Week 3. Improving Slowly but Surely

.
Yo Mama!

How's everything going in your neck of the woods? It was great hearing from you the other day and I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well.
Earlier this week, Pauls mom RoseMarie and Alex came up to S.F. for a long weekend and dropped in to see us. They also went up to Petaluma to see RM's sister Nanette and her family.

While they were here, we went out for a couple of meals, which was a little bittersweet. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE them to bits, but watching them eating hash browns and sausage one day, and caeser salad and fish and chips the next kind of bummed me out a little, since all I could really eat were poached eggs, cream of wheat, part of a mushy pancake and really mashed potatos. (not in the same meal, mind you) Pity party for Pinski!! Actually, at dinner I ate some light extra-flakey fish that required no chewing, so that was quite scrummy.

I know. The day will come when I will finally be able to start eating soft foods. In fact, I'm slated for my Ouch Bar removal on July 11th, so mark your calendar! After that, look out!
Dr KL will remove them in his office while I'm under "twilight sedation", which means for me I'll be out cold and won't remember a damned thing. Can you say "Cheap Date"?
No bother!! I like it like that!!

UPDATE!!: I have been informed that the Ouch Bar removal process is not one utilizing "twilight sedation". I assumed it was, but apparently it's just a matter of getting shot-up with a lot of novicaine. I'm hoping he'll throw in a little nitrus oxide just to make it more fun, but I guess I won't know till it happens.

Well, it's Week 3 and like the subject line says, I'm improving "slowly but surely". I've updated the "Before" and "After" Pics page with Week 3 (Day 21) pics, so make sure to check it out.

BTW, here is a candid shot of MY "Ouch Bars" that Paul took this morning. They are woven with wire around my teeth (not bolted or screwed in to my jaw), so it should be a pretty easy procedure taking them off. I won't miss them. No sirree. Right now, each of those little silver things sticking out (where the rubber bands can attach) are embedded in to my lip, and although there are no sharp edges, they are still rather uncomfortable. I know I could use wax, but it's REALLY not that bad....but with a little more than 2 weeks before their removal, it wouldn't surprise me if I eventually break out the wax.

Attractive, aren't they?? As you can see on the right, there are rubber bands from the top to the bottom. They are only on the right because we are at the stage of "fine tuning" my bite before the Ouch Bars come off. Dr KL said that he will be removing the rubber bands all together on Monday, which is great because it's not really the Ouch Bars themselves that cause the Ouch. It's really the pressure from the rubber bands. My bite feels pretty good, but honestly, it's still so hard to tell because of all the numbness that I still have.
I really can't feel any of my teeth on the left side. The right side is better but not 100%. Also, my chin (from the Genioglossus) is still numb but it starting to get tingly, so that indicates that the feeling is slowly returning. Unfortunately, shaving is a huge pain in the *ss. Shaving my chin is especially difficult and weird. Almost like it's not actually MY chin that I'm shaving.

The nasal infection that I reported last week is getting better by the day, but still not completely gone. Still taking the antibiotics for that for a few more days. Eeeuu. That whole thing was uber-gross.

Also, the popping in my ears is still happening. Dr KL said this will eventually subside, but for now, it's still kind of strange and a bit annoying.

Pain-wise, I've reached a point where I'm starting to lessen the dosage of my pain meds. Sometimes I'm okay, and other times...not so much. I'm going to have to ask Dr. KL his opinion on how to wein myself down from my pain meds "gracefully". Unfortunately, I'm almost out of meds, so I'll have to see weather one last prescription is in order or if it's time to just suck-it-up and bite the bullet with stuff like Tylenol etc...

On the food front, I have not been eating much soup becasue I'm sick of it. Almost in all forms (except for maybe the ones with bacon in it:-). I have blended the chunky style soups, noodle soups and any other kind of soup you can imagine. Now, I'm just primarily drinking the protein shakes with any kind of fruits I can think of. Yesterday, I broke out the Mini Cuisinart and pulverized some delicious chicken chow mein, (and removing some of the vegetables that didn't get pulverized enough). With a little soy sauce, it was really really good. (both taste-wise as well as for my mental health!) I am still not supposed to chew anything (and I'm not) but just by putting the mushy stuff in my mouth and leaving it there for a few seconds before swallowing it, was still really nice.

Lastly, I think Paul is doing better. I was a little worried about him - especially after what I refer to as "The Stanford Bleed-Out" incident, but I think things are getting back to normal, and I don't think he's permanently traumatized over that now. Poor Boopie. Who'd have thought that in only 6 years, he'd have to go through, 2 elbow scoping operations, 1 hospitalization for a bowel obstruction, and 2 (MMA/GA-related) surgeries. I'm glad he hasn't ran for the hills. Apparently he still likes me enough to stick around, so I consider myself very, very lucky.

So, I think I'll close for now. Not the most clever letter I've written, but I just wanted to keep you updated on what's been going on.

