Catching up

I posted a while ago that my Dad and 2 nephews were going to be with us for the week of Christmas and that I would be trying to entertain them on their visit. All that sort of kept me from being able to post updates and things.



It was wonderful seeing my Dad, it had been over a year since I've seen him and last night I got to thinking that I really need to make an effort to see him more often. After all, he's 82! I hope he enjoyed his time here. We didn't do to many tourist things, he'd been here a few times before. We mostly hung out and went to typical LA places for meals, and cooked a few in. We went to a couple movies also just to get out and do something different. My nephews were pretty easy to deal with too. They seem to be appreciative of not being in Louisiana for the week, I guess the excitement of flying isn't all that new anymore. I had a great time un-wrapping gifts on Christmas day with them. My nephews have grown up and those few Christmas' I wasn't around them was/is a memory now, and this last one was fun for me.



2007 is going and it kind of passed quickly for me. I can't say it was the best but it wasn't the worst year. I think what I had to focus on were 2 things, getting the jaw surgery done and getting settled in the new house. The start of 2007 was the getting settled in the house and the end of 2007 was recovery from the jaw surgery. Both weren't any real trouble. Of course there are some obstacles on both, but both weren't all that hard.



I'm looking forward to 2008 and hope to have some things I'm working on come through. As before I don't want to spend time talking about them as it may jinx them. As they happen I'll bring them up here.



I hope all who stop by and read my blog have a wonderful, safe and eventful 2008.

This and That and other stuff...

This weekend we've been getting the house all ready for a week of visitors and dinner guest for Christmas. My Dad and 2 nephews are coming here for a week, I've not seen my Dad in over a year and I figured it would be easier to get him here than us going down there. We have the dogs to think about and also, I didn't have that much vacation time saved up. Today we were off in different directions, me with my tire problem and Kevin doing some class work. We returned to start cleaning and straighten up. After lunch we brought the cars to get them cleaned and then picked up the dogs to head over the local dog park only to find it was closed for maintenance...bummer. We drove down to one of the pet supply stores to get Bentley a larger harness but they didn't have his signature blue color, we'll order it online and save money too.

After getting home I whipped up a batch of peanut butter doggie treats, the house smells like I've been making peanut butter cookies. We'll head over to Costco around diner time with the hopes that the crowd has thinned out some. I'm dreading it.

Tomorrow the dogs go to the groomers for a bath so they'll be all clean and fresh for the guest coming next week. I know it'll last about 2 hours when they start all their wrestling and jousting.

We'll have a few people over for dinner on Christmas, friends and family about 10 people. I'm hoping that I can manage to get everything done so we're not eating too late. I'm excited to see my Dad and nephews and I want them to remember what it was like to have a great home cooked meal that my Mom used to make. Wish me luck!

5 weeks

I think my top lip is trying real hard to cover the braces, I've noticed some indentation inside my lip and soreness. I'll have to get used to where things are all over. I still see some swelling, mostly on the left side of my face and especially in the mornings. My cheeks are bigger than ever now but that should be going down in a few more weeks too. Still numb in the chin and lower lip :-( but I expect that to last for a while longer. I'm eating better and better....but soup is still in my diet. I'm going to be adventurous today for lunch and try a salad! Wish me luck!

Updates!

I've been sort of busy with out of town guest for the weekend so I haven't had a chance to catch up here. Friends came in and gave us a chance to go out for dinner which meant we had to be creative on where and what was served at these places. We ended up on Thursday night going to a Cuban place, I had the pork roast that's basically shredded meat in a garlic & onion gravy served with rice and black beans. Friday night was Japanese Curry, I had the chicken curry again, over cooked chicken that is soft and tender in a thick curry sauce served with rice. Sunday morning we went to a local favorite Dough Boys for brunch where I had a bowl of scrambled eggs with chopped up sausage and diced tomatoes with mozzarella cheese. That was sooooo good to have something other than soup.

I'm really on my way to having a decent Christmas dinner!

4 weeks (a day late)

Darn, I forgot to post my 4 weeks stuff!

I'll get pictures up later today.

