Day 973 - 13 Days Post-Op

So today marks the second post-op appointment with the surgeon. I have no reason to think things will go bad – I can tell I’m healing up day by day. Things are still more uncomfortable than comfortable, but there have been a few breakthroughs in the last few days. First, I’m off the morphine. I decided I didn’t really need it anymore. Instead, I’m just taking Advil when needed. Advil’s a good drug to have because it acts as an anti-inflammatory in addition to a painkiller, so be sure to have Advil if this is a surgery you’re going through! Second, I’m eating FOOD again. Okay, not all foods. Not even close to all foods. But I’m managing to eat soft foods such as pasta. As long as the pieces are small enough for me to swallow them whole, then that’s good enough for me! Most of the time, a small piece of pasta may get lodged in the splint, which is kind of annoying, but I have so far been successful at flushing out the splint after eating.

Cleaning my teeth is getting easier and easier. It generally takes up to 10 minutes to do, and every time I eat, I have to do it, so it takes a good portion of my day, but the food is worth it! I use a baby toothbrush with toothpaste, and then again with baking soda. I use the baking soda because a side-effect of the medicated mouthwash is stained teeth. My teeth are definitely not as clean as I normally would keep them – I use an electric toothbrush usually – but I’d say I’m doing a pretty good job so far.

Reintroducing food into my diet also means that the weight loss is probably going to stagnate for a while. Right now, I am at 12 pounds lost – which isn’t nearly as high as I thought it would be (good thing!). Still, those 12 pounds make me the lightest I’ve been since my third year of university (that was a bad year for me!). In the three years since having the SARPE, I am down nearly 45 pounds.

My pain has been managed pretty well. Like I mentioned, I am off the morphine, but continue with the Advil as needed. I will probably take a couple of them before leaving for the hospital for today’s appointment (I am on my own for today!). My left cheek, chin, upper jaw, and area of my nose between the two nostrils are the numb areas on my face. The left side of my face is still pretty swollen, but I think it’s going down every day. Overall, I think the recovery is going very well. So well in fact that I decided I was well enough to start working again. Luckily, my work affords me the ability to work from home – so I have been doing just that since this past Thursday. My plan is to continue to work from home this week, and then return to the office on Monday. Also, I did some socializing this past weekend. A friend of mine who I used to work with stopped by on Friday. She brought some soup with her, and I managed to talk for a few hours without being in too much pain. The day after, we went up to see my wife’s family (who I had already seen the week before, but still) for lunch. And finally, I capped off the night by seeing another friend of mine to watch the Mayweather/Cotto fight. While it is important to allow yourself adequate time to recover, I think it is important to try to get back to your normal daily activities as soon as you are able to, or at least some subset of those daily activities. I think it can help speed along the recovery process.

Anyway, again, I’m sure everything will go fine today, but I’ll be certain to update the blog again after today’s appointment! Four more weeks with this damn splint!!!

Take care,

Paul