All my love;
Pinski
.

Wowzers! 2 weeks fly by when you're having fun!!

.
Hi Mom;

I can hardly believe it's been 2 weeks since my MMA/GA surgery. I've decided that other surgery at day 7 or whatever doesn't count as anything but a followup procedure (reserved for only me;-)

It's a little tough being able to tell how I'm feeling "in general". Right now, it pretty much depends on what time of the day you ask me. At times, I feel like a million bucks and seem like everything is right on track. At other times, I feel kind of crappy. I really wish I were feeling fantastic all the time, but realistically, the crappy times eventually pass and I'm back to feeling good again.

In general, (like many other people at the same point of their recovery) I feel like my mouth is in a vice, under a great amount of pressure.
My pallet is still quite numb and it feels like I'm wearing my orthodontic retainer all the time.
Luckily, I was given these neat little stiff-spongy things (they look like a lollypop from a distance) and by trimming them down, I am able to clean a good amount of my teeth and tongue. I still can't feel many of my teeth either, but just knowing I've cleansed them and rinsed them as good as I can for now, makes me vewy-vewy happy.

After Monday's followup appointment at Dr. KL's, I seemed to be doing pretty well, but by the end of the day, both of my sinuses were not clearing out very well. I had also been experiencing really bad (but infrequent) headaches, and an occasional bout of reflux. Not fun. He let me know that the oxycodone he prescribed didn't have Tylenol in it, so to buy some of the liquid kind when my head started to hurt. I also asked him about pain management. Seems the oxycodone works pretty well most of the time, but since I take 2 tsp. every 4 hours, there are times when halfway in to hour 3 that the pain starts to return. Dr KL suggested I take 1 tsp. every 2 hours, in order to keep a steadier stream of meds.

Later that day (towards the evening), I could tell there was something "not quite right" with my sinuses, not only because they weren't clearing out easily like they did before, but they seemed to be emitting a rather unpleasant smell as well. I also started having a tough time swallowing.

Realizing that my sinuses have been through a lot, (the left one having a breathing tube put in it for each of the surgeries, and the right one being "slightly deviated" and repaired during the first surgery), I thought about the possibility of a nasal infection. Especially because of that new and quite unpleasant smell. Also, the contents of both sinuses were now the same and also new. I won't describe it, other than to say....kinda brown, flemmy and smelly. Dr KL is out of town, but told me to call him if anything came up. I sent him an e-mail that said "NON-EMERGENCY question" in the subject line, and proceeded to describe my newest issue.

He called about an hour or 2 later, and told me that I should have called him, but I told him that I wasn't sure if this issue was really THAT critical, and that I decided I could wait as long as it was going to take. He understood and then asked me for my pharmacy's number, to prescribe some anti-biotics. Apparently my description led him to think I indeed do have a sinus/nasal infection.

I got that filled today and started taking it. I hope it starts working. I also have a 99.7 temperature. Not high enough to be alarmed about, but definately worth keeping an eye on.

So, I guess I'm just in a holding pattern, trying to behave myself by not overdoing anything, and just trying to take as good of care of myself as I can.

I updated the Before" and "After" Pics for you to check out too. Now that I look at the Day 7 pics, I think there is more swelling in my right cheek today. My guess is that he has something to do with that nasal/sinus infection. Paul thinks the swelling in my cheek has actually gone down a little bit in the last 4 days. At first I looked like I had a half-of-a-tennis ball stuck in my cheek, but today it only looks like 1/3.

So, there you have it! I hope you and dad had a good weekend, and it was a Happy Fathers Day for him. He's the best, isn't he?

love to everyone:
Pinski

ICU Part Deux: (An addendum that doesn't *really* count)

.
Dear Mama;

Sorry I've been out of touch "blog-wise" for the past few days, but that's what happens when they throw you back in to the hospital again. d-OH!!

DISCLAIMER:

First, I have to say (and I'll explain why a little later), this doesn't happen to everyone. In fact, I'm not sure it's happened to anyone, but unfortunately it did happen to me.

That's why I'm titling this with the key word ADDENDUM in it, because it's like a sidenote. I really doubt that anybody who has an MMA/GA procedure would have to anticipate something like this happening to them. ...and by the way. Dr. KL said this is the first time (in all the hundreds of surgeries he's done) that he's seen something like this too.

Secondly: This blog is gonna be gross. No way around it, because that's how it was. ...but I know you're tough, mom!! (Although I must admit, I'm glad you weren't here for this one)

Lastly: For as bad as this may seem, other than feeling robbed of 3 days of my exceedingly- exciting life, I feel like the whole experience looked worse than it really was.

So, a brief recap: Remember how on day 6, I started to bleed profusely on and off for no apparent reason?

