Day 8

I think today has been my easiest day so far. The first week was incredibly hard, and I'm really hoping that I don't go backward from here because I've really been feeling pretty good all day today. Yesterday my pain picked up some. I was pretty surprised because I've hardly even been taking Ibuprofen since the day after I got home from the hospital. I'm thinking it has something to do with the numbness going away and the stitches dissolving. So, today I've stepped up the Ibuprofen. I've been taking 800 mg every 6 hours. My teeth are still pretty sore, but I think I'm just going to have to deal with that, because I'm definitely not going back to the oxycodone that they sent me home from the hospital with. That stuff just makes me way too nauseous.

I've stepped up my eating today too. I can't remember how much talking I've done about my diet so far, but I haven't been much like most people I've read about. I started out on syringes, because that is what my Dr. recommended, but honestly eating stuff through them really grossed me out. They made everything taste bad. That might have just been in my head, but I just couldn't do it. So, I started trying drinking from a cup and now thats pretty easy. I've also been able to start using a baby spoon..and today even a fork! Being able to eat semi-regularly like that has been pretty great. I know most people aren't able to use those things for weeks. Anyway, as far as actual food goes it has been a lot of trial and error about what I can eat. Mashed potatoes have been really easy. I've also liked ice cream, pudding, yogurt, and cranberry sauce :). Yesterday I had a really great strawberry banana smoothie that I think I am going to put on the permanent menu for breakfast. I mixed some protein powder into it so I think it's something really great to keep trying. Today I've really stepped up my eating. I had a smoothie, part of a cheese omelet ( I was super jazzed about this because I didn't think I would be able to eat it and it turned out to be easy!), some mac n cheese, and some mashed potatos. That is the most I have eaten in one day since the surgery. Of course, I should mention how much time it took to eat all of that. Its pretty ridiculous how much work goes into eating easy things, but it was worth it to feel full for the first time since surgery.

I think numbness is a little better today. Right now I'm only numb a little under my left eye, on the left side of my nose, directly under my nose above my lip, the right side of the roof of my mouth, and in my chin.  I'm hoping that the numbness continues to get better every day. It's wierd trying to wash my face every day when I can't feel big sections of it. It has been great being able to completely feel my lips. This was something that I wasn't expecting when I woke up. I think this has been different for me because I had the inverted L instead of the BSSO. It's nice to be able to notice a benefit to going that route since I still have the big cuts on the sides of my face to deal with. Although, I think they're starting to heal. They are pretty much closed now so in the next couple of days I'm going to start using Mederma on them instead of the antibiotic cream I've been using.

The swelling has gone down a little more today although I'm still incredibly swollen. I've gotten to wear I don't want to scream every time I look in the mirror :P I think it's causing my lips to look really weird. As you can see in my pictures it looks like I'm trying to make my lips touch..like I'm pushing my top lip down to try to make it touch my bottom lip..but I'm actually not. That is just the way my lip lays. I really hate that it looks that way, and I'm praying that it is some wierd effect of the swelling. Only time will tell I guess.