Recovery

Not gonna lie, this recovery has been a bit brutal at times. The bruising and swelling has been crazy! My face was so swollen I couldn't wear my glasses or contacts and I couldn't breathe through my nose. Also, my neck, back, and chest were so swollen that I couldn't breath at ALL, and I had to run to last-minute emergency doctors appointments to figure out how to keep me from passing out all day because of it. I couldn't even take a step without almost passing out so I had to be escorted around in a wheelchair all day. Then there's the fact that my mouth has so many sores from sticking the pesky little syringe/straw thing through my swollen cheeks that I hate to even eat or drink. The pain was borderline unbearable for a while and not even my strongest pain killers were doing the trick! Oh, and I've lost a lot of weight (not that you can tell because I'm so swollen) and taking more than 10 steps at a time makes me feel like I ran a marathon and it completely wipes me out for a few solid hours.

That all being said, I finally feel like today is the first actual day of significant improvement, and it feels good (relatively speaking)! The swelling and bruising is down a bit, the drugs are finally working and helping to manage pain, and I am hoping that my doctor will open my jaw a little bit tomorrow morning!

Also, being so weak and in so much pain, Ryan has had to do EVERYTHING this week. He's fed me, kept up with all of my medicine schedules, done laundry, kept the apartment super clean, and basically waited on me hand and foot. While I like to typically be a little more independent than that, I had no option. So this morning, when Ryan had to go to a conference up in Ogden, I was worried about being able to handle my medicine, ice packs, and everything in general. I am happy to report that it was successful, but I think I was just really blessed that my first major "improvement" day was today and not tomorrow or a few days later... and also really blessed to have such a great husband to drop everything he wanted/needed to do to help me.

Here's a nice glamour shot of my swollen face...and neck, and back... sans the "Jaw Bra" (that's the actual name of it) and sans a shower for a few days. I look so ugly it's almost funny in these pics. (**side note:I'm not mad in every picture, it's just that my entire face is numb and tingly so I can't make any expressions.**)

And when the swelling went down a bit, the pretty bruising revealed itself. The bruises got way ugly all the way down to my chest (but it wasn't an appropriate picture to take so this will have to do).

Here's what I started out with, but since I got home we have added chocolate milk, OJ, Cran-raspberry juice, beef broth, veggie broth, and tomato soup to the mix. Ryan got that little dry-erase board so that I could communicate with him... which came in handy!

This is how I roll...

So that's that! Not much more to say, but I definitely feel on the up and up now and hope that it continues that way.

Surgery

I had my surgery on Monday and got to come home last night. Having had it scheduled 9 months ago, I was so ready to get this over with! The surgery went really well and even though my face is still a big blob of swollenness (and getting bigger every day), it's recovering well. It may also help that I've been taking Loratab along with a million other medicines like no other and so the pain is bearable.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the nice cards, texts, and emails... I really appreciate it!!

Last smile before I head in to surgery. You should be able to see the surgery hooks they put on every tooth. This is so that they could put rubber bands all over to keep me from moving my jaw.

When I got back into my room there was this beautiful bouquet of tropical flowers from my doctor, which I thought was so nice of him! (I know I look a little out of it in this pic, but it was right after the surgery).

Ryan rearranged our furniture and set up this huge (tall) air mattress in the living room so that I wouldn't be stuck back in our bedroom.

This makes me look like a total druggie... which I currently am. See the two syringes with the rubber tubes on the end? Yeah, that's my only way of eating right now. Surprisingly it's not that bad!

Well, it's time for more meds and a long nap, so I'm out for now!

My new cookbook/diet plan

Yep, "Dinner through a straw" for the next 6 weeks... I know you're jealous! :) Tomorrow morning I am going in for double jaw surgery where my jaw becomes a puzzle piece broken into 6 pieces (4 upper jaw, 2 lower jaw) to improve my jaw function. Thank you, TMJ.

Anyway, I can't eat solids for 6 weeks, my mouth will be wired shut for 1-2 weeks, and I'm being forced to drink water and protein drinks through a big, fat syringe with a catheter at the bottom that I stick in the opening behind my teeth and into my throat. The doctor said I should expect to lose between 10 and 20 pounds the first week (that would be awesome if it were spread across the full 6 weeks), which is good because I haven't worried about a single calorie the last month or so knowing this. Another good thing is that I don't have to go to work for an entire month!

Honestly, I have felt so good about this whole thing. Very uncharacteristically of me, I have had no problem talking about the surgery and the procedure, and I haven't been nervous much at all. In fact, I'm kind of looking forward to a nice 2 hour nap tomorrow morning. I'm sure that will change when they finally send me home and I have to figure everything out on my own. But I'm not thinking about that right now. Wish me luck! :)

Labor Day birthday

Since one of our cute little nieces, Ashlynn, was born last year on Labor Day, we headed down to Provo to celebrate her first birthday at the park. Let me tell ya, that girl is set for life with toys and with all the noises they make and things they do, her momma might be going crazy sooner than later! After the party, Ryan and I headed over to J-Dawgs for dinner... you know, since we were in Provo and everything, why not? :) The end.

Rah...Rah...Rah, Rah, Rah...

Gooooooooooo COUGARS!

Ryan and I agreed the other day that we love Provo in the fall. Everything is new and exciting, everyone is refreshed from the summer, it's fun reuniting with old friends and making new ones, and you can feel the energy in the air. This is the first fall that both Ryan and I have not been starting a new semester/class in school and it's kind of weird not feeling all of this change. Thankfully we have BYU football to help us get into the swing of fall, and we LOVE it!

Tailgating

Bro-in-law, Brandon, doing flags (he's on the far right):

And pulling off the WIN! Go Cougs!

Ensign Peak

I really dislike hiking but Ensign Peak is one of those hikes that anyone can do, and in about 20 minutes. I remember hiking this a lot with my family when we were younger and would come out to Utah on vacation. Last Saturday evening, Ryan and I didn't want to be cooped up inside the apartment on such a nice night, so we decided to go on this little hike. Ryan's family had never been there before, so they joined us as well. Besides the two huge tarantulas we saw on our way down, it was the perfect night, the valley looked gorgeous, the moon was huge, and it was a great way to enjoy another quickly-fading summer night.

One year older...

On Friday I turned the big 2-6! During the middle of work, the doorbell rang. Usually it's a salesperson so I never answer and I just sit quietly. But after about 5 rings and consistent knocks, I decided I had better answer and was surprised to see Lisa, Brandon, and Ashlynn standing at my door! It was a good little break from work and they brought me the best cupcake I have ever had.

While I was hanging out with my friends the night before, Ryan went to his parent's house and made me a cake as well. Once he got off work for the day, we headed out and got some dinner, swung by the mall and did a little shopping, and then grabbed a redbox to watch at home. I wasn't feeling very well and so it was the perfect amount of fun and relaxation and I thoroughly enjoyed just being at home with Ryan.

Then, on Sunday we got together with my family down in Provo to celebrate even more! We had a delicious ice cream oreo pie thing and then hung out and played games for a little while. It was fun, as usual!!