<from a couple of blogs ago>
So, then he said that if I start bleeding like that again, he will want to admit me to the hospital and go in to see why it's happening, because he hasn't seen that happen before. So, I've decided that I dont want to go back to the hospital, so I am on EXTREME "I'M NOT GOING BACK TO THE HOSPITAL" ALERT. Meaning. I'm not going to much of anything for now. Well, at least I'm really going to try.

Well, so much for that plan.

All was well on Wednesday. Things were looking good. Practically sunshine, lollypops and rainbows. I was taking it REALLY easy, and around 9 p.m. we were just about ready to finish watching this really bad movie when I realized it was time for my pain meds. So, I walked to the kitchen, poured them in to the little cup, tilted my head back and BAM!! Gushing blood again!!!

I kind of wimpered (I actually felt like crying becasue I knew what was in store) and yelled for Paul to come in and to get me some ice (since we'd been through this before) and it didn't take all that long to get things under control.

At first, I didn't want to call Dr KL on his cell and tell him about it, (thinking it was just another one-time fluke), but since it was actually the third time it had happened, I decided I would be a total dumb-ass not to call him.

He answered immediately, I told him what had just happened, and told us he'd call us back, but to get ready to come back to Stanford. Within minutes, he called back and told us where to meet him. (On the same non-ICU ward where I had stayed previously). He would set me up with a room for the night and go in and see what was up the next morning.

So, we got there, and Dr KL was (of course) already there. They got my room squared away, and he said he'd be back bright and early. I went in to the restroom to pee, and as soon as I tilted my head down, BAM AGAIN!! Again, I yelled for Paul to go catch Dr KL and asked the nurses to get me ice and a bucket. Unfortunately, this time I couldn't get the bleeding to stop. I don't know if it was because when I ice with pressure, I have to switch off arms, and this time they weren't letting me do that becasue they had put the blood pressure cuff around my left arm or why that was.

Dr. KL was back by then and was looking all around trying to see where all the blood was coming from, but he couldn't pinpoint it just by looking. I was trying not to choke because it was coagulating too quickly before I could spit it out, and it was sticking to the rubber bands that were attached to my "ouch bars".

I eventually got the bleeding to stop. ....and then it started again. And that happened several times, again and again. Then, it just didn't stop. By that time Dr KL was on the phone to Dr B the anesthesiologist to ask him to come in then, and Paul was on the sidelines, very quite and as white as a ghost. I told him to split, knowing what he'd been through the past couple of days, assuring him I was in the best of hands, and he did take my advice.

There were a lot of nurses trying to take off my clothes and get me in a gown, while I'm holding this bucket full of blood, spitting out coagulated glob upon coagulate glob. It was really pretty disgusting.

FINALLY, they got me on the rolling bed, and wheeled me up for emergency surgery.

Unfortunately, because of how "last moment" all of this was, the emergency room team was asking about all kinds of paperwork, (even a doc that I needed to sign) and it was a little bit chaotic. They seemed ready for me, but not "officially" ready until all the "I"'s were dotted and the "T"'s were crossed.

...but can I just say this: Dr KL is probably the most caring and incredible doctor I have ever had to privledge to meet. I am certain that there is absolutely no better doctor I could have had, and no way all of this could have happened in such a timely and professional manner, had it not been for his do-diligence. He kept his cool, got done what needed to be done and after a rather awkard (probably 30 minutes) of just waiting for everything to happen, finally wheeled me in for the surgery. 3 cheers for Dr Kasey Li!

Hip-hip Hooray! Hip-hip-Hooray! Hip-Hip- Hooray!!

One thing I forgot to mention to the doctor (and I'm sure you will remember this, mom) because I really didn't make a connection until then, and that was: Remember back in 93' when I had my (out-patient) UPPP surgery and you came out here to help take care of me? The surgery went well, but after 5 hours back at home, I still couldn't stop spitting up blood?......and the doctor made us drive (actually, I drove on liquid Vicadin and you held the spit-bag and tried not to fall apart) to Burlingame to re-operate on me?....and that doctor had mentioned that never in all the surgeries had he previously done, had this ever happened before? Sound familiar?

Anyway.......

Crap. So, I wake up yet again in the ICU. I felt okay. Turns out, that Dr. KL didn't really find any specific place from which I was bleeding profusely, so he went in and cauterized as much as he could. Just on the top, since that's where all the bleeding was coming from.

Later that morning, he told me that he'd decided we'd better have hematologists check me out to see if there's something wrong with me in the blood clotting (or in this case blood not-clotting) department.

That morning, I was given 2 units of blood. Did I mention I bled alot? Oh, right. I think I did.

The ICU is a nice place. I like the peeps there. My first ICU nurse Jason was a really nice guy and a really good caregiver. This time, the nurse I had for the longest aount of time was Kim B. Great nurse as well, and such a happy disposition. She said I cracked her up, especially when each hematologist came in and started asking me the same questions over and over. Hello!! Compare notes people! I'm surprised anybody could even understand me at all because my voice sounded really bad. Actually it still does, so I'm not saying much today. They also drew blood in order to test it.