Last night I went for it! I drove down to the Panda Express and got a 2 item combo! I got Chow Mien and Black Pepper Chicken and the Tofu from the Eggplant & Tofu item. I cut up the chow mien with a knife and managed that really well. The black pepper chicken comes with celery but I didn't risk that, I only ate the chicken which was spicy and ooooh so tasty! The tofu is usually very soft and very filling but this time it had a tough skin so it wasn't all that good, but I ate what I could. I cleaned off the chow mien! I'm so happy to have had that!

I caught a cold on Tuesday and it wasn't easy sleeping last night. No drainage so I was sleeping sitting up in the sofa. Not that foreign to me, that's how I slept for the 1st week post op.

Happy belated Birthday to Kristy!

Another day

So back to work for me. I can't say that I suffered through my 1st day back with discomfort and frustration, there wasn't much of either. I managed to stay the whole day also. I thought for sure I'd poop out sometime around 1 or 2pm but I didn't. I think having Jessi to chat with and that awesome soft oatmeal raisin cookie that I ate off of for over an hour helped out!

The people in my department have been very kind to me about my big fat face. The swelling hasn't moved much since last week and I wake up with gowels that don't go away for several hours. Yesterday I had really good Chicken Noodle Soup from the local Whole Foods Store. I think today I'm going to see how the Campbell's Tomato Basil Soup taste. Last night for dinner I had Chicken with bow-tie pasta in a cream sauce. I managed to eat the whole server but it took me almost an hour to do that. Chewing soft things like pasta is still a challenge.

Ho Hum

It comes with a heavy heart that I have to post this news. Tomorrow I return to work after being out for 3 weeks.

Actually it was my choice to go back, I could have stayed home another week. I went by work on Thursday last week to make an appearance at the company holiday party. I walked into our weekly department meeting and caught a few people off guard, especially my boss. He froze in his tracks and speech and just stared at me. It wasn't the reaction I was expecting, but maybe I do look different. I know I've lost some weight and mass, I'm dying to get back on weight training at the gym, too. I think I'll be able to handle that in another week.

The doctor said I could go back as long as I didn't do anything physical. I don't suppose waking up at 6am would be considered 'physical'?

*sigh* all good things come to an end

Peeling off the layers

This shows the extensive work...the screws and plates the floating bracket. The rings at the top of my spine are the alignment markers, not hoop earings. This shows the most important part. The gap between my spine and lower jaw is what they were hoping to increase. The 'before' (blue) xray shows a very narrow air passage, now it's more than doubled and I've not snored since the surgery!

Here you can see the plates in my chin and the 4 screws on either side of my face. The plates and screws on the top palet aren't very visible here.

I'm now free to start eating soft stuff...mac-n-cheese, overly cooked chicken, very soft breads, runny eggs!

3 Weeks

There's still some puffyness and swelling but pretty much all is gone. As for being numb, I have no feeling on the front of my chin and most of my lower lip. The area right behind my nostrils is still very numb and it covers all the way up to the tip of my nose. The new rubber bands from the Orthodontist are really strong and well, I'm feeling them pull my teeth even though my gums are extremely numb too. I used the Sonic Care toothbrush this morning and at lunch, the vibrations from that go through my head, it's really strange. But I'm not going back to the baby toothbrush if I can help it.

1st visit to the Ortho

Today was the 1st visit to the Orthodontist since the surgery. I walked in and right away the girls behind the desk went on about how different I looked. They made me blush by saying things like "you looked good before and now you look really good!". I don't know, I know I look different but I don't think I look better since I'm still puffy and swollen.

The doctor had the assistant remove the loose bracket on the top and he cut the wire to fit that area, then she removed the lower back band/bracket as it was loose too. She also removed all the extra hooks on each bracket leaving only those for the 4 rubber bands. I may attempt to remove all 4 so I can try eating something like Mac-n-Cheese later tonight. I was given 2 bags of replacement rubber bands, now I'll start to find them all over the house....those that spring loose when I'm trying to remove or put in. That happened lots when I went through 4 years of braces back in high school.

Tomorrow is 3 weeks post op. I go in for another doctor's appointment on Friday. I'm hoping he says I'm ready to move up from soup.