Surviving Post Surgery

I am hanging in there. Much less swelling, but much, much more pain. Lots of pain. Think about gettng kicked in the teeth and super sore cheek muscles. Don't forget the pulsing itchy (weird I know) pain in my lower jaw.

I had four screw implants placed in my lower center jaw. The three screws sticking up through my skin were removed. Also apparently the bone ridge (which was augmentened at my last surgery), was too high, so that had to be lowered by grinding it away with a drill burr. Everything was stitched up neatly with black thread instead of white thread.

Other than the pain, things went much smoother than the last time. We woke up V early and dropped her off at school at 7:10, about an hour earlier than usual. She was surprisingly good natured, but cried to stay with us when we dropped her off. We got there and P was able to come back with me for a bit. The resident started the IV, went over the procedure, and had me sign consent. The nurse set up the EKG and oxygen. They are all ready to get started and the resident says, "oh you aren't pregnant, aren't you? When was your last period?" Uhmm try 25 days ago. I was hoping that I was pregnant. So I had to go pee in a cup. Of course it was negative.

I don't remember that much, but I do remember waking up during the surgery. That can happen with conscious sedation, but despite having it 8 times in the past, that has never happened. I remember them telling me to open my mouth, and that is the extent of it. When I woke up of course they tried to rush me out (are you seeing a pattern here?). I kept telling them I was thirsty and they ignored me. I told them I was having pain and they told me to take Ibuprofen when I got home. Gee, thanks. I made Paul stop at the hospital coffee kiosk and buy me a Diet Coke which I started sipping right away. We ended up getting home around 12:00. He dropped my med prescriptions off and picked me some soup and mashed potatoes form the coney island. I took some of Norco (it was stronger) from my earlier surgery and fell fitfully asleep for a few hours.

The pain came back with a vengence around 4:30 so I took Ibuprofen then. At 6:30 I was still in a lot of pain so I took a dose of the liquid Norco. At 9:30 it is really bad again, so I took one of the oral Norcos. It's dulled somewhat, but not gone. The weirdest things hurt after surgery, like my cheeks (apparently they told my husband I have such a small mouth that they really had to streeeecchhh it open. I feel it now. My upper teeth (which were not touched) are THROBBING. Everything got jarred around.

I am going to sleep in bed tonight instead of in the recliner. That's a plus!

Happy 4th of July

We spent the long weekend on the West side of the State with P's family. Here is Victoria swinging at Mears State Park this morning.



There were both good and bad things about the weekend:
Good - the beautiful beach at the Lake Michigan/Bass Lake outlet
Bad - the super hot weather
Good - the traffic and journey were surprisingly stress free
Bad - P's relative that we stayed with has no air conditioning, keeps the windows closed, and had a tiny fan. We roasted.
Good - V loved playing in the water
Bad - multiple, multiple applications of sunscreens. I'm sunscreened out.
Good - when I took V out this morning and we played at the McDonald's playplace in the air conditioning and had a super fun time
Bad- people clearly ignoring the "NO DOGS" sign at the beach and letting their dogs crap in the water right near where my daughter was playing.
Good - three day weekend!
Bad- mosquito bites
Good - warm white sand
Bad - not sleeping due to the heat and being woken up early by P's relative
Good - watching P swish V back and forth in the water and watching her laugh
Bad - P getting overheated after baking in the sun at the parade.
Good - P looks pretty good with a tan

All in all it was good weekend.

Friday Night Leftovers

*It's 4th of July weekend. A three day weekend. That coupled with my second jaw surgery on Wednesday means I'm probably only working one day next week.

*Victoria is currently obsessed with ELMO videos. "Elmo's Potty Time" and "Elmo's Shapes and Colors". The first is from the library and the second I bought. I can't stop singing "accidents happen" and "It's hip to be a Square". I feel vaguely guilty letting her watch TV, but it's for less than an hour a day.

* I have a cute 4th of July dress for Victoria. She's worn it before and I cannot find it now. When it is the actual 4th of July. Where the heck did it go?

*We have a gigantic rabbit problem in our neighborhood. When we first moved in it was cute, but now they are EVERYWHERE. I can't plant a lot of flowers because they eat them all. Even things they are not supposed to "like" such as marigolds. They ate all the marigolds and petunias this year. I tried putting this "CritterRid" stuff down and it worked for the tulips, but not on anything else. Our backyard is fenced and they just dig under the fence.

