Day 31

Since my workout went so well on Wednesday, I was excited to get back to the gym again yesterday and work a little harder... BIG mistake. I went for 45 minutes and kept the resistance the same, just went a little harder... I didn't really notice how dizzy and sick I was feeling until I got off the bike and almost fell over. I went back to the bike for a few minutes and pretended to read a magazine that was on the floor until I felt good enough to walk to my car, and then spent another 10 minutes in my car waiting until I felt well enough to drive home. Moral of the story: even if it feels good, don't push it. Yikes. I'm going back this evening, but will definitely pay more attention to my body and make sure I stay within my limits.

I keep forgetting to mention it, but I'm finally sleeping through the night regularly. It's been probably 5-6 nights in a row now - wahoo! A lot of this has to do with my lessened dependency on pain killers - I'm down to taking tylenol/ ibuprofen once or twice a day now, instead of every 4-6 hours.

I have much more energy during the days now, I can eat more, I'm in pain much less, and I can concentrate better. I'm still more scatterbrained than normal, but it's starting to come to an end. Thank goodness!

Also, I am so grateful that, as a teacher, I didn't have to rush back into the classroom just 3-4 weeks after surgery. While all of the things (more energy, less pain, more eating) are very true, it still takes me 45 minutes or more to get through a normal (read: non-liquid) meal. I still wear out easily. I can not talk for very long before my jaw starts to get tired and spasm like crazy. I think that in a month from now I'll be much healthier and ready to teach, but I sure wouldn't be right now.

Day 29

I had my first workout at the gym today. I took it easy, not knowing what to expect but it went really well. I spent 35 minutes on the bike, pretty low resistance. My hip complained for the first 10 minutes or so and then behaved well until the last 5 minutes... I will go back tomorrow, depending on how it feels in the morning.

I am so grateful to be a month out of surgery today - a GIANT heat wave has hit Western Washington, and I can't imagine trying to recover in the oppressing heat - we're talking triple digits! Luckily, since I'm feeling SO much better I'm really enjoying our little tropical heat wave!

I'm still suffering from overdoing it yesterday, so I need to keep that in mind when I go back to Starbucks next week. I'm a talker - and this whole process has been quite frustrating not being able to talk or be understood well. As the swelling has gone down my speech has REALLY improved, but it's still muffled and slurred, especially when I'm tired or sore.

28 days / 1 month

It has been one month post surgery. Today I took a trip to Ellensburg (my old college town) to meet up with two college friends for dinner. I rode over with a friend - about a 2 hour drive. We ate dinner together (fish and chips again... mmm, but becoming my staple food in restaurants because it's safe), shopped a bit at Fred Meyer, and had ice cream - then we went our separate ways and drove back. All in all, probably 9 hours of talking and being out - holy crud! By the time I got home my jaw was a bit swollen and my joints ached terribly... I was dizzy again, too. It was worth it, though :)

Next week I start back at Starbucks doing short 4 hour shifts. I'm starting back at the gym tomorrow, hoping to get my energy level back up by biking - walking is still a bit painful and it takes a lot out of my hip (at this point, somewhere between mile 2 and 3 walking my muscles start to freeze up and my hip starts to ache). I'm thinking that biking will help strengthen and stretch the muscles in a different, non-weight bearing way. I drove for the first time a few days ago, as well - I have avoided it this long because I've been struggling with dizzy spells and I feel awfully spaced out all the time, despite leaving the oxycodone behind over a week and a half ago.

I wore jeans for the first time today - I put a bandage over the incision on my hip to pad it, but was still pretty uncomfortable. Tomorrow is back to the sweats. Boo.

It's been a long road to get here, but SO worth it - I still have not had another migraine! In an ENTIRE MONTH, I've had ONE small migraine that was gone in a few hours. I am so grateful and awestruck by this lack of pain in my head.

Pictures - I really haven't been noticing day-to-day changes, so it was sure nice to see the major difference in the three-week versus four-week photos. Hurray!!

Day 25

I'm FINALLY starting to feel semi-normal again. I only took tylenol/ ibuprofen once today. I am finding more and more foods that work with the soft chew diet - I can eat fish and chips with some modifications and lots of tartar sauce. Last night Nick made what he called 'swiss steak' - ground buffalo meat with gravy and mashed potatoes - it was awesome! Pudding, soup, and muscle milk are still creating a good share of my diet, but I try to have normal food at least one a day.

I was able to take the tape off of my hip yesterday and it has definitely improved movement and walking. It feels a little more tender to the touch, but not as bound together. Hopefully it'll make improvements fast and I'll be back into JEANS!

