Day 9

I woke up to a beautiful rainbow and no nausea. Perfect morning!

Greatest metaphor for my recovery.

I felt even better on day 9. Still tired, and still had that Zofran headache, but I didn't feel faint, weak or shaky even once. It was great! I spent time at my desk answering some emails, giving my friends and family a much needed update.

We had my one week appointment with the surgeon (a bit late at day 9, but it didn't matter). He removed all the rubber bands in the front and added some on the sides, saying they would loosen up with time and I'd be able to move my teeth a little bit. He asked me to open up, and it was the weirdest feeling ever. I could only open a few millimeters; definitely not enough to brush the inside of my teeth. Oh well, maybe next week? The surgeon was happy that I was finally feeling good and there was no more almost-yelling at me haha. My nose has been pretty clear for the past few days and he said there was nothing to clean this time, so he didn't do much with his evil vacuum.

No rubber bands in the front!

He also said I was looking pretty good! It was nice to hear. He seemed proud of his work, and he said he wouldn't tell me I look good if he didn't think it was true. I believe him. That man is very honest, no non-sense type of person. I still have quite a bit of swelling, but he said he could see the outline and he thinks it's going to look very good. I'm excited to see the final "product". He said most of the swelling would be gone in a week.

He finally cleared me to start talking, but he said not to hold a conversation; just a few words here and there. I could finally abandon my notepad and communicate like a normal person with my husband. It's hard to project your voice when your teeth are banded shut, but overall it's not that hard to enunciate things and my husband seems to understand me without any problem.

I also played one Dota 2 game with my friends (an online multiplayer video game), which is a sure sign that I'm feeling better. It was nice to "interact" with people a bit more, even though I didn't talk much. One game is all I could do though. Too much brain power required :P

Another friend also dropped by to give me a book she thought I might like. It was such a thoughtful gift! She said I looked much better than she imagined, so that was good! I've been so thankful to my friends and family. Earlier during the week, another friend dropped by with some blended soup for me and chunky soup for my husband, as well as a nice bouquet (forgot to take a pic, damnit). And yet another friend sent me an Instacart gift card. What a smart, awesome gift! I've good awesome friends and I can't wait to hang out with them again. I'm not quite ready though, even just spending 15 minutes with my friend who brought the book, my jaw started aching and I felt more tired. Still needs to regain some strenght before I go out!

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading a book I started before the surgery. I finally had enough concentration to do that, and it felt great.

Around dinnertime, we walked to a Starbucks and I had a delicious gingerbread frappucino blended crème. The surgeon said I could use straws, so I could even drink it right there! It was a bit hard because there isn't that much space in the front of my lips to suck in, so I have to jam the straw to the side and try to seal my lips together. Mostly it's because Starbuck's straws are pretty big. Smaller straws won't be a problem.

Also, the swelling was down again and I looked like a normal person!

Without the bruise, I'd look pretty normal.

As you can see in the pic, my lips were still shedding. I haven't mentioned it in previous posts, but I shed layers and layers of skin from my lips since day 0. Before the surgery, I bought lanolin cream, which is used by nursing women to soothe their nipples, but ya know. It works for lips too!

My husband put some on a few times a day at the hospital, and I kept doing it at home. It did seem to help, but there was definite shedding anyway. It wasn't painful at least! It was just weird to peel it off twice a day. It finally started getting better on day 9 though. The shedding was minimal, finally.

I'm still struggling with sleeping because of the jaw jerks, but that's the only real "problem" left, so it's really not that bad. I feel like the pain in my jaw when lying down decreases slightly every day, so I'm confident that in a few more days, it'll feel much better.

Overall, another great day on my way to full recovery!