Surgery Tip #2: Put together a collection of recipes ahead of time

Or, better yet, have a really really excellent, kind, and thoughtful friend put it together for you!

A close friend of mine sent out a call to all our friends and colleagues for their favorite smoothie, soup, and cocktail (for after I was done with Vicodin!) recipes and then put them all together into a cookbook of straw- and squirt bottle-friendly foods.

Have a friend facing a liquid diet? Make one of these.

Best. Gift. Ever.

(remember to change the name...)

My birthday was just a few days before surgery, and it was the perfect gift - everyone who submitted a recipe also wrote me a little note to go along with it. Not only was it incredibly practical, it also made me feel truly supported by my community of friends.

I'll be posting some or all of the recipes my friends shared with me on this website, but I also recommend that you send out the call for recipes (or have a friend do it) to your friends and family. It's a great way to make sure that you have a diverse diet, even if it's all through a straw, and I found it was also a great way to let people know about the surgery I was about to undergo without spamming everyone with a lot of pre-surgery information.

Trust me, you'll be happy you're not flipping through cookbooks once your jaw is rubber-banded shut.

And THANK YOU again, to the lovely folks who contributed to this project, particularly to one who organized it and the one who helped her put it all together. You have no idea how much more pleasant the last three weeks have been because of you.

Surgery Tip #1: Follow Dr. Li's four rules

Dr. Li has four rules for post-operative recovery:

1. Don't blow your nose.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Get up and walk around.
4. Practice deep breathing.

Rule No. 1 is the most annoying. A lot of the surgery is done via the sinuses and many people undergoing MMA surgery will also be having some work done on their septum. That makes for a nose that you'd really really like to introduce to a Kleenex. The good news is that on the way out of the hospital, you stop in at Dr. Li's office and he cleans out your nose. In between nose-cleanings by Dr. Li at your once-a-week followup appointments, I highly highly highly recommend you do some form of sinus irrigation.

Sinus pain was the most pervasive discomfort I experienced once I was out of the hospital and keeping my nose and sinuses cleared and moisturized was a life-saver.

I used this:

NeilMed Sinus Rinse Kit

But any form of Neti pot should do the trick. I had never irrigated my sinuses before this surgery and was pretty loathe to do it (seems kind of gross and uncomfortable to pour salt water up your nose), but once I got going it really wasn't bad and it helped. A ton. So do it. Really.

Rule No. 2 is one of those sage pieces of advice that everyone gives you, making it really easy to ignore. Take this one seriously for once. It really is good for recovery, and with your mouth rubber-banded closed getting enough food and liquid can take a little bit of persistence. I just carried around a squeeze bottle of water with me everywhere I went and tried to be sipping on it all the time. It also helps with sinus pain, so double win!

Rule No. 3 is key. Getting up and out of the house will make you feel like a human being, even if it's just to walk around the block. It also really helped my sinus pain (sorry, broken record here) to get some fresh air and be upright and moving. It's also not particularly good for the body to sit around as a lump for too long. If you mope around the house the entire time you're convalescing, you'll a) feel like a lump and b) it'll be way more difficult to get back into normal shape when you have to get back to your regular life. ALSO, I had lots of tight muscles (particularly in my neck and shoulders) after a couple nights in the hospital. Walking helped get everything back to being nice and limber.

Rule No. 4 is probably good advice for everyone, but I took it to heart after surgery. I keep meaning to ask Dr. Li why, specifically, deep breathing made his four-rule list, but I can think of a number of reasons it's a good idea. The first is the boring (but extremely valid) biological reason - oxygen is good for your body, particularly when it's recovering from some sort of injury or stress. The second is that I found that it helped keep my nasal passages clear if I took slow, deep breaths. The third reason is that it's the easiest way to tone down stress levels, particularly if you have a claustrophobic moment when it feels frustratingly difficult to breath.

I actually haven't been that stressed out at not being able to breath through my mouth. For the most part, even with some congestion, it's been way easier to breath through my nose than ever before. Ironically, the only moments where I've had brief moment of breathing panic were during some of the first sinus rinses I did. If, for whatever reason you do start to feel a little edgy about air - stop and take a slow, deep breath. If you need to, take that breath through your clenched teeth. It won't be quick, but you'll get the air you need!