the day after tomorrow...

I'll be on the other side! My surgery is scheduled for 11am on Wednesday. I had my pre-op phone interview with Swedish Hospital this afternoon, and it sounds like my surgery will only be 3-4 hours? Sweetness.

The bad news? My computer wasn't able to be fixed yesterday so our friend has to wipe it completely clean and re-install the operating system on it. So not only am I running Safari for all internet access on a PC, but I can't upload any pictures from my camera (among many, many other things). I have great ER bruise pictures, surgical hook pictures, my post-half-marathon picture, and of course will be taking the obligatory pre-op photos - I just won't be able to upload any photos until after next weekend, when our friend can come over and fix it. I'll add photos as soon as I can, though. And my friend Heidi will (hopefully) be updating my blog after I come out of surgery since I won't be out of the hospital until Thursday sometime.

I feel like I'm forgetting something major in the big scheme of things. I'm not sure what it could be so I'm not concerning myself TOO much, but it's slightly unnerving. Maybe it's nerves - I'm still not very nervous, though feel like I should be.

busy times

Half marathon was this morning - CHECK! While I had a giant migraine during a good share of it and therefore ran slower than I wanted to (boo), I still completed it and feel really good about that.

Nick and I went shopping in a major way - we got a new recliner that is possibly the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in - it's a la-z-boy and they really are superior chairs. We visited their store first, left because of the high prices and spent the day sitting in chairs (I felt like goldilocks... too soft... too hard... too tall... too short... not enough support... too much support) that were uncomfortable, only to return to the la-z-boy store and purchase one.

Other stuff on the shopping list?

• Baby toothbrush
• Hand-held mirror
• Humidifier
• Button up PJs for the hospital
• Liquid (infant) tylenol and ibuprofen
• Sippy cup
• Baby spoon
• Aquaphor
• Dry erase board
• Baby bulb syringe
• Afrin
• Puke pail
• Neck pillow
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Food strainer

Plus, I got a liquid, high-quality multivitamin, plus arnica montana, bromelain, and traumeel. I'm a little wary about using these directly after surgery because my stomach doesn't always react well to vitamins and supplements and since I bought them fairly last minute it was already beyond the 2-week no-vitamin-or-aspirin cutoff time.

I didn't buy a lot of food - some organic chicken broth, muscle milk, gatorade, and tea. I found a pretty great protein drink (as protein drinks go). It's called Isopure. It's got 40 grams of protein per 20 oz, and it's got no sugar (which I'm trying to avoid, as sugar can cause inflammation). I figure that as I decide I want something or something sounds good, my mom or Nick can go out for me - I didn't want to buy a lot of food and then not eat it. I might buy some cranberry juice or other juices.

Surgical hooks are on and annoying (got them on last Tuesday). Had my appointment with Dr. Lee (surgeon) and found out that she might not do the segmental Lefort - she may just do a 1-piece. I have the possibility for a bone graft out of my hip depending on how bones look when she's in there. I don't know the words for the surgeries - but she's impacting my upper jaw (gummy smile) and evening it out (correcting open bite). She's bringing my lower jaw forward (to fix the overbite) and making my chin match with a genioplasty. I have the terms in my surgery folder, but it's in the living room and I'm too lazy to get it right now. I'll update that later.

I'm a bit sad because I had a whole list of questions but she kind of did the "talk to me about my surgery" while we were doing the molds and the facial measurement (face-bow?) stuff. And I had left my purse and questions with Nick in the waiting room, because I thought we'd go into an office to talk. But nothing major. I know about the recovery and what it looks like with her, I know my risks (AHHHHH!), and I know the benefits.

More updates later. I'm not feeling all that nervous yet, but I think it's because it's all so surreal right now. It was such a battle to get here, and now it's actually happening.

Oh! And I found an ice pack / jaw bra online. Thanks to everyone for your searching and well-wishes. :)

HELP!

Does anyone out there (post surgery) have a cool-jaw wrap they'd be willing to sell me? I got my order in from Zip-N-Squeeze today and apparently they are backordered - and it's really a product that I think I need with all of my jaw joint issues causing migraines and stuff.

I'd be willing to pay you the $10.50 for the wrap and all the other fees like the box and shipping and handling... Anyone?

countdown pt. II

Just over a month ago I was in love with my countdown clock - I spent a good minute watching the seconds tick by towards my paid-for-mostly-in-full surgery.

But now? It kind of seems like that clock is laughing at me, reminding me of all of the million things I have to do before I'll be ready. (As if I could be actually ready for this). But the migraines aren't stopping - though the new anti-nausea medication actually stops them in their tracks - so there's no way I'm stopping now.