Numbness is a pretty big issue for me. I am getting tingling in the roof of my mouth but have no feeling. My chin has no feeling at all. The right corner of my mouth and up into a third of my right upper lip has no feeling. My bottom lip has limited numbness - I can feel when something's touching it but not 100%. My gums are completely numb on the upper jaw, also, but starting to come back (irritated) on the bottom. I can feel my bottom teeth, but not my top teeth. Odd - but improving.

Still truckin!

Day 23

I saw my surgeon today in Seattle. It was a very short appointment. She looked at my teeth, asked me to bite, asked if I could deal with the same rubber band configuration for the next three weeks. (Darn it! I was really hoping to get the front bands off, as they're what is really preventing me from talking normally, and they cause the most stares and double-takes at this point in public). We discussed my spasm/ pain problems and it's perfectly normal - I can leave my rubber bands off for a few hours to help with this, and if it's still bothering me in 3 weeks we can talk muscle relaxant to help. She peeked at my hip, told me the tape that's still on there can come off (hurray!) and I was OUT.

We went to one of my favorite restaurants, World Wrapps, and I was able to eat my favorite burrito (in bowl form, of course)... it had rice with a wasabi vinaigrette, salmon, and avocado! It has other stuff, but that's all I could get down. YUMMY! And I ate in public, and it wasn't terribly embarrassing - just a little. I'm still using the baby spoon as no other utensil fits in my mouth, I have to mush down bites with my fingers, half the time the bite is too big anyway and ends up back on the plate or on my chin (which I can't feel)... I feel like a toddler :)

The hip is still preventing me from wearing "normal" pants comfortably, and I am tired of going out in public in the same two identical pairs of pants, so my mom took me shopping for a few pairs of black pants that look SLIGHTLY less like sweatpants. They're not great, and I miss my jeans :(

I then went to a pool party with a bunch of my favorite starbucks employees (didn't swim, but hung out and talked)... I didn't make it all the way through because it'd been a long, long day and I was exhausted. In fact, I got home around 4:15... ate, brushed, and slept until past 10. Now, once again, I am awake and there goes the sleep schedule I had tried to put myself on... but eh, it was worth it to get OUT.

As my incisions are beginning to heal, I am losing range of motion and height in my jaw. Argh! The stitches in the back of my mouth where the lower jaw connects to the upper jaw are really sore and they pull when I open my mouth as far as it can go. Just last week I could fit my baby toothbrush in to brush the bite surfaces of the teeth - today I can't quite get it in there comfortably. Ah, well. Dr. Lee said at the next appointment we'd start working on ROM and stretching (she didn't say anything about chewing but LORDY am I hoping!!).

Three weeks down!

My first stitch fell out today! Hurray!! I was brushing my teeth and noticed that one of the stitches was hanging down really low, so I went to move it and it just fell into my hand! Hurray! Hurray! And, like always, just as I complain about how bad everything hurts, I get some relief today. My hip has come a long ways in the past two days - the only thing holding me back is the incision healing now - it is unwilling to stretch out, which makes walking down hills and down stairs uncomfortable. But the muscles seem to be back where they're supposed to go! Must be thanks to all that walking I've been doing!

Some nerves must be regenerating in my face and in the roof of my mouth - I have crazy itching in my chin - and I go to scratch it and I can't feel anything and the feeling is gone. Kooky. And the roof of my mouth kind of feels like it's on fire. It doesn't hurt much, but it's really, really odd.

One thing that has me slightly worried (not TOO much) is my overbite is starting to come back a little bit, which I think is why my jaw has been hurting so much. I used to bite down straight on my lower braces (ouch, as well), but now I don't quite get there. I'm not terribly worried about a relapse at this point, and I'm sure it can be fixed with different rubber bands... but I was hoping to lose the front rubber bands at my next appointment - as they are the most noticeable and the ones that make my speech unclear.

On a closing note... I really, REALLY need to stop watching the food network. I'm dying. :)

Oh! And new pictures today (to celebrate week 3 being over). I'm really starting to look like a human again (phew!).

day 20

No big trip today - in fact, things were pretty uneventful. Still struggling with this constant pain - it's hard to keep a smile on my face when it's always there. Took a nap today and now I'm up until the wee hours of the morning again.

My swelling has still not gone down again - no pictures until then.

Post-op guys (or anyone else)... do you have recommendations for skin care products? My poor, poor skin is panicking like no other - and it seems my light foaming cleanser and scrub are not up to par for this level of hell.