*Gymboree was having a huge sale and I scored V some very cute outfits (She really didn't need them...) for around $8. Coupled that with free shipping and a discount code I found online and I cleaned up.

Ugh

It seems like when you have a bad day, it is a extremely crappy one. Does one bad thing attract other bad things, or is that one bad thing put you in a hypersensitive realm for another minorly bad thing and blow them out of proportion? I had my performance review at work and I received the highest rating, however, the goals/narrative for this upcoming year sort of well, hurt my feelings/were brutally honest. Then I job that I had interviewed for, and really wanted, and was told I was the top candidate for, I received an email saying "I wasnt' a good fit at this time". Okkkkaaayy then. So someone more qualifed than me beat me out. I can accept that. The job was re-posted later that day. So they just didn't want ME. I can't figure that out. To top it off, the cottage we rented kept a very large part of our very large security deposit because of the way "we left the cottage". Okay then...... Fantastic.

1:45 hours left to this day - a MONDAY - that may be the reason, and I am done with it.

A new start is always good.

Vacation Post

We went up to Northern Michigan for a week's house rental on the water. It's something we've done several times before in various locations in Northern Michigan. Usually it is a nice house right on Lake Michigan, or in this case, an Inland Lake. It was nice to be outside and off work. If you think Michigan is just Detroit (which we all know is yucky), you are missing out on incredible beauty.


Victoria playing with toys the minute we got there.


Someone fell asleep with their Life preserver on.


Petting the animals outside the Black Star Farms Winery. (A huge hit!)


In front of Lake Michigan at Leelanau State Park. V loves to throw stones in the water (or anything in the water for that matter).


Giant Michigan strawberry that looks like a heart. Fresh local strawberries are amazing. They are so juicy and sweet, nothing like what is found in grocery stores even those can be good too.


Inside of the house view.

Target Trip

Many people in blogworld like to talk about the deals they find at Target. I do too. Today I had an unplanned trip because V was back at school for the first time in two weeks and I was informed that Tuesdays and Fridays are "water days". The kids need a bunch of water paraphanalia and get to play outside with water. Fine, great. Vi has two swimsuits, both getting too small. Target had adorable swimsuits, but with the way she burns I was looking for a surfer wetsuit type of shirt. Nothing in a 2T or really any size except 12M & 5T. Tis the season. I bought her some slightly large water shoes = $8, water diapers = $9 - $1 coupon plus free shades, more sunscreen- Aveeno - $7, regular diapers - $20 (I stopped buying the Target brand for school, they got too saggy), applesauce for school - $2, $8 - ELMO shapes video, $2 puffs, $4 worth of Ravolis to keep in the car for emergencies, $2.50 shirt to wear over swimsuit. The only thing I bought for myself was a 24 pack of Diet Coke. !!

I also looked at all the clearance, but the most I found was 50% off. I'm looking for more!

Tidbits

I have to write a post about V's illnesses because it was such a frightening ordeal and I need to remember what happened.

After all the hectic craziness, we are on vacation this week. At a cottage. In Northern Michigan. Don't get any crazy ideas, because someone is watching our house!

We drove up to my hometown on Saturday. It went very well. Vi sang and hung out and we stopped an hour in to eat lunch. I chose something quick - Wendy's because my gluten-challenged self could get a baked potato and chili there. I ate a few of V's fries because, hey, fries are good and I have never had issues with gluten contamination in fryers before. Well, this time I had searing, sharp, esophageal pain. IT was the worst! I couldn't swallow without pain. I'm pretty sure it was due to Gluten contamination. I paid for my poor decision big time.

Anyway - V slept the rest of the way there. That was super! P and I listened to a book on tape - "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson. We *Love Bill Bryson.

My nepnew (my original baby!) had his graduation party on Sunday. V had fallen asleep and we woke her up after 2.5 hours to go. I cooked and prepared food all morning to help my mom; P took V down to the lake on a super gorgeous day :( It was also my birthday. The party was loud, and hot and crowded. Vi cried and fussed the entire time, especially when people got in her face (which was all the time). I didn't even get to eat. We left at 4:30 and drove to our cottage for 3 hours. V whined a great deal of the time. All the stress of the past week got to me and I cried for a bit. Plus it was my birthday and it wasn't a very fun day.

So today was our first day at the cottage. Being in a new enviroment with a toddler is a lot of work. Someone has to watch her at ALL TIMES. SHe is out of sorts and cranky. It is so difficult to get them to sleep this time of year, because it is light out so late! But it is great to be outside and doing something different.