I know it's taken me four weeks (has it really been four weeks??) to get to the third day after surgery, but I've been feeling increasingly productive/social over the last few weeks, so I've been applying my newfound energy to other endeavors. Not to say that I'm not still tired/sleepy sometimes (I still haven't quite found a groove in my sleep schedule)... but more on that in my week four (!!??) update.
Okay, Day 3 Post-Surgery (Friday, Sept. 2nd):
I hadn't struggled with nausea at all in the hospital, but on my first morning at home I felt a little queasy. To be fair, in the hospital, they'd first supplied me with anti-nausea medication and then with antacids... plus I'd been eating mostly clear liquids. But on that Friday morning I was hungry but nothing sounded even remotely edible. I had some apple juice and an Ensure with my medication, but they tasted disgustingly sweet and the idea of drinking enough to make me full sounded terrible.
Enter the Breville Juicer:
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| Breville BJE200XL 700-Watt Compact Juice Fountain |
My parents bought me this sucker before the surgery and I cannot recommend it (or something similar) more highly. My dad peeled and pitted a mango, turned on the juicer, dropped in the fruit and voila! Real food! Fresh fruit is sweet, but it doesn't have that same cloying sweetness that bottled juices and pre-made smoothies have. As soon as I started drinking fresh juices, smoothies, and soups, I felt infinitely more human and my appetite stabilized.
While I'm promoting home appliances - I also needed to purchase a new blender before my surgery. I wanted something with good reviews (I wasn't interested in combating chunky smoothies post-op), but wasn't up for spending the big bucks for a mega-blender. I settled on the KitchenAid 5-Speed Blender and have been very happy with it so far:
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| KitchenAid 5-Speed Blender |
Also on the menu that day was a delicious Pureed Carrot Soup (recipe to follow soon). Even pureed to smithereens, home made soup is about 1000% times more food-like than boxed soup, no matter how tasty the boxed soup. I think that eating home made-meals (fresh fruit juice, home-made smoothies and soups) were key to maintaining both my weight and sanity this past month. It upped both the tastiness and variety of foods I was eating, meaning I stayed interested in food - and healthy food at that!
Having people around (particularly that first week) to help prepare meals for me was vital. My parents stayed in the area for a week after surgery and boyfriend, though busy building us a house (!) made sure he always left me with a breakfast smoothie and soup in the fridge when he went off to work. I had a few friends stop by to make soup for me as well, which was so lovely.
Anyway, enough about food (for now). How was I feeling?
Day 3 was pretty much a series of intense naps interspersed with meal/medication breaks. That being said, I was still way more active than I thought I would be at this point. I got out of bed for my meals and I think I surprised a friend by being up and "chatting" with my parents when she came by to drop off some beautiful sunflowers. I even took a little walk around my back yard with my parents and posed for a chipmunk-cheeked photo op.
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| This is how I look with a rectangular face. |
I was still on Vicodin at this point and that took care of most of the jaw pain. Icing took care of the residual aches. The hospital had sent me home with ice-packs and an ice-pack sleeve (which was GREAT - basically a long tube of fabric you could slide the ice-packs into and then tie around your head). The ice-packs were refillable with ice-cubes, but we ended up getting some gel packs. They were easier and less messy.
So jaw pain was under control, but this was the point at which my neck pain was bothering me the most. Also, though my sinuses weren't excruciatingly painful, they definitely felt like they were going to airlift me into space. Showers helped a lot with both issues, so I ended up taking three... which prompted me to purchase a shower cap... which I proceeded to use non-comedically for the first time in my life. (In retrospect, I am seeing so many missed photo opportunities...)
I guess I'd summarize my general state of being as "Groggy, achy, but generally upbeat."
I think I covered everything I did in Draft 1. Even this PS:
P.S. Ground pills are disgusting. One of my friends made a lot of fun of me for complaining about this, in particular, when I'd just paid someone break my face, but seriously. There are some Rx's that just shouldn't be allowed out of their protective coating. I even resorted to mixing them with prune juice because the strong flavor managed to overpower my meds somewhat. Desperate times call for desperate measures!
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