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
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