This week is a busy one - today is shopping and brainstorming soups with my amazing mother-in-law, tomorrow is helping my friend in her classroom and getting hooks on at Dr. Molen's office, Wednesday is the husband's birthday and I work at Starbucks, Thursday pre-op appointment with Dr. Lee and I'm picking up my marathon packet in Seattle, and Saturday is the half-marathon. So pretty much between now and my "last meal" event at my favorite brew pub, I've got 3 days to myself.

It's all coming so quickly.

inquiring minds want to know part deux

Alright, I warned you: Part Two of the "Inquiring Minds..." series. Answer as you will (this will really help me!) And if you've already answered these ahead of time (overachievers!), feel free to ignore me.

1. What are questions you asked your surgeon at your pre-op appointment?
2. What are foods you stocked ahead of time (other than soup, my MIL has that covered and then some) that were easy to "eat" right after surgery? Anything that you would NOT recommend?
3. What are the products you bought for jaw surgery? (Stuff). I need to make a list!

Thanks, guys. This means a lot to me. School is out in just a day and a half, and after that it's just 14 recliner-shopping, food-stocking, list-making, apartment-cleaning, half-marathon-running, migraine-avoiding days until surgery. I have great pictures of all of the IV bruises I've collected in the ER last week, but my computer is acting up and I can't upload pictures. I'll make sure to have that fixed before surgery :)

Part three... coming soon to a theatre near you.

so get this...

I was in the ER again last night around 11:30pm. The waiting room was empty but we waited for almost an hour before I got called into triage. You wouldn't believe the stupid guy I got to deal with. He asked about my migraines. He asked all the normal questions (is it a "normal" migraine, how long have you had it, what have you taken today, etc). We then got to the fact that it was my 3rd visit in 4 days and he was shocked. Okay, that's fine. Be shocked. But then he started asking questions about my jaw and the jaw surgery - and how exactly did I know the migraines were jaw related and not an aneurism or something?

I explained that when my jaw hurts, I get migraines. When I do things like play the clarinet and eat and chew and talk, it gets aggravated and turns into migraines. He asked if I had done any of those things today - I replied that yes, I had in fact played my clarinet, eaten, and talked today... to which he responded... "you need to take care of yourself. You can't do things like play the clarinet - after all, would you feel sorry for a lung cancer patient that smoked a pack of cigarettes before asking us to "fix her up?""

Umm.. excuse me, jerkface!?! And the worst part? It wasn't even my clarinet playing OR eating that gave me the migraine - it was the drive home in the dark with all of the headlights facing at me.

I'm still ticked beyond belief.

I love the ER, and the ER loves me

The migraines took an unexpected turn for the worse this week. I was at school throwing up on Wednesday on field day (yuck), so right after I went home we went to the ER. Spent 6 hours and could only get my pain down to a 3 or 4 (out of 10). The "big guns" narcotics just aren't working for me - in fact, they seem to be making everything worse.

On Thursday I had the massive migraine all day while bowling and skating with the 8th graders at my school - came home, napped, thought I was feeling better, and then Nick accidently moved my arm that was pressing into my face. Seriously, that's all it takes anymore - I almost puked immediately, I couldn't move, finally fell asleep with my hands pressed to my jaw in complete agony.

This morning, woke up, thought about going to the ER but I don't have any more sick days and since the husband is home but not working we're a little short on cash - but it did me no good. I got to school and the pain was so bad I couldn't form complete sentences so another teacher drove me home and Nick drove me straight to the ER where we spent only 4 hours. With lots of narcotics that don't make it better.

My hand (from the IV on Wednesday) has a giant bruise. My arm is a GIANT bruise because the poor nurse today was new and I have hard veins to find anyway... she had to root around in there a lot to find the vein. OW!

I don't know what I'm going to do, or how I'm going to survive the next two and a half weeks. I went to my regular doctor this afternoon and she just kind of said "well, good luck! Jaw surgery is in 2 and a half weeks!"

Great. Lord, help me. I don't know if I can do this.

time flies...

...when jaw surgery is only 3 weeks away.  3 weeks from now I will be coming out of surgery and I'll join the rest of you on the 'other side.'  I'm becoming terrified!  This is so scary now that it's coming up so fast.  Luckily I'm running a lot (half marathon in 2.5 weeks), I'm working a lot (7 more school days), and I'm playing my clarinet a lot (2 more concerts).  This weekend I'm hanging out with the mother-in-law who is hopefully making me lots of soup for the recovery bit.  

The jaw hurts like CRAZY and I've had what seems like a trillion migraines in the past few weeks but everything seems a little better now that surgery is on the horizon.   

It's all coming so fast :(  I'm scared.