him figure it out. I have a crock pot that I filled with water and put beside my bed and set it on low. Dr. Franco kept telling me in the last surgery and in this one to put moist heat on my neck, chin, cheeks for 15 min a spot several times a day. But, the problem is that if I go to the sink and use hot water on a rag, it only stays hot for about 3 minutes, then I have to get up again. That's very boring to do consistently all day long. Now with the pot next to my bed, I can sit and watch a movie and when the rag is not hot, I can dip it in the hot water by my bed! I dropped a few drops of tea tree oil on the rag and was surprised how much my cat loved it. She keeps getting in my face and trying to lick the rag.

In other news, remember how I told you that I was thinking of that chicken fried steak in Rockwall? Well, the chef died! My friend told me yesterday that he died and they closed the restaurant and I can never have his chicken fried steak again!. This is Texas and chicken fried steak is not hard to come by but still...I wanted that one. My breakfast was an egg, cup of asparagus puree and water. I started using chopsticks to scoop the eggs in and that works well for me. I guess after tomorrow I can't have eggs anymore after Franco bands me up again.

Day 7

So last night I was brushing more aggressively like Dr. Franco told me to do and those darn rubber bands broke and flew away. Now my mouth is open. I text Dr. Franco and he said that it was no big deal and he'd fix it on Thursday. Yay me, I took the opportunity to eat eggs. My entire mouth is numb. I don't like it at all. I know there are sores and when I brush I know I'm irritating them but I can't feel it so I'm worried I'll open a stitch or continue to brush over something that needs to heal. I got in there with a tiny flashlight to see what's going on in the back and it was pretty gruesome. I can see stitches and blood and slime and chunks of flesh. I just did what I could to try to get it cleaned. My top lip hurts when I move it up to brush. My bottom lip is loose and I'm constantly drooling. My chin and around my mouth and nose are really active. I feel a lot of nerves regenerating. There's pressure on my face and yellow bruising is starting to show up around my neck and jowls. I'm still not getting enough calories. I really need to work on that because it's just such a hassle to eat anything. I'm slurping and drooling and my nose is leaking and I'm still for the most part having to use a syringe to eat and the syringes have a plastic smell. This morning I had 2 eggs. That's 200 calories then I didn't have anything else until just now at 6pm. I had a shake, I put whey protein powder, collagen powder, cocoa, cinnamon, strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana, handful of spinach and a little water. I drank the whole thing. Maybe I'll try to get some broth and rice in before bed, since I don't have the bands. The problem with not getting calories is that I'm losing weight but it's good weight! Muscle tissue including my heart muscle! When people lose weight they want to lose fat slowly over a period of time then it stays off. But if you're starving you can't get better and you lose energy and get headaches and lose weight fast and when you finally do get better, you get that weight back plus an extra 10 pounds in case you need to starve again. Sigh. My pictures today look exactly like yesterday so I'm not going to bother with them.

Day 6

Good Afternoon! I went to see Dr. Franco today for my first post OP. He said that the surgery went very well and my recovery shortly after waking up was really good. He mentioned that he was surprised how "smooshed and slanted" my turbinates were and said that I'll be able to breath so much better now. On Thursday I'm supposed to go back and get those small stitches removed from my cheeks. He said that I could start brushing my teeth more aggressively. My lips are so numb and there is so much pressure on my face. He took off the loose bands and put some tighter ones on so now my teeth are pretty well closed and there's no hope of stuffing some eggs or hummus in there. It's all liquids. It's funny because I have the usual things that I like to eat and of course some favorites but I can't stop thinking about this chicken fried steak I had a year ago at a Fancy restaurant 30 minutes outside of town. It was really the best chicken fried steak I've ever eaten and I think about it a lot now. It came with mashed potatoes. As soon as I'm able to eat I'm going to go there and eat that. In the meantime I'm stuck with liquids. If you're in the Dallas area and you're having jaw surgery there's a place called GREENZ that sells pureed soups. I stopped by there today and got a few bowls to go. Chicken enchilada soup! It was delicious. That's about it. Pain is about a 2 and discomfort is around 5.

Day 5

Today is Day 5 and I'm just sitting around waiting to get better. I hate waiting. I'm taking my medication (1 antibiotic and 1 Hydrocodone) every 6 hours so I'm maintaining this "dream wake". I'm not very functional but I'm trying to do things to feel better. I'm hungry but everything I eat tastes gross. I'm not getting enough calories and so I have a hungry headache constantly. I'm trying to vamp up my shakes and soups with coconut oil, peanut butter, etc. so that I can get more fats but I just feel gross. Today we went for a walk around the park which was a one mile walk. That felt nice but again, I'm kind of dizzy and headachy. My boyfriend told me that my breath smelled disgusting. I noticed all this gross slime building up on my braces but I couldn't get it off without a good brush and I was having a hard time. Finally though I thought I could use the pick I have for plaque, you know the sharp one? I used that and pulled all this gross, chunky stuff off my braces. I was able to get pretty much all of it off and brush my teeth and rinse with the bacteria cleansing rinse I was prescribed and my boyfriend said I smelled so much better after that. Ha! That is so gross!

