Week 3.5: Feelings!

(June 26th, 2016)

Numbness is Dissipating?! 

Yes, just like everyone else says in their blogs - one day, you wake up with more FEELINGS. I have totally normal sensations everywhere except:

My Lower Gums
I think I now have full sensation on the inner part of my lower gums (so behind my teeth). The outer part of my gums, the part you would be able to see if I went "GRRRR!" like a rabid dog is still completely numb. It's numb to about half-way where the stitches start. The part around the stitches is super tender. Actually, one little part of the stitches came undone and when I pulled on it (I don't know why I pulled on it - maybe to see where it was still attached?) it really really stung like a mother.

My Chin/Jaw Area
For the longest time, the part to the left of my chin felt kind of okay while the chin itself and the right side of the chin felt super tingly and uncomfortable when touched. Now, I would say that I have 80% of the sensation back on the left side, while the right side now feels like how the left side used to feel. The chin almost matches the right side sensation, but it's still a little tingly. All in all, not bad!

Back on the Colace

This is the TMI portion. I stopped having to take Colace (for constipation) maybe a week ago. Now I'm all backed up again. So I started taking one Colace a day (down from three) and I bought ingredients to make myself a green smoothie every day. I probably should have done that since the beginning of my straw-eating capabilities. Ah well. If you're interested, here's what I put in my smoothie. It's simple and easy and I chop everything up and put it into a big container so that I only have to wash/chop a few times a week. Each day, I just blend it up in my handy dandy NurtiBullet.

• 1/2 cup crushed ice (to keep it cold while drinking)
• 1/4 of a big cucumber (8-10 inches)
• 1/2 of a medium sized apple (I like green delicious or fuji or pink lady apples)
• (optional for a thicker consistency: 1/2 of a banana OR a scoop of greek yogurt OR a tbsp of nut butter)
• 1 cup of baby kale & spinach
• 2/3 cup of coconut water (or apple juice for a sweeter smoothie)

You can obviously switch out the cucumber and maybe some of the leafy greens for whatever else is in your fridge - tomatos, romaine lettuce, zuchini, etc. And, instead of apples, you can use peaches or nectarines or berries. Then you get a better variety of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants!

Here's my face today, even though I think it looks like it did a week ago. Maybe next time I'll do a comparison. Or a whole series of pictures! Yeah, I wanna do that...

My lips are slightly crooked.
But less than before surgery, so it's cool.

I'm noticing that the sofa pictures are much better than the bathroom pictures. (This one is a bathroom pic.) I don't know why it took me 3+ weeks to notice that. Jeez.

Pain: 2-3/10

Numbness: Bottom gums numb on the outside portion. Chin area and right side of jaw still tingly/numb, but getting better. 

Discomfort: My cheeks keep getting stuck in the brackets when I talk. Wax/silicone all day every day.

Weight: -4 lbs

(Black items stayed the same as the last post. RED items changed slightly.) 

~m