profile shot, chops and some other muck

day of surgery oct 11 2005 profile
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

so, here's the before people. yes, surgery has come and gone. actually it was a week ago. i think i posted about it, but haven't posted much lately. i'm been pretty tired and worn out recovering. i also haven't been out much, so the only thing i could write would be reviews of movies i have watched 3-5 times or of the latest version if blended goo i have tried to suck through a staw.
i was only in serious pain and discomfort for the first 24hrs. since then, it's mostly been just uncomfortableness. since my jaw was moved, i have to heal both the jaw, the incisions and the muscles. the muscles are going to be the most discomfort since they have to be stretched and forced to learn how to work with the new configuration. i have been taking vicodin for pain relief. you may say - woo hooo, vicodin - well, for me it's not like that. i haven't had any dizzy spells or crazy psycho dreams. what i have had is little pain. early on, the doc told me to keep the pain at bay instead of chasing it. i have done so and it seems to be working. the downside is mild headaches. advil to the rescue.
for food, my love did a wonderful job of making me some great shakes with fruit, protien powder, Acai, yoghurt etc. i have since added eggs and soy milk to the mix to get more protein. what i'm not getting is green stuff and fiber and that is causing my tummy to not work as well as it should. by the weekend, i was more uncomfortable with my tummy than with the jaw and the swelling. (too much info? sorry.)
by the weekend, i was feeling pretty good. we met the doc on friday and the healing was going well. i still hung low on saturday, but on sunday we did get out for a walk and a movie. saw serenity again. love that movie. the walk home was stupendous. 7pm on a sunday night in october. couldn't ask for better walking weather.
monday came and i decided to head back to work. i promised myself it would take it easy and not talk. well, i did pretty good and made it through the day. i had soup for lunch, a late afternoon smoothie and then walked a little home. the downside was that @ 6pm, i was a wreck. i was exhausted, my head hurt, my stomach hurt, my whole body hurt. i ate some dinner (yes, a smoothie) and just crashed in the man chair, watching craptv. i didn't sleep that well last night and this morning was still pretty messed up. in the end, i didn't work too much today and came home early. moral of this story is - don't go back to work too soon after a major surgery if you can help it. i'm gonna lay low for the next coupla days to make sure i'm 100% before i try and get back in the saddle.
i'm gonna try and get out and walk some to enjoy the fall colors and smells. hopefully, i'll be walking home from work again soon. thanks to all of you for your concern.

chipmunk man - day after