Day 7: A Closer Look

Today's pic:

Can you believe how much the swelling has gone down in just one day?!?  I am starting to look like my old self again.

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Left side.  Bruising on the cheek is green/yellow and the incision at my ear is almost unnoticeable.

Right side.  The bruising behind my ear has gotten darker, but the bruising on my cheek is green/yellow.  The incision on my neck below my jaw bone is looking much better as well.

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I have washed the hair around my skull incision 4 times and it still looks like this!  At this rate it's going to take 20 more washes before all the greasy ointment comes out!

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Now that my swelling is down to a manageable level, I have been able to take some pics inside my mouth.  I think I may have more foreign materials in my mouth than I have teeth, tongue, and gums!

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In the photo below you can see some of my sutures that are inside my mouth.

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Even though swelling has gone down some, I still have a lot of numbness.  I circled 4 areas in the photo below to show where I am still 100% numb.  All other areas I have at least 75% of the feeling back.  Also, the roof of my mouth is still completely numb. Together with the numb lips and numb roof of my mouth, eating is still quite difficult.  I use a mirror at every meal to make sure I am getting the food into my mouth; however, still about 25% of the food ends up outside of my mouth, either on my face, my clothes, or the table.

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I eat 4 times per day to coincide with the medicines that I have to take every 6 hours.  You don't want to take narcotics on an empty stomach.  I take the following medications 4 times per day:

Ibuprofen 600mg (pain reliever)

Hydrocodon-Acetaminophen 5-325 (pain reliever)

Cephalexin 500mg (antibiotic)

Pseudoephedrine HCl 30mg (nasal decongestant)

I take the following medication 2 times per day:

Afrin

And I take the following medication 1 time per day:

Feosol 30mg (iron supplement)

To keep up with all the medications and the time that I need to take each, I bought a pill organizer with morn, noon, eve, and bed boxes. This has really come in handy!

A pill splitter has also come in handy for me. The size of a few of the pills I have to take are too large for me to swallow with my mouth in this condition. 

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My mom has been really good about being creative and adding variety to my liquid/mush diet.  This morning she made French toast with peaches topped with maple syrup!  She just blended with milk and.... Ta-Da!!

Some other delicious meals that she has made for me are:

Burrito Bake (blended with salsa and beef broth)

Chicken and Dumplings (blended with chicken broth) - seen on day 5

Pot Roast (blended with mashed potatoes and beef broth)

Quinoa (blended with vegetable broth)

Tonight she is making baked ziti (blended with beef broth).  I'll let you know how it goes; however, based on the other meals she has made for me, I see this one being just as yummy.

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And this is the cute little Toy Story baby tooth brush that I use to brush my teeth after each meal.

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Check out these gorgeous multi-colored mini roses from my friend, Alley.  She knows they are my fave!