I'm not gonna say much cause I think I'd just start whining. Just feels like a whiney day :(

Well yesterday, we (Dad and I) ventured out to the bank and the grocery store...by the time we got to check-out I thought I was going to faint. I suppose this is the frustrating part about recovery. My mind is ready to move on, but my body definately isn't. I think we may try a movie today, that at least will require less walking. I slept until 10 this morning then took another little nap. Can't tell if I am really in need of rest or just very drugged up. I am beginning to feel like I should be taking advantage of this time off to get a few things done around here, but I also just feel like resting. The inner battle continues. :)

So Ollie says I'm tough ;) Wooo! I'll tell ya that this has not been fun and I was less than thrilled about it when my orthodontist told me I should have it done. The only thing I keep saying, "Thank God it's over!" and "I am never doing this again." And like ususal I am constantly trying to acess my situation and how I am dealing with it. But I recently came to the realization that I went thru a pretty major ordeal and I am doing damn good! Now I just have to stay sane for the next 5 weeks...eek. I'm counting on everyone to help keep me even-keeled, cool? You guys are doing great so far :) Heh, and so am I.

Part 3

Tired of riding out all of the details so I will wrap up my traumatic experience with what follows...

So they wake me up and I'm gagging and choking and I can't feel my face, but I am in pretty big pain. The nurse is asking me on a scale of 1-10 and I am trying to hold up eight fingers which is a chore for my heavily drugged body. I tell them my stomach hurts and they tell me I still have the cathader...YIKES! That's all I'm gonna say about that. Anywho, the next few hours are sketchy. All I remember about getting to my room is them telling me to scootch over again. Sheesh, can't these people pick me up for once?? Then I was awoken what seemed like every 3 minutes for them to take my blood pressure and temperature. It turned out they were giving me too much morphine in my IV and it was causing me to stop breathing. So they cut the dosage in half, then I was alright. The doctor (who I now know to be the most brilliant man on earth) said that my surgery went very, he said I loss less blood than most and that my swelling was very minimal (yay!) After the first cloudy day, I found that I had nose bleeds everytime I stood up, due to the breathing tubes they had to put down my nose during surgery. And I had a couple of regurgitation episodes that consisted of ridding my stomach of the "post nasal drip" Ickers...I'm sorry for that. Forget you read it...the rest of my notes will be about how bored I am, a much more delightful topic. Thank you again for all of the support :)

Part 2

Well this is where things get interesting because I'm not exactly sure what happened, so this is what I was told... (btw, the following will be the details of my surgery. If you have a weak stomach you might want to skip this one.) After I was out the doctor sectioned my upper jaw into four pieces and detatched it from my face bones. He moved it down and forward a little less than a quarter of an inch (on the diagonal). He sectioned it straight thru the middle, then split those sections in half two teeth from each side of the midline. He reattached everything with 4 titanium plates (4 screws to a plate) so that the upper palette was now wider and sat level. My lower jaw was detatched on each side, just below the joint and pivoted around to the left and reattached with 3 screws on each side. Beyond the plates and screws there is a ton of hardware that has been affixed to my mouth. I'm sure it has some purpose in holding all of the pieces together, thought I am not sure what it is. Several wires twist around my gum line and sometimes thru it. There is also a large plastic plate that is affixed to my upper jaw, that my lower teeth fit into...this is the mouth I woke up to.

Let me take you back to 5 days ago, I was nervously waiting in the surgery admissions office. I was promptly changed into hospital attire and several friendly people popped in to say who they were and what they needed to do, some of them poked me with needles and some just said, "I'll see you after surgery." The last person to come in was the anesthesiologist who injected me with what he called the St. Jude's Margarita, the full effect of 3 top shelf margarita's in about 10 seconds, to which I said the only thing I could say, "Whoa." They promptly wheeled me into the O.R. I remember nothing of this, except my surgeon greeting me and everyone coaxing me to scootch over from the gurney to the operating table. (to be continued, I can't sit here long enough to do the whole story in one sitting...)

