recovery

I'm recovering well, but as you can see Ace is getting more use of my pillow than I am. He and Ashley took turns last night laying on it.

The surgery went very well. Dr. Matty was able to take 2 pieces of bone from my mandible, one from the inside, one from the outside. Thankfully he only took from the right side or both sides of my face would be sore and swollen. As it is, I can barely open my mouth, so I'm on a liquid diet.

I am on plenty of meds... thank goodness for pain meds! They are wonderful. Nathan has been wonderful. All day yesterday he took care of me and got me anything I needed. I can't really talk, but he has been wonderful at picking up what I'm trying to say.



The picture above shows where the bone was taken from (the red square). The pieces were about 2/3" square and about 1/4" thick. They weren't expecting to take two pieces, but since they did, it will be easier for my implants in the spring.

Right now the right side of my jaw is swollen, it looks like I have a tennis ball in my mouth. My upper lip as well as my nose are also swollen. Yesterday I used icepacks all day, today I'm trying to do it as much as I can, letting one freeze while I use another. If you ever need a homemade icepack, they are really easy to make.

1 part alcohol
1 part water

If you put that in a baggy and then put that baggy in another bigger baggy and put it in the freezer it is the perfect slushy icepack. The alcohol doesn't let the water freeze so its super cold and forms nicely to where you put it. Gotta go get some ice right now, we'll let you know later in the week how things are going. Once I can open my mouth I'll let you know what the stitches look like!