Oh, and get this: I have no idea how, or when or where it happened, but when I woke in the ICU, the top of my left foot hurt. ?? HUH?? Like it had a cramp in it or something. Well, throughout the course of the next 2 days, it's gotten a lot worse. Swelling. Pain spreading. Gawd!! It hurts WAY more than my stupid jaw at this point! ... and nobody knows why! What a hoot!

...but IMO, it's kind of cool, because it shifts the focus from my jaw, elsewhere.
What a sight! I'm hobbling around like a gimp, and my voice is as raspy as Tom Waitts!

Unfortunately, I can tell a lot of differences with my mouth and jaw between after the first and after the second surgery.
Now, my top teeth are even more numb than they were, my pallet (a.k.a "the roof of my mouth") has a lot less feeling and my ears are really popping a lot. Oh well. It's still not all that terrible.

Finally, after almost a full 24 hours of the ICU, I was moved back to the C2 Unit at about 1 a.m. to the very same room I had the first time, but this time I had the bed by the window. It was nice seeing all the familiar faces. I almost felt like Norm from Cheers. (well, not really, but you know....) .

Then, that morning was Friday the 13th. Go figure.... Dr KL had been in and out so many times to check on me that by that time, I had lost track. He had come in early that morning and said that I was doing well, and if Hematology agreed, he'd like to let me go home later that day. Unfortunately, he hadn't heard a squeak out of the Hematology people, so we needed to wait until they gave the okay. Paul was there and our hopes were up that I would be going home, but The Hema-peeps never contacted him...or me...or anybody. Finally Dr KL paged them and contacted them on the (I think) 4th page. (Glad THEY weren't my surgeon!!)
It turns out that even though I had some irregular "levels" in my bloodwork, they didn't want to prescribe anything for me, but wanted me to stay another night just to make sure it wasn't going to happen again. GAWWWW!! So close.

Oh! ONE good thing about that Friday the 13th! I did have my first poo!

...but I digress. Anyway, Paul headed home and I settled in (with icebags on my foot) for another night in the big house.

......and today, they finally let me out!! Yay!!
This is Nurse Laura, removing my last I.V.

So, we're home now. I'm relaxing, sipping on pureed bean with bacon soup and thought I'd drop you this little (HA!) note.

Also, it looks like I've lost about 15 pounds all-tolled. In my humble opinion, I had 10 too many to start with, so I'm *feeling* like I'm only 5 pounds down. I'll try to make it back up, and I'm sure I eventually will.

Don't worry mama. I'm fine, and Paulie (as usual) is taking good care of me. Bless his little thumper.

much love;
xoxoxo
Pinski

This just in..

.
....from The Department of Redundancy Department:

Nice people are so nice!!!!

Hi Mama!

Writing again so soon, you may ask? Well, ya.... Especially when it's either this or getting in trouble for talking!!

Anywaze, upon waking from a quite-overdue nap, Paul had just returned from being out (having Coffee at our groovy neighborhood Starbucks)

"I have presents!" he informed me.

AAAhhhh. Beautiful flowers!.....from my barista friends at Starbucks! They are just so thoughtful. This also includes my pal from work Jen, and my "mo" friends in Ireland, Vince and Dave, who have also sent me flowers.

So, being the shutterbug I've become lately, I thought it was time for yet another photo-op.



[Left to Right]: Me, The Bunch from the Starbucks ...<---->....Ted modeling the flowers from Jen
Bunch, then Jen, and then Vince and Dave.

Also, speaking of pix!
As my swelling goes down and there's some change, I'll be updating my "Before" and "After" Pics, page, so refer to that page in the archives to see them!!

who loves you mama??

xoxo:
Your Sonny, Pinsk.

Day 6 (a,k.a "The toughest day so far")

.
Dear Mom;

Woo! I wanted to make sure yesterday was REALLY over before telling you about it.

Not the best day I have had, to say the least.

Things were going along pretty well up until then. Hadn't really gotten much "quality sleep" because of my nasal challenges. That is, the deviation on the right side was fixed and is still healing, and the left side kept being stuffy because the breathing tube went down that side, so breathing out of my mouth dried out my mouth so bad and I couldn't sleep.

Pain has been managed pretty well, but it's definately there.

So, after the "Non-Eventful" doctor appointment, I figured things would just continue to progress slowly (i.e. "Status Quo").

Went to bed Monday night, and really started sleeping well for the first time. There's some progress!
Okay, so my alarm startles me awake at 1 a.m. (as not to miss my pain meds and antibiotics) and the startling makes my chin hurt. Hmm. Not as "dead" as I thought it was. Even though the Genioglossus pretty much nummed everything out, I'm feeling *something*, so I guess that was good. I also noticed that the rubber bands, used to "re-rubber band" my "Arch bars" were WAY TIGHTER, and because my bite isn't evened out yet, the place where (only) 2 of my teeth touched, was quite sore as well.

