Blurred Around the Edges

Thank you so much for the well-wishes and the texts over the weekend asking how surgery went. Friday didn't get off to a great start. The day before, the nurse had told me that surgery would be promptly at 11:15 am so I should be there at 10:15. I was there by 10:05, tired and hungry (and therefore cranky). By 11:15, I still hadn't been called back to pre-op. I asked the receptionist what was going on, and she said the doctor wasn't even there yet! I debated getting up and leaving right then and there. But I'm glad I didn't.

Things finally got going around noon and the next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room mumbling, "this hurts a lot more than I thought it was going to." My face was throbbing, as expected, but what I didn't anticipate was the slicing pain in my throat every time I swallowed. Apparently that have to suction a lot of blood out of the airway during this surgery (gag) and that's what made it so sore.

I spent 3 hours in recovery getting the pain and my breathing under control and we finally stumbled out of the surgery center at 5pm. Ross is such a trooper for putting up with the waiting room for that long! We had planned on going to Omaha post-op, but I was a little too nauseated for that. So we went home and my Aunt Theresa came over to babysit while Ross went to the pharmacy for my meds.

I got in bed shortly thereafter and slept pretty fitfully due to my plugged-up nose. I hate mouth-breathing. I feel like I woke up every 15 minutes gagging with a cotton-mouth! When we woke up Saturday morning, we did decide to drive to Omaha and resting in the reclined car seat was much more comfortable than in bed. We to headed my grandparent's (on my mom's side) house to recuperate. It's allergen-free and they had a choice of recliners for me to sleep in the next few nights.

It doesn't hurt that my grandma made stellar square meals for us. Very restorative! It was great to just hang out with them, too. Holidays are so busy and crazy and fun, but it's hard to have real conversations when 25 other people are in the room with you. I also can't wear glasses for 6 weeks (because they rest on my nose) and my peepers have been too swollen to mess with contacts so one-on-one conversation is about all I can handle.

I'm definitely still recovering, but we came back to Kansas City today. I'm praying my bruising heals quickly because I get my cast off Thursday and head to work again Friday!

Recovery observations: So far it looks like someone has painted heavy purple eyeshadow around my eyelids and in a big streak from my inner eyelid toward my cheek. The worst swelling was when I woke up on day 2 post-op. It seems to be worst in the mornings. My nose is still slowly oozing, although it's not nearly as messy as I thought it was going to be. My upper lip is surprisingly stiff and swollen. I can't talk or smile very well. Even chewing is uncomfortable overall. You don't realize how handy nose-breathing is until you can't do it (it takes me about 3 times longer to eat because I take a tiny bite, chew, swallow, breathe, repeat). And so many facial movements anchor through the nose, so I'll be looking pretty deadpan for a while. I feel bad complaining, because while this wasn't a cosmetic procedure, it was definitely an elective surgery. But I appreciate all the well-wishes and surgery appears to have been complication-free, thankfully!