Post-Op and HAPPINESS.

[December 5] We arrived at the Piper Clinic around 10:00 on Friday, straight from the hospital, and they removed all my bandages and tape that had been put on. They examined all of my incisions and kept saying how great I looked in terms of swelling. They also took a CT scan of my NEW DISCS!!

Woohoo! Look at all that space above the condyles!

My swelling still hasn't gone down completely and I am numb at the incision sites around my ears and a bit on my scalp. They are the most sensitive areas besides my abdomen, but everything will be checked out again tomorrow, on Monday.

Oh how I wish I could slap a filter on that swelling picture, but it is what it is (not that it would help any). I was swollen for many days, but it was covered by my hair. and decreased steadily.

The incision was so sensitive because once open, they had to pull from the surrounding areas to find enough fat. It is slightly bruised and OHMYGOD it does not want you to move. Getting up and sitting down were the worst, but it gets better.

I think my skin was irritated from just having taken the ice packs off. I did not look red after surgery, or during recovery. This is just to show the draining tube sites (at the bottom of my ears) and you can also kind of see the incision sites as well (at the top of my ears).

Being home has been nice; The medicine regime is pretty intense and if my family wasn't here, I don't know what I'd do. The medicines are all staggered throughout different times of the day to prevent them from reacting with each other. We've really had to play around with different options and find the right supplement drinks and smoothie recipes that work for me. Especially with having to crush up so many pills; they taste disgusting. I had a choking episode today that lasted 30 minutes. I felt like my discs were going to pop out of place. Pro tip: Do not try to chug medicine through a syringe. Slow and steady, even though it's awful tasting.

All of the lovely medications that are recommended, at least 80% of which I needed. Pill crusher is key!! A mortar bowl and pestle do not cut it. We tried.

[December 6] I went out for a walk downtown and sat with my family at lunch. I had my Boost drink and glass of water and didn't even feel murder-y while watching them eat their french fries and other delicious things I tried not to look at! My sister visited, and brought goodies for me...

One of the best movies of all time, obviously.

We then went for a walk on the pier which was really nice. Very quiet, just a little chilly, and overcast so that the sun wouldn't cause me any issues with all of the medications.

Talking with the splint in is very frustrating because I can barely understand myself and my family is having an even harder time. It is getting better and better, though. My boyfriend actually just called and was able to understand me over the phone! They are all picking up on my speech very well, which is good because the more I try to enunciate, the more strain is put on my jaws. A small dry erase board has been my best friend. I'm finding now (almost a week later, as I wrote this entry the day after surgery and am now updating on 12/17) that talking strains the back of my neck more than my jaws. Being tired or in pain puts a big damper on my speech, and talking on the phone to other people is challenging.

Here are more photos of what our weekend consisted of; Lots of quality time with the heating pad, taking naps, and going for walks! Walking outside in the fresh air at my own pace kept my nausea under control more than I can tell you. We even discovered that one of my close-by neighbors has three beautiful white ducks; I was so jacked up on pain medication that I thought it was a dream. But, lucky for me, they're real.

[December 8] We met with Dr. Piper bright and early to have my incisions looked at; I was repeatedly told they look great! They clipped the wires from my splint, making it much easier to eat/drink through the splint. Painless and fast! Lisa is incredible and showed me... the jaw exercises. We'll get back to that in a bit. I also met with Dr. Hobbs, the Chiropractor who sees Dr. Piper's patients at the clinic who did some adjustments and left me feeling a bit better in my neck region.

To the right is me four days post-op! I truly believe that being so excited and positive about the entire process as well as going for a walk at least twice a day (a few blocks) did wonders.

They removed the wires and my Bane-looking rubber bands. Trust me, my friends: The wax that Dr. Jackson gave you for the braces will be your best friend in fighting away mouth sores and blisters.

There are hooks attached to the braces to allow the rubber bands to be put in place that cause a lot of irritation. Wax doesn't want to stick to them, but just putting it on the brackets puts space between the hooks and the inside of your mouth.

I've since bought GUM brand mint-flavored wax as recommended by another patient and like it; I think the free stuff the Doc gives out works just fine, though.

Back to those exercises... I now have 5 breaks out of the splint each day, for fifteen minutes. During this time, I take the bands out, do the exercises, eat, take medicine, brush my teeth, and put the bands back in. It sounds frantic, but from the beginning, I have had more than enough time. Eating food is THE BEST and I couldn't wait to do it, so I am now a very fast eater.