By the way, when you wrote back and referred to them as "ouch bars", I decided that term had to stick.... Thanks, Ma!

Anyway, took the meds, went to the bathroom and set the alarm for 4 more hours out, and was back in dreamland before I knew it. By the way, oxycodone works great for pain, but ever since I've been taking it, my usually "fun and interesting dreams", have been....well. STUPID

...but I digress. Fast-forward to 5 hours later. The alarm goes off. I get up and walk to the kitchen, take my liquid pain meds, and wash it down with a couple gulps of water. Then, I start walking to the bathroom, and suddenly OUT OF NOWHERE, I feel blood literally GUSHING down my front teeth (from the inside insision - above my top teeth, not from my nose). This was not a trickle which really startled and worried me..

In the bathroom, it was like a scene from a gory movie. Blood, blood and more blood. Blood tastes gross, and it coagulates rather quickly. It's consistency reminded me of blackberry Jello...only warmer...and grosser.
I finally rushed to the bedroom and told Paul that I was bleeding really badly.
Poor him. Waking up to his boyfie all panicked and covered in blood.....
We got some ice out, leaned my head back and applied pressure, which started to slow
down the bleeding fairly quickly. Realizing this was a legit emergency, we called Dr KL's office and left a message, plus I sent him an e-mail asking him to call me as soon as he could (It was 5:30am at that time).

Luckily, the bleeding finally stopped, I rinsed out my mouth really well with saline stuff, and layed back down on the bed. Soon there after, Dr KL called. His advice was pretty much what I had already done (ice with pressure), that I *might* have broken a stitch, and said I should come in to see him later that day and to call him on his cell next time there's an emergency like this. I didn't have that number, but I do now!!

At about 1 in the afternoon, I called Dr KL's office and explained to Daisy that I wanted to make an appointment to see the doc. She said she would call me right back. So, in the meantime, I walked over to the washing machine, and leaned over to take stuff out and BAM! I felt the pressure "break", and the blood started GUSHING again. This time, a little worse. So, more pressure, ice and it eventually stopped. This time, I handled it, and Paul just kind of stood there in horror.
Dr. KL called back RIGHT THEN, and I told him it just happened again.
So, I scheduled the appointment to go down there later that afternoon.

Okay, so let me say as a sidenote. I could be a better patient. BUT I AM TRYING!!! One of my big goals was not to be over-needy and to start doing stuff for myself as soon as I could, so it wasn't too overwhelming for my caregiver (P.Smitty). Well, it turns out I've been frustrating him (i.e. p*ss*ng him off) because when I get bored I'll wash the few dishes in the sink, or throw in a load of laundry, instead of resting. I'd love to sleep, but I just can't...and I get bored!!...and he doesn't see that as being a good patient. So, I went from one extreme (needy) to another (too self-sufficient).

I say this because I really don't see these bleeding-out episodes as being caused by the fact that I am a bad patient. Sure, bending over to get laundry out of the washer provoked the second episode, but I honestly can't think of why it happened the first time. It just did.

We got there before the good doc, so Daisy had a look. I told her how tight the rubber bands on the "ouch bars" were, and she said that might be part of the cause but it was too tough to really tell. Daisy decided that since it was hurting too much, she sould wait for the doc to get there, which he finally did.

First, he cleaned out the coagulated blood stuff from the rubberbands, removed the wax from in front of the "ouch bars", and then he took the ruber bands off. After looking around he could not tell where the bleeding was coming from. (huh????) I told him exactly where that was, but he said the icing and pressure must've stopped it up enough to not be able to tell now.
Then, he put on rubber bands that weren't as stiff, took out a few little boogs in my nose, and replaced the wax in just one little part on the bottom jaw.

So, then he said that if I start bleeding like that again, he will want to admit me to the hospital and go in to see why it's happening, because he hasn't seen that happen before. So, I've decided that I dont want to go back to the hospital, so I am on EXTREME "I'M NOT GOING BACK TO THE HOSPITAL" ALERT. Meaning. I'm not going to much of anything for now. Well, at least I'm really going to try.

Paul had had enough blood and guts for a day, so after we got home, and we got some meds and a protein shake in me, he left for Starbucks and promised to swing by The Cove to get me mashed potatoes and white gravy. I made sure to make the potatos really runny, but I still focused mostly on the gravy!

This was definately the toughest day so far.....so now, they can only get better, right??

Dudette'. I do NOT want to go back to the hospital.

I'll keep you posted. ...but so far, so good!

with love;
Pinski

P.S. ..and I thought *I* had problems! Check out what Premium Unleaded costs at the Chevron station across the street from our apartment. Oy!! I'm glad we have a really little car!

A Rather Non-Eventful Dr KL Appointment

Hi Mom:

Greetings from Captain Cow-Breath! Moooo! ....or is that E-w-w-w-w?