Have an appointment with the oral surgeon on Thursday - can't wait :)

realizations on day 19

Some notes for y'all...

1. If you don't drink water, you will swell up like CRAZY again - I've seriously regressed with days worth of swelling - it kind of hurts in my cheeks (now you know why I'm not posting a picture today... argh swelling).
2. Despite blended up pizza toppings being delicious, they are very high in fat and therefore may upset your stomach in terrible, terrible ways. Oh, man. 6 hours later, I'm still sick.
3. While getting feeling back in your cheeks is awesome, suddenly I can feel all of the darned brackets and hooks poking me. Darn it!
4. Almost anything can be swallowed whole if you cut it into small enough pieces... for example, today I had a pancake, half a sausage link, and an egg at a diner! I ate in public. It wasn't terrible.

That is all for day 19... last night was yet another night of being up until daylight and then sleeping and then waking and then sleeping... I managed to not take a nap today (sheer will and chair avoidance) so I'm hoping I'll get some sleep tonight.

My brother in law and his family are in town from Oklahoma, and we're driving to Shelton to see them tomorrow - it'll be my first trip post-surgery! Hurray!

late night postings (day 18ish)

As I can't sleep, I thought I'd post my thoughts on the past few weeks.

I'm 2 and a half weeks post surgery and things are coming along well. I've had a painful couple of days due to muscle spasms - my joints are REALLY fighting my new rubber bands from my orthodontist. The worst part about the muscle spasms is I keep biting my tongue! Poor tongue.

The feeling is coming back into my face and chin, and my chin swelling is really starting to go down (thank GOD, as I was starting to look like Sarah Palin, and that's not exactly what I signed up for here). My cheeks are still puffy, but almost getting to the point now that no one but close friends/ family would notice.

It's a little freaky for me to look in the mirror these days. It's not that I don't like what I see - I think it's amazing that my profile isn't concave anymore - I think it's great that I have a chin and that my jawline actually looks strong... I don't mind the changes in my nose, and I LOVE that my smile isn't gummy anymore. It's neat that my face isn't so long. However, when I look in the mirror it just feels so... weird. It's not really me, except for it IS me. All of the changes are good, it's just going to take some getting used to.

One of the things that bothers me is the lack of sleep. Okay, not really lack of sleep as I'm probably sleeping 12 hours a day, but more the lack of a sleep schedule. I don't sleep for more than a few hours at a time. So... last night I fell asleep at 5am (bad pain), was awake from around 8-9am, fell back asleep until after noon. Fell asleep around 7pm and slept until midnight, and now I'm awake and it's past 2am. I try not to nap, but it really just makes me hurt worse and become cranky and emotional.

Speaking of emotional, the random crying is SO annoying! My poor husband. Just yesterday I was starving (like usual) and looking for something to eat but NOTHING sounded good and I was so frustrated that I just started to cry. I miss food! I've been tired of soup for a year now and am still forced to eat it. Pretty much, I'm desperate for new tastes and have resorted to swallowing things whole that I really shouldn't - for instance, today's tuna melt. I convinced Nick to make me the fillings of a tuna melt and that I could eat it - when really, after it cooled just slightly it was NOT meant to be swallowed whole - scraped up my throat, I kept choking... but it didn't stop me. :) I could have blended it, but that would have defeated the purpose - I wanted real food!! Today I also got some Haggen Daaz mint chip ice cream, but the chips are pretty big and I really wore my jaw out trying to maneuver them on my tongue to melt before I swallowed them.

I took my longest walk today yet! Probably a mile all told - we walked down to the 7-11 to mail our netflix back (no outgoing mail at our apartment complex) and got ice cream. I was exhausted afterwards, but it was really nice to get moving outside - and to GO somewhere instead of winding around our trashy apartment complex. My hip is sore, but feels better and better every day. I'm working on not limping at all when I walk, because I find that I limp almost automatically now - and the muscles aren't being stretched out and used at all. The weather is BEAUTIFUL here in western Washington right now, and I have to soak it up while I can!

I sneezed for the first time yesterday, and once more today. It was terrifying... after the first sneeze I felt around my jaw to make sure nothing had detached, but I survived okay! Again, very weird feeling.

Well... I think my marathon post has gone on long enough. Overall, I can't believe how easy this process has been. I know I complain a lot and it hurts and it was horrifying in the first week... but sheesh! Just 18 days ago I was on a operating room table with my face peeled back (sorry) and my jaws being cut apart and put back together and my hip bone was cut into. I can speak with decent clarity, I can eat, I can walk... The human body is an incredible, incredible thing :)

Night!