Dr. Franco said not to blow my nose and I have been very stuffed up. It's not quite as bad as what I was expecting. I read other blogs and was expecting to not be able to breath, but it's on a level with being stuffed up with a head cold. I don't think I'm experiencing quite as much pain, problems and discomfort as others. I'm not sure, but this just doesn't seem that bad to me. I felt my TMJ surgery was worse, more painful and I had nausea which I don't have this time around. I made sure to tell my Anesthesiologist about it and she said she'd look at what I had and decide what she thought would have made me so sick and not use it. I think whatever she did worked! I'm not saying that this is fun by any means, I guess I was expecting worse. My nose has gross dark dried blood crusted in it and I keep trying to clean it out. I don't want to mess with anything too much. I'd rather nature take it's course. Speaking of nature...Dr. Franco said I wouldn't get my period but I did. Talk about bad luck. It's a small one and barely noticeable but still it's here. I got it for my TMJ surgery as well. Today's food was the same stuff shakes, pureed soup, fresh juice. I did have a miso soup that had tiny tofu and seaweed in it that I was able to get down. That was pretty tasty.

Day 4

Hello! I'm doing fine. I've been sleeping a ton and overall pretty boring. Lets see..My lips are gross. They're covered in slime and I'm drooling and just gross to say the least. I still haven't eaten much. I usually drink 3 syringes of something before I feel kind of sick. I have a terrible headache that I think is coming from not getting enough calories. I added 2 TBS of peanut butter to my shake this afternoon to try to beef up the calories and fat. I went for a walk in the park today! My mom said she can't believe I was able to get up and go for a walk in the park on the 4th day. It was breezy and nice outside so it felt good. By the time I got home though, I was in bed right away. Here are today's shots:

Pretty scary huh! I got a baby toothbrush in there enough to brush my tongue and the inside of my teeth. It wasn't good enough to be satisfying. I'm only taking an antibiotic and a pain pill every 6 hours. Today I took a Colace for constipation because I still haven't gone and I know Dr. Franco wants me to go. My pain is low, in fact it's been low the whole time. Discomfort is high though because I have bed sores and a headache. Here is the pain scale:

I'm a 2 for pain and a 6 for discomfort.

Surgery Day plus 3

I'm finished with my surgery! I went to Baylor on Wed. at 5:30 am. They took me to the pre op area where they had me change into my gown, tight socks and bottom tape. Yes they put bottom tape on you to help with your skin while you're on the operating table for so long. They had a lot of trouble finding a vein and stuck me all over both arms trying. My mom and fiance were with me but as soon as my doctor showed up they were wheeling me off.

Because they spent so much time on my vein search I wasn't able to get a relaxing shot so I went to the OR completely lucid. It was really terrifying. The OR was freezing and pretty much the second I was in there they were rushing me to get on the table. I don't remember anything after that so I guess the last minute relaxing shot kicked in right around then. I woke up in the post OP area which was the same area as the pre OP. I couldn't open my eyes but I could hear and I was NOT in much pain thank goodness. My mom was invited in and she sat with me while I recovered a bit. I was barely awake during this time so I don't remember much. At some point they took me to my room. They gave me massage socks which were wonderful

They also gave me a syringe to drink my liquids from

I got an oxygen band on my finger that reminded me of E.T.

The first day in the hospital went fine. I wasn't in much pain and I was able to drink a lot. I have been drooling which is really annoying but better than being in pain! My mouth is not closed all the way. Dr. Franco left loose rubber bands so that I could fit a pill in between. It's too swollen right now to show you pictures. But the first day's swelling was like this:

I haven't had much to eat. Just little sips of soup or drink here and there. They released me from the hospital yesterday and I slept ok last night. I took a shower today. I'm really tired so I think I'll write more later.

T-1

I have one more day until Surgery! This morning I had pre-admitting and everything went smoothly. I sat with a woman who registered me and she said that I was to pay $1900 for my copay. I told her I'd given that portion to Rachel because that's what she told me to do. The woman said that Rachel knows that I'm not supposed to pay her. Whatever. Rachel has been a mess since the beginning of all this. The bottom line is that I really like Dr. Franco and I want him to be my surgeon. After I registered, I was introduced to a nurse who took me to another room and asked me a series of questions about my health. She gave me a little card and wanted me to write on it what I wanted on the day of surgery the most from my nurse. I wrote that I wanted them to make sure I got some water. To me, being thirsty for water is worse than pain from broken bones. I talked to her a little about how I vomited after the TMJ surgery and I'm so worried about vomiting after this surgery. She said that I should talk with my Anesthesiologist and see what he thinks. After, I went to a third room and had blood drawn. After work today I stopped at the store and got a big back pillow, a Nutribullet and a soup mug.

Tomorrow is my last day at work of course. I'll stop by the store for some soup and juice and then I'm done! It's finally here. I can't wait to be on the other side. I hope it all turns out ok and nothing weird happens. It's been raining and lightning here. I really wanted to go for a run in the morning so I hope there's no rain so I can go one last time for a while!