Day 10

I'm happy to report, that I feel well enough to be too active to post every day.  I'm very stoked about this.  I truly thought I would be dead in the bed for at least a week, dependent on others, pathetic and needy; this is what I was prepared for. 


Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That's my second motto, right after "happiness is a choice".


That is IF I even made it home alive.  Yep, I said it...the thing no one ever wants to talk about.  But I was really afraid I might die.  It's a possibility with any surgery and I just had a bad feeling.  But...my gut was wrong (hooray for me) and I made it home.  Not only did I make it home, but I've been up and about, functional and active from the beginning.  If it weren't for the fact that I'm not allowed to bend over, I think I'd have been able to take care of all of my own needs easily from Day 3.  And if I would have got one of those handled grabby things to pick things up with,  I could have been completely independent I think, except for driving of course.  Anyone preparing for surgery, I'd put that on your list if money isn't tight.  That's the one and only thing I wish I had available that wasn't.  But,  I'm also painfully independent and it was/is awful for me to ask my Mom or whoever to pick up my snotty tissue that I dropped or sort my dirty laundry for me.  To others, maybe not such a big deal. 

So, Saturday was day 9 and we made homemade chili.  When I was looking for blended recipes I came across a site that said blended chili is a favorite among jaw surgery patients and it sounded good.  Mom and I made a ton of chili, went to the theater to see Hunger Games (which was slightly disappointing to me), then came home to have a scrumptious bowl of blended chili.  I can't even tell you how good it was, and that was the first time I felt full since surgery. 

Sunday was day 10.  I wanted to go for a walk, so Mom took me to Brady's Run Park and we walked 2 miles on the walking path.  I'm still taking it slow; It took us 45 min to walk 2 miles.  But I walked 2 miles on Day 10, I think that is fantastic.   We took a short drive to Nanna's house so I could help her with her cell phone plan then stopped at the store to pick up a few things.  We decided to run into Big Lots before Shop-n-Save to just browse around and I ended up buying almost everything I need for Mara's Easter Basket.  We were there for almost an hour, then picked up groceries and went home to pig out on chili.  It was good the second day too.  For lunch earlier, I steamed one part frozen spinach with one part frozen broccoli, drained, blended and melted in a bunch of Velveeta cheese (which I'm aware isn't really cheese, but it melts so smooth) in a bowl and it was super yummy.  Tasted kind of like a runny spinach souffle. 

So, on Day 10 I cooked lunch, walked 2 miles, sorted Nanna's cell phone problem, went shopping, bought Mara's Easter Basket stuff, picked up groceries and ate a big dinner.  I then plopped my butt down in a  chair and didn't get back up all night!   Sorry for the mundane play by play, but I want to give some hope to everyone preparing for jaw surgery...recovery may not be as bad as you think.  And remember, I had a 3 piece Le fort 1 (major upper jaw surgery) AND a BSSO (major lower jaw surgery) , I'm not a spry teenager(the older you are the slower you heal) ,and I have been fairly functional from the get go.  If I can do this, you can too!

Sorry for the homely pictures in my hoodie with bad hair, but I thought I should post some pics.  I noticed too, when my Mom takes my pictures and we are both standing,  you get a good view of the swelling in my jowls (blech)  because she is shorter than I am.  Oh well,  guess anyone under 5'10" sees me like this.