Day 17

Missed a day yesterday, and I think I'll be missing more days in the future. Things are improving day today, but it's all happening slowly now. I look pretty much the same as I did a few days ago.

I slept (well, should say "slept") my first night without my prescription painkillers last night - but will not be doing so tonight. My pain seems to be worse in the evening, probably because of talking and eating during the day. I can control my pain for the most part during the day with tylenol and ibuprofen, but it's hard to sleep with that nagging, pulling pain.

I've been talking about this to a few people lately, but this whole process still feels surreal. I haven't gotten a full nights sleep since before the surgery, and while this has gotten a LOT better (I only wake up 2-3 times a night, as opposed to every hour, on the hour), it kind of feels like it's been one long day from July 1st to now. I wake up with shooting pains in my ear or just below my ear, or my teeth that are being used to band my jaw shut start singing loudly.

With the new rubberbands my orthodontist gave me I'm really having problems with muscle spasms, as well - suddenly my jaw will just start to move on it's own - it's terribly freaky. And painful.

Okay, enough pain. It sounds like all I do is complain on here! I have been getting much more mobile. Going out of the apartment still wears me out, but my walks are becoming longer and easier. I am back up to speed on reading - for a while I was so spaced out that I would read a paragraph or a sentence and just space out or fall asleep with the book open in my hands... then wake up/ snap out of it and repeat it over and over again. Eating has become much easier, and Nick made mac 'n' cheese tonight with some kid pasta rings - tiny, tiny rings that I didn't need to chew.

Well, I think that's it. Pictures for today:

Day 15, orthodontist today

I went to the orthodontist today and it was really fun to see everyone. My orthodontists and assistants and coordinators were really happy to see me - and I was happy to see them!

Everything looks good, but they added a set of rubber bands from my back molars to my upper posts - lame! I was getting used to talking with the front rubber bands, but now I'm shut closed again. I shouldn't complain too much, as just a few days ago I was begging for more rubber bands to stabilize my jaw AND these are making my rear teeth closed (they weren't touching at all), but I'm complaining anyway. They're really strong rubber bands, too.

Nick, being the wonderful husband that he is, brought home delicious Indian food with extra sauce - I blended the heck out of all of it and added some rice and it was delicious. Two nights in a row with a full stomach - I'm in heaven!! And the best part about blending it all? Indian food is so saucy and well-cooked that my blended up food still resembled the original food, unlike the tacos of last night that looked like cat food. Yum yum yum!

My skin is starting to do the post-surgery freak out. I'm breaking out all over the place - especially where my skin was so swollen. Also, Stephanie SJP said that she saw the surgeon spread iodine cleaner over the jaw surgery patient's face... which can't be helping my sensitive skin.

Numbness isn't really going anywhere. I'm trying to move my face as much as possible, hoping to wake up some of the nerves and muscles. It's odd. I have no feeling at all on the roof of my mouth, my upper gums or teeth, and the corners of my upper lip. My lower lip is pretty numb but very tingly and burning. No feeling at ALL in my chin. However, my cheeks have almost completely come back, and the middle of my upper lip is doing well - which really makes eating and drinking easier.

Swelling isn't really moving... bummer. My cheeks are still giant, as is my chin. My smile is looking less like a 3rd grader "CHEESE!!!!!" smile, though, which is nice. And my profile sure looks good - I have a chin!

Day 14, down some more

What a crappy day. Lots of pain - especially in my hip again! I think that as I need fewer and fewer painkillers for my jaw/face issues, I can feel my hip more. It's pretty nasty. It is my understanding that they had to move some muscles aside to get to the bone, and that's mostly what is causing my pain. I don't know, I just know it's really difficult to walk without a limp and I'm really wanting to get to long walks to get my energy up but it's difficult with this blasted hip.

Nick and I are geeks and really wanted to see the new Harry Potter at midnight but I just wasn't feeling up to it. It's almost a 3 hour movie, and we wouldn't have gotten home till close to 4 and that's just too much for me right now.

I had the BEST meal so far tonight. I've been craving food that's NOT sweet and NOT soup - so Nick and I went to our favorite taco wagon and bought 4 little chicken soft tacos and some rice and beans and blended up the insides of the tacos with some chicken broth- it was delicious! I could eat the rice and beans without blending, too - it was nice! Sadly, all of my food looks the same these days - kind of like cat food. Not appetizing looking, I'll give you - but delicious! Tomorrow Nick's going to pick up some food from our favorite Indian restaurant. Can't wait to blend that up!!