Well, I'm feeling a lot better since this morning's "pain aversion therapy session".
After taking my pain meds, I was able to crash for another un-interrupted couple of hours, which was exactly what I needed. Haven't had much success since then, but I'll keep trying until I get it right.

We *just* got back from Dr KL's office. Since it is in Palo Alto (and we are in San Francisco) it's always a little hard to judge how much driving time to allow for.
Fortunately, we left an hour before the appointment, and we got there in about 45 minutes. Just about right.

After Daisy took 3 different x-rays, Dr KL came in, cleared out the few boogs in my nose (while I sung the praises of the Neti Pot) and changed-out the rubber bands in my archbars. Remember my telling you about getting flack for talking too much the other day? Well, Dr KL said that often times he can tell how much someone has been jabbering because their arch-bar rubber bands will break -- and I am happy to report that none of mine have done that. So there!!

Then, he showed me the before and after x-rays, and promised to e-mail me the x-ray so I can post it here in the near future. Huh! Nearer than I thought!!

........BEFORE MMA/GA

.........AFTER MMA/GA..............

I was especially pleased with how much of an air passage I have now! Considering what he had to work with (meaning, such a thin upper jaw bone and all the fixed bridges right where they didn't need to be), I am really really pleased with the progress so far. Yay! I have high hopes that my sleep experience will only get better now.

He also answered a few questions I had. Like:
Why are my ears poppoing so much? Turns out the internal "guage" that senses altitudes and makes your ears to that, is very close to where I was operated on, so it is very sensative right now, but will eventually stop. Makes sense!
When can I start brushing my teeth? (See intro) For now, i am only allowed to brush the front part of the teeth I can easily see, (not the back, behind the rubber bands) and stay away...far away from brushing the gums. I'll have to stick with mouthwash or saline solution for a while longer.
How Long before my stiches start to dissolve? Around 10 days.
Is all this brusing I have normal? Yes.


....I'm actually feeling much better than this grumpy look I have on my face!

Unfortunately, it might be worse before it gets better, but I got time. I can't recall planning any upcoming super-model photo-shoots, so I'm good. ;-)

In all, a fairly non-eventful appointment. If I have any problems, I can go in on Thursday or Friday to see him, but if not, I'm scheduled for another appointment next Monday.

Lastly, please humor me while I tell you something you already know.
Paul is a saint. I am often times a crappy patient, and he's stil just the best. We snap a little bit at each other now and then, but I know I couldn't have done this without him.

So, at the expense of sending out a "For all you do....This Bud's for You!" message (which wouldn't seem appropriate because neither of us drink), I just had to throw that in, and just let you (and especially him) know that I love him and DON'T take him for granted.


...and I love you too, mama!

xoxo:
Pinski

P.S. And these are the OTHER ones in the house who always manage to put a smile on my face, weather I'm feeling like it or not!
(l to r) : Raster and Ted.

4:00 a.m. letter to me mum....

'ello Mumzie!

...er, I mean, Hey Mom.! (Yes, I know I'm not British...it's just fun saying that)

Ugh. Where to start. It's 4 a.m., I have an hour until my next round of pain meds and things are pretty uncomfortable right now. Nothing I can't handle, but you know how sometimes it just helps to "talk" to divert your attention elsewhere?

I've crushed up 3 asprins, and mixed them with warm water (yuck), so that's going to have to do for now. Why the asprin? It's the arch-bars. But more about that in a minute...

Okay, first things first. Lots of comments about the "before/after" pics. Let me just say that it's *entirely* too soon to know how my mug is going to turn out, and no, I haven't entered the "Witness Protection Program".
Will my nose be different? Will my face look longer? At this point, that is THE LAST THING I'm concerned about!!...although while out for a little walk last night, Paul and I were sitting near Starbucks with a couple of friends, and one of them said to Paul: "So this must be your boyfriends brother, eh'?" To Which Paul replied: "Nope. It's the boyfriend." Strange that I don't look like myself right now. It's like having aninimity that I don't really need!

Yesterday, I had a couple of issues to address that had been pressing.
The first was a solution for icing my face. For me, those "stockings" the hospital provided are not that great. Between the paper-lined ice "envelopes" and the stocking itself, there was little if any cooling action going on. So, I went to Walgreens and bought a box of the "double zip-lock (quart sized) storage baggies and a big ole' bag of ice.
At home, I used a nice, old, thin tea towel to wrap the well-sealed ice up and then used blue painters tape to secure everything, making sure there was only 1 layer of ziploc plastic and 1 layer of tea-towel between my cheek and the ice. Much cooler, thankyouverymuch. ...and I need to ice.
The second thing I really wanted to address was this stuffy nose of mine. When I went in to Dr KL's the day I got out of the hospital, he cleared out my nose and that was fantastic, but it gets cloggy again and again. I asked him if a neti pot might be a good idea, and he said yes. So, what is a "neti pot", you ask? It's a little gross but effective. Imagine a little tea pot filled with warm salene solution. Then, you tilt your head sideways over a sink and put the spout up to and in your upper nostril and pour the water. It goes though your sinuses and out the lower nostril, loosening and flushing out a lot of boogs and stuff that keep you from being able to breathe.
For a demo, check out this "Neti Pot YouTube demonstration" In this case, the relief, far outweighs the grossness level. It has really helped me sleep at night, by keeping my nose much clearer.

