I'm back in business!
Thanks to everyone who reads this blog for bearing with me while I was out for surgery and recovery. It's been noticed that I haven't blogged in a while and my readership was down to 2 today. That included me.
Although I had expected to return to work yesterday, I didn't. I couldn't talk much and be comfortable. I still wasn't feeling well either and my face was just slightly less rotund than the day before. Saturday was the worst day for the swelling. I walked (stumbled?) into where Wayne was sitting at his computer and asked "Do I look a little swolen?" By the look on his face, I knew it was bad. By looking at my face, you'd have thought I weighed 400 lbs. Just for those who haven't met me, I'm nowhere close. He had a good idea - said I should have put on some baggy clothes and taken a Slim-Fast "before" picture. Then when I lose my twenty, take an "after" pic and overestimate the weight loss for their little award program. That's cheating, but it made me laugh.
Last night, I had to re-enter the civilized world and attend class. I felt bad about it, but even though I'd been laying at home all day I still arrived late. I had intended to keep a low profile and sit at the back of the class, not saying anything so I wouldn't draw attention to my face, but it was hard. This is the one class where the professor really engages the students by encouraging dialougue instead of a plain old lecture, and I'm one of the four-or-so "big talkers." When I got in a discussion with some students after class, I had to let them know that I'd had my wisdom teeth pulled because they were all looking at me like something was wrong but they weren't sure whether to ask. One person responded, "Okay, because it looks like you've been taking steroids." Thanks. One more day of class (turning in the final paper next Monday) and I will never set foot at UHD again. I do hope that in the future, I'll have more classes like this one.
I was getting the sympathy card (figuratively) at work all day, which started to annoy me because it meant I had to give the progress report 100 times. After a while, though, I just rode that train straight through the rest of the day. I felt like just as much of a wreck as my face looked, so why not? Our company's Toastmasters club, of which I am the President, meets every Tuesday at lunch. As the presiding officer, I open and close every meeting, but today, the VP of Education kindly took that role for me so that I could sit back and preserve my jaws. It helped a lot that I didn't have to speak at all - for the first time since the club was founded. It also happened to be one of our best meetings ever. Go figure.
As for my current report, I'm still swolen, but less every day than the one before. My voice sounds like I'm trying on braces for the first time and still getting used to my mouth. In a way, it's like that. I'm not sure if my tongue is swolen or if it's just resting between my teeth for no reason. Closing the jaws all the way is still a chore, so I'm not pushing it right now. I wonder why this is so hard on me when so many others have had such an easy time with it, and my best theory is the complexity of the surgery. My two top wisdom teeth were actually coming in facing the back of the mouth on the top part of the jaw, where they didn't have room to come in straight. This meant that they would rub against the mandible joint every time that it moved. Now I have holes there. In addition, I had one 'double' tooth, which looked like it was almost two teeth fused together. All four were impacted, and thus required cutting and sawing to remove. It makes me feel better to act like this was a major deal, but I'm aware that it's not heart surgery.
My diet is completely soft, except for the rice I have eaten the last two days. Today I hardly ate much at work and, in an attempt to get some calories into my system, picked up a Baskin Robbins Cappucino Blast on the way home. I'm not on Weight Watchers or anything, but on the little conversion chart hanging in the store, my selection had the most "points" of anything on the menu, unless I ate a whole ice cream cake. I tried to savor the moment, but the smoothie wasn't as satisfying as it would normally be. I want to eat meat! You know, real food.
I've been told through a chain of three people that I have a reader in Fargo. Thanks for the well-wishes! I wonder if I'll find a Fargo pin on the GuestMap... we'll wait and see.
Although I had expected to return to work yesterday, I didn't. I couldn't talk much and be comfortable. I still wasn't feeling well either and my face was just slightly less rotund than the day before. Saturday was the worst day for the swelling. I walked (stumbled?) into where Wayne was sitting at his computer and asked "Do I look a little swolen?" By the look on his face, I knew it was bad. By looking at my face, you'd have thought I weighed 400 lbs. Just for those who haven't met me, I'm nowhere close. He had a good idea - said I should have put on some baggy clothes and taken a Slim-Fast "before" picture. Then when I lose my twenty, take an "after" pic and overestimate the weight loss for their little award program. That's cheating, but it made me laugh.
Last night, I had to re-enter the civilized world and attend class. I felt bad about it, but even though I'd been laying at home all day I still arrived late. I had intended to keep a low profile and sit at the back of the class, not saying anything so I wouldn't draw attention to my face, but it was hard. This is the one class where the professor really engages the students by encouraging dialougue instead of a plain old lecture, and I'm one of the four-or-so "big talkers." When I got in a discussion with some students after class, I had to let them know that I'd had my wisdom teeth pulled because they were all looking at me like something was wrong but they weren't sure whether to ask. One person responded, "Okay, because it looks like you've been taking steroids." Thanks. One more day of class (turning in the final paper next Monday) and I will never set foot at UHD again. I do hope that in the future, I'll have more classes like this one.
I was getting the sympathy card (figuratively) at work all day, which started to annoy me because it meant I had to give the progress report 100 times. After a while, though, I just rode that train straight through the rest of the day. I felt like just as much of a wreck as my face looked, so why not? Our company's Toastmasters club, of which I am the President, meets every Tuesday at lunch. As the presiding officer, I open and close every meeting, but today, the VP of Education kindly took that role for me so that I could sit back and preserve my jaws. It helped a lot that I didn't have to speak at all - for the first time since the club was founded. It also happened to be one of our best meetings ever. Go figure.
As for my current report, I'm still swolen, but less every day than the one before. My voice sounds like I'm trying on braces for the first time and still getting used to my mouth. In a way, it's like that. I'm not sure if my tongue is swolen or if it's just resting between my teeth for no reason. Closing the jaws all the way is still a chore, so I'm not pushing it right now. I wonder why this is so hard on me when so many others have had such an easy time with it, and my best theory is the complexity of the surgery. My two top wisdom teeth were actually coming in facing the back of the mouth on the top part of the jaw, where they didn't have room to come in straight. This meant that they would rub against the mandible joint every time that it moved. Now I have holes there. In addition, I had one 'double' tooth, which looked like it was almost two teeth fused together. All four were impacted, and thus required cutting and sawing to remove. It makes me feel better to act like this was a major deal, but I'm aware that it's not heart surgery.
My diet is completely soft, except for the rice I have eaten the last two days. Today I hardly ate much at work and, in an attempt to get some calories into my system, picked up a Baskin Robbins Cappucino Blast on the way home. I'm not on Weight Watchers or anything, but on the little conversion chart hanging in the store, my selection had the most "points" of anything on the menu, unless I ate a whole ice cream cake. I tried to savor the moment, but the smoothie wasn't as satisfying as it would normally be. I want to eat meat! You know, real food.
I've been told through a chain of three people that I have a reader in Fargo. Thanks for the well-wishes! I wonder if I'll find a Fargo pin on the GuestMap... we'll wait and see.
posted by CyndyMW at
5:06 PM
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