Not much change today - in fact, I feel a little more swollen than I did yesterday. Who knows.

Day 13, down again

What a rollercoaster I'm on. While today wasn't as bad as many days have been in the past, it wasn't a very good day. I couldn't really get enough to eat and was pretty hungry all day, and I couldn't quite get the pain down today which is really frustrating.

When I'm talking about pain, I'm not talking about excruciating terrible pain. My sutures are painful - always kind of humming. My joint is always stiff and sore. The teeth that are being used to band me shut are sore from the constant tension on the rubber bands. My bottom lip kind of feels like it has a sunburn, I'm not sure why. So, in total, nothing is really TERRIBLE - it's just the constant buzz of it that wears me down - today more than yesterday.

Still only that one slight migraine in the entire 13 days. This has been such a fantastic change - my quality of life has been so different already - I am so excited!

I feel like I'm already getting more height in my jaw opening - I had no idea what to expect so I'll post a picture here. When my jaw first opened at the surgeon's office (when they de-banded me for the first time) it barely opened - much smaller than this. I have not been forcing it open in any way, but I think the joint is starting to become more mobile than it used to be. Anyway, the picture here is how far my jaw can currently open.

Pictures for today:

Day 12

Day 12 rocked my socks again. I'm finally starting to look and feel like myself. I still have very little energy - a trip to the store wipes me out, eating a full meal wipes me out, pretty much doing anything other than sitting wipes me out. I'm hoping to start going for walks soon to get some of it back. My hip is finally starting to feel more normal (though, the insicion is CRAZY! It's probably 3 inches long) and is easier to walk on - so time to start getting out there!

Finally weighed myself today... almost 10 pounds down. I'm disappointed at myself - I thought I was doing so much better at getting calories in! It'll all come back once I can start eating again, and it's probably all that muscle I had built up to run my half marathon. Argh!

Feeling is coming back in my face except for my chin and mouth area. My bottom lip is really bothering me - it just sits there, and is sitting lower than it used to so it's being annoyed by my braces quite a lot.

The pain in my jaw has decreased a lot. I get terrible, terrible shooting pains when I try to close my teeth together (which I do in my sleep and that wakes me up - ow!), but for the most part my jaw doesn't feel so unstable anymore - which is a huge relief!

Eating has been going so well! I really recommend the Magic Bullet blender - not because it's an amazing blender that can blend anything in three pulses (HA!), but because it's so darned convenient. It is a good little blender and all of the cups have been really nice for me - I blend up whatever soup I want to drink, throw it in the microwave, and can drink it without getting another bowl dirty. It's easy to clean, too. Fantastic. Today I ate cheesecake filling (bought from the store) blended up with fresh strawberries - it was SO GOOD! Made my day (for real, that's all it takes).

Okay, pictures for today (no more bruise pictures because they're pretty much gone now):

Day 11 was a bit better again

Day 11 had a little less pain than yesterday, and I only woke up 3 times last night so I had some extra sleep under my belt.

I am getting much better at eating, and my mom and I bought a new set of baby spoons that really makes things easier - they're less thick and hold a little more food. My jaw is a little less uncomfortable, so that helps because I have a little more time to get food down before I need the bands back on. The BEST part of losing the bands has been the shift from liquid medication to pills... not only is it less expensive, but MAN are those liquid medications terrible.

My mom took me shopping today to Target and Safeway and then to get some frozen custard at a local stand and I was WIPED afterwards - I had to have a nap. Riding in a car used to be really uncomfortable but riding around today wasn't too bad.

I ate a blended up corn chili bisque and a tomato basil bisque today - both of which were really filling. While I've spent a good portion of my adult life looking at nutrition levels, it's never been to get as MANY calories and nutrients as possible before... today I passed up a few soups that sounded good because they just didn't have enough calories, and I want to HEAL quickly. I am also loving rice pudding. Still using muscle milk to get some additional calories.

Anyway, I'm looking more and more like myself. The bruising is going down and the swelling is, as well - my smile looks SO FUNNY still, and my chin and cheeks are still pretty puffy. It's so weird looking at my face.

Day 11 pics:

Day 10 wasn't so good

Like I said in yesterday's post, I miss my bands. My jaw just doesn't feel right without them - and it's quite painful without them. Is this common?