Another thing I needed to do (but wasn't *quite* as successful...yes, I know, I know Learian!) is to not talk so much. Paul allows me to talk a little, as long as my teeth stay together, making my jaw not move. You see, with the thin upper jaw bone and the bone graft Dr KL did to help make it more solid, it's not good to talk and open my jaw. Even though I am rubber-banded together, the pressure of talking kind-of "works against" what we're trying to accomplish. I promised I'd do better today, and even carry around my white-board if need-be.

Okay, so lets talk about why I'm writing you at 4 a.m. My archbars hurt! Don't get me wrong,
I'm glad I have enough feeling in my lower lip to even be able to *feel* pain, but I woke up today and felt like these danged things are *embedded* in to my lip. Glad I'm going to the Doctors today to have it looked at. He gave me wax, but I'm going to wait until I get there and let him dig around to see if the archbars are indeed hooked in to my lip, or if it just feels like it. It's hard to tell just by looking.
..and speaking of numbness, there is plenty of that. My chin is dead. Can't feel a thing, and shaving it yesterday was like shaving someone elses chin. My upper teeth, pallet, lips, cheeks and nose are a little bit numb, but my guess is that I'll get more feeling back *there* before I do in the chin area. Seems that area had the most nerves disturbed by the MMA/GA surgery.

Lastly, heartburn. I know,I'm talking about a lot of different "issues" this morning, but I'm just trying to deal with one at a time, when it comes up. So far, over-the-counter "Pepto" has been working just as good as the by-prescription Pepcid. Definately one of the most challenging aspects of all this, as of late.

....but I'm trying to be a trooper and just work though it. Okay, time for pain meds, and hopefully another couple hours of shut-eye.
Oh, pain killers, don't fail me now......

xoxo:
Pinski

"Before" and "After" Pics

.

Before (with facial hair)

Before (without facial hair)


After - Day 3 (Post MMA/GA) Wow. My nose is so different right now.

Day 7 (Swelling has gone down a little bit)


Day 14. Left side looking better than the more-swollen right side.

Day 21. (Week 3) Still somewhat swollen on the right side


Day 28 (Week 4)-

Day 42 (Week 6) - Not too much swelling left

.

Welp. It's done!

Hi Mama;

Holy Crap! I can't even begin to tell you what the past few days have been like.....but I'll try!

I hope I can be detailed enough. You see, since I've been on the pain meds Paul says I'm easily distracted, but I think he's full of -- HEY LOOK!! A CHICKEN!!

Okay, where to start: How about this:

DAY 1:

Up at 3:45 in order to get to Stanford at 5:30 for check in. Slept really crapily the night before, but I figured that didn't really matter.
Checked in and hung out in the pre-op area. Um, NO Karen Newburger robes!

Met Dr B my anesthesiologist. Very nice guy.

After asking all the typical questions and hooking up the main I.V., it was finally time to give me "a little something to relax me" and wheel me in to the operating room. Well, being such a "cheap date", I *barely* remember the operating room. I don't even remember seeing Dr. KL before "lights out".

This was taken after I was given "the little something"

.....and then I woke up. It was over. ...and that was that!! Oh Gawd. I've really done it now, I thought....

Paul said it was in the recovery room for longer than usual because they were looking for space in the ICU. After I finally got settled in, Paul was able to come in and see me.

I had the ice pack on and I think I was half in shock. Not that much pain at that time.

Dr KL came in and told me that everything went well. He was able to fix my slightly deviated septum, and he went with the Genioglossus Advancement instead of the Genioplasty.

I later learned that I unfortunately have a "thinner than usual" upper jaw bone, so the good doc had a little tougher time securing it after he advanced it (about 8mm.). Fortunately, he was able to take some of the bone from the Genioglossus Advancement and graft it to my top jaw in an attempt to make it stronger. I'm going to have to take it easy for awhile. In all, including my lower jaw advancement and the GA, the chin is out about 13mm. Not bad.

My ICU nurse's name was Jason. Totally cool guy and he stuck with me through almost the whole ICU experience and was there with morphine "every hour on the hour"!

Paul took a few pics of me when I got there. I was pretty out of it.

........my attempt at a little "ICU Humor".................................................

Not sure why, but I didn't sleep for one minute that first night. I think it was the morphine, in combination with the fact that my nose was totally clogged up. I couldn't breathe through it and I absolutely could not swallow AT ALL becuase of the breathing tube that was down my throat through the left nostril, and the deviated septum was fixed on the right nostril.

Day 2:

The next morning, I was put in a regular room. I had several nurses, and honestly, I was only impressed with one of them. But, love-love!

Dr KL came by a few times to check on me, cleared out my nose, and discussed the surgery .
I was concerened at first because my teeth seemed to only be meeting in one place (my incisers...clear over on the right), and started to feel rather uncomfortable. He assured me that my bite was fine. He adjusted the rubber bands on the archbars which seems to have helped.

I also opted to stay another day - mostly because I was really suffering from re-flux and heartburn, but was still in a fair amount of pain as well.

Day 3;

Anyway, We finaly checked me out of there this morning and headed over to Dr. KL's office to get a quick "nose clearing" and for him to check me out. We got home around noon, and I've just been taking it easy since then. Learian came by and brouht me a pitcher of home-made smoothie and to check up on me. I tell you...she has been so nice to us and has given us so much good advice. I don't know how we could every repay her for all she's done.

So, I'll download some before and after front and profile shots in my next bloggie.

There's still a good amount of swelling, but I figured it's time to put em' up here.

I hope you didn't worry too much. By now, I'm an old pro at these surgical procedures.

.....although I will admit. This was definately the most heavy-duty of them all up to this point.

who loves ya, Mama???

xoxo:
Pinski

The final countdown !! Surgery at 7:30a.m tomorrow.

Hi Mom;

Well, it's the night before my MMA/GA surgery, and we're just about there! I hope I've dotted all my I's and crossed all my T's because it's getting down to the wire now. Tomorrow is the big day. Yikes!

List-wise, I think I did alright and have pretty-much everything I need (and then some!) for now.

On the food front, we were originally going to buy a lot of Ensure, Boost, Instant Breakfast and such, but after talking to a few people and doing a little bit of homework, I found (what I think) is a better solution. We went to a nutritional-suppliment-style shop and got some 900 calorie per serving protein drink (in both chocolate and vanilla) that has a better blend of vitamins, protein, carbohydrates, not too much fat and not too much sugar. We also got some powdered fiber stuff so I will poo.

For now, I'm not too worried about having a lot of soups around, although we did get several cans (to be blended if needed) and if we need anything else, Paul will go to the store (which is not far away). That way, it'll also give him a chance to get out of the house and have a break from moi'.

As far as "food accessories" goes, we have:
Mini Food Processor, Regular blender, one of those hand-held mixers with a bunch of attachments, a couple of those easy-squeeze ketchup bottles that I can use (by cutting the end off to make the hole in the top bigger) in addition to the feeding syringe I'll get from the hospital, a bunch of "bendy" straws (Thanks Shelby!), a strainer and a funnel.

For "non-food accessories", we have;
Ultra-Sonic Humidifier, 24 hour digital timer so I don't miss taking my pain meds on time, TV tray, lots of Burts Bees Honey lip balm and Smith's Rosebud Salve (courtesy of Learian), lots of Kleenex (for drooling;-), and a nice robe that I can also use at the hospital (unless they provide a better one).

Finally, the house has been cleaned (good advice I got from the sleepnet.com site), I called to make sure Juanita at Dr. KL's would be sending my disability paperwork out on time. I packed up most of the things in my office (since we will be moving out of our temporary digs and back to our permanent digs while I'm out), got all my loose ends at work neatly tied up and left my auto-replies in order to "pass the buck" on to someone who's actually there!

Good grief! I'm glad I made all those lists because there's no way in "H.E. double-toothpicks" I would have remembered all that!

Anything else that I forgot will have to be gotten by P.Smitty after the surgery....and speaking of Paul. Poor him. Like you :-), he's always been a bit of a worrier, so I'm trying to assure him that everything is going to be okay. Bless his little thumper. He's trying his best not to show his worry, but I can read him like a book!!

I'm also half-ready to jump out of my skin, though, but I'm working on trying to stay calm. I know it's "to be expected" , so it's nothing to get over-alarmed about. Luckily, I'm feeling good, no sniffles or sore back, so I think I'm in pretty good shape.

I hope you've enjoyed all of my communique's up until now. I think posting pix on the bloggie (like in the last entry) makes it more fun, so I'm looking forward to posting more pics.

..and speaking of pics! Paul and I went out for my last solid din-din tonight. We went to the Westfield Mall to the food court where I had Tri-tip, grilled vegetables and onion strings.


Before...................................................................................and AFTER!!!

mmm-mmm-good! Then it was one last small decaf at Starbucks and that's all she wrote!

....so wish me luck! I think it's all going to go fine, and I'll be sleeping like a normal person before you know it! Paul will call you as soon as he can (you're at the top of the phone tree), so keep your cell phone handy if you're not at home.

All my love;
xoxox
Pinski