My first time out of the splint! Those rubber bands can be so tricky to get in and out and will pop you 'till your lip turns purple (it's happened) but I became a pro in no time.

Soup is good. Other "no chew" recommendations:

Scrambled eggs and grits

Macaroni & Cheese

Pasta with meat sauce

Chili

Chunky soups, pureed

Baby foods (my favorite brand is Beech Nut)

We bought a Ninja (Groupon: $40!) and it does wonderfully at just chopping everything. It does not liquify all of your food, although it can. We put pasta, chili, soups, and smoothies in it. It came with a smaller size container to blend in and a large pitcher, as well as lids for storage. 

This is the Therabite. It has five settings, each assisting your mouth in opening one inch. You do thirty pumps during each break, followed by "jiggles" where you place a large wooden tongue compressor between your upper and lower teeth and slide your jaws side to side quickly for five seconds, five times. 

Here it is in action. Hurts like hell the first few times, but it gets so much easier. The first pump is always the worst, and the morning is hard because you've spend so much time away from it. I graduated to the second peg a few days early because #1 became too easy. My jaws feel stronger already! They want me to be at Peg 5 by my six week visit.

Throughout the week, I saw Dr. Piper and Hobbs on Tuesday and again on Thursday. My stitches were removed on Thursday! The process was literally painless and I had no idea that Tonya had taken them out. Thera-strips took their place, to be removed after ten days, and oddly enough, the pain returned. I am finally comfortable with the incision again (December 17th). I get to take them off on Monday and can't wait! A soft, cotton maxi skirt was my best friend during all of the abdominal pain. Jeans are BAD and legging/yoga pants are tolerable.

[December 9] Five days after surgery, my Mom and I visited the Aquarium in Tampa which was great! She took eight days off of work to take care of me and my recovery would not be even half as successful without her. 

A little blurry to the left, but I was up and ready to go with tons of energy! I love my Mom's positive attitude towards everything and how she loves stopping and staring at every single display at the Aquarium just like me.

I have so many beautiful, kind-hearted, loving people in my life who took the time and thought to send me cards and gift baskets, as well as well-wishes and tons of phone calls and texts. I am so grateful for all of the love and support. My heart is so full and they have all brought so much happiness and even more good vibes for healing to me.

My former boss whom I truly adore sent this amazing gift basket full of the best stuff ever -- everything in here is amazing and of course I've already tried it all!

My amazing Aunt sent this awesome package full of goodies! A hilarious card, slushy maker, beauty products, house essentials and a monkey!!

 [December 12] The dreaded weekend; I had to return home (Central FL) to take my final exams, but got to spend a nice extended weekend visiting with family, and even got some Christmas shopping done. On my way out, got to play around with sister's new air rifle a bit, which was fun! Feeling like I'm back in the game! My energy levels have been very high and I've wanted to do more and more, but need to keep an eye on over-doing it for the sake of the Chiropractic work.

[December 15] Incisions are looking good! The "dissolving" stitches are still in tact and I think they kind of fall out more than just dissolve... I've never had them before, so I don't know how it works really. They're still attached pretty well and I don't mess with them as it's a bit painful too. Just still cleaning the areas thoroughly each day.

Flare-up alert! Over-did it today with wanting to do something with all of my energy and not letting the surgery keep me down. I cleaned the house, did laundry, cleaned the koi pond, washed dishes, and baked 102 cupcakes! My mom's students were promised a treat for being relatively good while she was gone, and I wanted to save her the hassle.

I've since seen Dr. Hobbs twice and he is helping immensely, and is filled with good advice.  We also decided to double my dosage of Trazodone, my nighttime medication to prevent clenching in hopes of getting my flare-ups and muscle spasms under control.

That's all for now... I've been icing my back and neck per Dr. Hobbs' orders all afternoon and have to go do big girl things now... I will update more later.

Just remember... Wake up each day with a kick-ass attitude!

And I think I'll end with this: Just because I have braces does not mean it's comical to tell me I look 12, 14, or whatever other ridiculously young age you would like to pin on me. Keep your negativity to yourself because there's too much positivity in me for it to fit, stick, or affect me.

YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID.

So don't waste your time trying.