Day 10 has been filled with a lot of pain (all taken care of with tylenol and ibuprofen, but only just). I didn't sleep all night last night because my jaw was unable to find a stable, comfortable position to rest - just one painful one after another. Once I got my husband's favorite pillow that's flat and mushy it helped a little. Also, heat has helped a little.

Eating is still very frustrating. I'm able to eat mush but am still mostly relying on the liquid diet to get the majority of my calories - I just finish up each "meal" with "eating" and "brushing"... all of which is fairly unsuccessful. Argh.

PS. And the inappropriate crying? It's getting annoying. :)

Day 10 pictures

Day 9

Had my first post-op appointment with Dr. Lee today. We did x-rays and she says my x-rays are "textbook" (and that's a quote!). Hurray! They took off most of the bands, leaving just two in a similar configuration up front. I LOVED to brush my teeth (gosh, that tounge was getting yucky) but I can't really brush the surfaces of the teeth where the teeth meet, as my jaw can't open that wide yet.

I don't know if anyone else has felt this way, but I just want my bands back. My jaw feels all unstable and there's no really good place to bite down and my front teeth are hitting my bottom braces brackets (WEIRD!) and it's all very uncomfortable. As much as it was lame to be on a liquid diet, this is just not comfortable.

I ate mashed potatoes and gravy today for my first "meal" and it was good... my jaw was extremely tired afterwards and my stomach wasn't quite sure what to do with all that food. My mom took me to get a hot fudge sundae from DQ in the evening but I only took a few bites before wanting the bands back on... I'll eat it another day.

The swelling is going down more and more each day, though I still don't really look like myself - I went into the Starbucks I stop at in the mornings on the way to school to pick up my markout and they asked me "hey, where do you work?" even though they TOTALLY know me.

The pictures for today (I'm starting to look HUMAN again!)

Day 8

Day 8 was a bit rough - I had a bad coughing fit (I think my husband is getting sick) and my jaw kind of spasmed out of place and then snapped back with the bands and it killed me. I was crying and curled up in a ball and back on Demerol for the first time in a few days... Had my first migraine since after surgery (which is AMAZING), but it went away overnight once the jaw calmed back down.

Did you guys hear that? I've gone 9 days and only had a migraine for a few hours. Hallelujah.

Day 8 pics:

Day 7 - feeling fantastic and PICTURES!

Pictures attached to old entries now...

Everything has completely turned around from days 2-5. Day 5 was by far the worst of all - but now my pain has gone down (I'm only taking demerol at night, it helps me sleep). My swelling is starting to go down - which is where a lot of my pain was coming from. My only pain now is really in my lower teeth, which are fighting being banded shut and my incisions, which kind of pull and sting. My jaw gets tired and sore when I talk too much - but it's easier to understand me today.

My mom took me to the store yesterday and Nick and I went to a store in the mall today. With the impressive bruising and swelling, I got quite a few outright stares.

Well, not much to say today. Feeling good (finally). Thursday I have my first appointment back with my surgeon - hurray! I think Nick said that when she called she said I would get a lot of the bands off on Thursday and could start eating more solid food... hurray!

Day 7 pics:

Day 6 - finally a little better :)

Whew! After all of that pity-poo-party time, things are doing much better. Day 6 is feeling fantastic! :)

My surgeon's office called today and told Nick I need to be moving around more, so we took an extra-long walk outside (read: 5 minutes?). It was nice. I'll take another one with my mom or Heidi when they visit later. The hip is really slowing me down, but I can't let it keep me sitting. I'm much less likely to think of the pain when I'm not sitting, if nothing else.

Breathing is a little easier today. I think my swelling is going down just a tad... but it's enough that it's taking a little pressure off of that darned swollen nostril. The tickle has magically disappeared from the back of my throat.

Nick made me tomato soup and a peach smoothie and it was heaven last night - I literally almost cried when I ate the soup, it tasted so good! I'm pretty tired of muscle milk and broth, but those have been the easiest things to get in.

In other eating news, I am almost completely off the syringe and drinking out of cups! I have four little sippy cups that have really thick lips on them, so I can manage to drink without spilling TOO much - the quantity of food that I'm able to get in is much more satisfying before I get worn out.

So... the sad news is that our friend never made it over to fix our computer. I'm going to ask my friend Heidi to bring hers over tomorrow and see if I can load pictures up to her computer and post them that way. You guys have GOT to see this bruising/ swelling - it's freaking fantastic.

Much love, guys. Thanks for your support - without you telling me it'd get better, I don't know what I would have done!! Hurray!!

Day 6 Pics: