Day 4

I woke up today feeling pretty cruddy. I pretty much just got up to drink a smoothie so that I could take medicine and then went back to sleep on the couch for an hour or two. Nothing really hurts in particular, which is nice, but I more just feel lethargic, sort of like I want to hibernate all day. Today was lovely, though, because Liz and Kara both came to visit. Liz brought me this cute little care package filled with straws and drinking cups for all the smoothies I've been ingesting:

How thoughtful.

And she and Kara both brought in flowers for me from their families. I feel so loved!

Beautiful :)

We chilled and watched movies/DVR all day and it was just what I needed. Here's an update with where I am on swelling. I still resemble a Who/gorilla, but I think it's getting a little bit better:

That's all for now!

Day 3

Today has probably been the worst on my body, but the pain has still been quite manageable. I've felt groggy all day so it was lucky for me that my friends who came over were perfectly fine watching Netflix while I napped. I took two mini-naps today and felt incredibly rejuvenated afterwards. I need to make a habit of those during my recovery. I'm still pretty congested today. It's driving me nuts that I can't blow my nose! Oh well, it's worth it in my book. Here are just a few pictures from today:

My cheeks are still pretty swollen but not as bad as I thought they'd be. Please excuse the greasiness.

And a view from the side

A rather lovely surprise was dropped off today from my grandparents. How thoughtful!

Day 2

I was discharged from the hospital today and went straight to Dr. Fear's office for X-Rays. He was very pleased with how everything went and I was too! My X-Rays looked to be near-perfect. It was so wonderful looking at it and seeing how well my bite fit together (finally!).
 I didn't sleep that well at the hospital which didn't really surprise me so I'm glad that I can be home and resting today. I got a protein smoothie from PinkBerry on the way home and since I couldn't really use a straw very well, I used my syringe which worked great. I'm supplementing the liquid pain medicine with normal Ibuprofen and that seems to be working really well. The main thing that hurts today are my stitches. The rest of my pain is sort of just a dull ache everywhere in my head. I'm getting a little more swollen as the day goes on but I kind of expected that as well. All in all, I feel so much better than I thought I would!

Here's what I look like today.

Puppy was great for keeping me company at the hospital!

Some lovely flowers from my mom. :)

Day 1 - Surgery

Yesterday I finally received my surgery! I woke up excited that the day was finally here. When I got to the hospital, a really nice nurse prepped me for surgery. I think she could tell that I was a little anxious so she was very gentle with me. My anesthesiologist came by to discuss my anesthesia, and then my surgeon, and then I was wheeled off to the OR.

I don't remember much of the operating room except for the fact that it was really bright. When I came to, I was in the recovery room feeling pretty nauseated. Luckily they gave me some medicine to counteract that. They brought my parents back and I was able to converse with them about what Dr. Fear told them, but they kept telling me to stop talking and rest. I couldn't, though! I wanted to keep talking and try out my new mouth. It was a really bizarre feeling but I'm getting used to it pretty quickly.

They then took me in my gurney over to the main part of the hospital where I'd be staying for the night. They gave me an oxygen tent and ice for my face and I felt pretty good. I'll try to insert a picture:

I haven't really been in too much pain. It's more of just a dull ache. Almost like I used to have when I'd wake up and my mouth would be sore from clenching my teeth all night. However, I was feeling some of the aftereffects of the anesthesia when I tried standing up and walking to the bathroom. I felt really dizzy and my ears were ringing so I had to lay down so I didn't pass out. The nurses were very patient about it. They are all super nice and attentive and keep telling me how well I'm doing.

I started out just drinking water and a little bit of cranberry juice out of a syringe, but then I upgraded to drinking Ensure which has helped me a lot. Here's what I feed with: (see picture 2)

There's some nice chocolate Ensure in there. I dunno if it tastes so good just because I'm hungry or if it actually does taste that good, but I'm not complaining. Much better than the crappy cherry-flavored medicine I have to keep taking.

I was finally able to get up and walk to the bathroom on my own without getting dizzy. I got a bloody nose from standing up but they said that's to be expected. All in all, I'm proud of the recovery I'm making so far and look forward to heading home soon.

Night Before Surgery

I decided to start this blog the night before my surgery to (hopefully) get out some of the pre-surgery jitters and also to track my progress along the way. My braces were put on December 12, 2011 and I'm finally getting my surgery on July 23, 2012. I didn't have to go through very many months of orthodontic work pre-surgery because I had had braces about 5 years previously. I'm quite nervous for the big day tomorrow but I'm excited to finally be getting this surgery done with after anticipating it for so long. I don't really have much to say except to post a few "before" pictures. Wish me luck tomorrow!

Before: Frontal

Before: Profile