Whoa, I don't know what day it is and I am kinda woozy sitting here, but 22 screws, 4 titanium plates and 2 chubby cheeks later I am still here. This has been an interesting ride, not one I am thinking I would've chosen had I known the "fun" that was to follow. The human body is an amazing thing. Most of the challenges I have had of late (the last 5 years or so) have been of the emotional variety. This experience has helped me realize that physical challenges, however more dehabilitating, are easier to overcome. Because everyday it gets a little better. Emotional challenges are not really like that and the pain is slower to fade. Many details to follow about my experience, later..though...I must rest...THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for all of the e-cards, real cards, emails, thoughts and prayers. It is taking me a while to get thru them all, so bear with me... LOVE!!!

And a big thanks to Merc for all of the support, info relay and the cozy pj's :)

Ong is home and doing well. Hopefully, she will be strong enough to start romping around the internet again.

Ong is home. Woo!

It sounds like Ong had a little problem with swelling and breathing this morning. Her mother said it is all under control now... the swelling is down and they have some kinda cool sounding mico-oxygen-vent-thingy on her now. Lucky kiddo... I want one... anyway...

Ong will be spending the night in the hospital again. She is doing pretty good... she is consuming a lovely liquid diet... and even cracked a smile today.

GET WELL SOON, ONG!

Talked to Ong's father on the phone. Ong is doing good and looking good. She will be spending tonight at the hospital... and hopefully, she will be coming home tomorrow or the next day.

I got a message while I was out to lunch that Ong's surgery went well. I hope to find out a bit more tonight.

I will be updating about Ong's surgery and recovery until she gets out of the hospital. I am supposed to get a call after her surgery today. She is goign to be in for about 6 hours... so she should be out around 3p.

What to say...I am feeling decidedly overwhelmed this morning. Right now I'm looking up the path toward the large mountain that I must traverse. All the while I'm carrying one end of a very heavy load and before I start up that mountain I have to hand off my responsibilities to someone who doesn't know anything about what he is carrying.

I'm actually eating artichoke pesto dip and corn chips for breakfast...that's how abnormal things are this morning.

For those of you that don't know, I will be having jaw surgery on Wednesday. I may be out of it for a couple of weeks, so if you don't hear from me...that is why.

Finally...a moment to breathe. Todd is so funny. He was all impressed that I knew this...

Him: It's like it's been erased.
Me: (whisper) Erased...from existence.

I have so much to do, but I am so tired. I don't even feel like making a list, or rather consoladating the lists I've been making all day. zzzzzzzz--oh sorry. Maybe I'll just rest for a bit.

I seriously do not watch enough cartoons anymore...I am totally missing all of these pearls of wisdom.

"Consequences, shmonsequences...as long as I'm rich!" --Daffy Duck

Wierdness already and it's not even 9 yet...it's so fun when you are calling tech support for...well support, and they ask lovely questions like, "Why would you want to do that?"

It's nice to hear cheering when you answer the phone. Esp. when it's your boss.

Me: Production
Steve: Andrea?
Me: Yeeeeessssss?
Steve: Woooooo!

Such a crazy guy :)

I just smashed the crap out of my little finger..oo, that stings.

For all of the busy-ness that fills my days (12 hour work days, etc.) I really enjoy being here in the morning. You'd think I really would rather have the sleep, and if you asked me at 5:45 am when my alarm goes off, I'd probably tell you that too. But the truth is I get here around 7am, and I am the first one here. I love the folks I work with, but the hour or so of solitude I get each morning is good for me.

"Character is what you are in the dark."

Here are 2 moments out of my morning (both in the post office :)

1) When entering the post office a man held open the door for me and when I said thank you, he said "No problem, Miss." A few moments later I was pondering being called "Miss", thinking that it sounded a bit condescending. Did he actually look at my ring finger, or do I just look like a kid? Then I thought about how, when someone calls me "Ma'am" I think, "Well, how old do you think I am??" Helloooooo--earth to Andrea--is nothing good enough? :)

2) While buying stamps, I heard a rustling behind me. I turned around to find no one there. I heard it again, looked...no one, just mail boxes. Hmmm. Oh well. Then a thought struck me, I spun around "There's something alive in one of those mail boxes!" I stared at the box for a minute. Or they are putting mail in them. LOL Although it didn't take more than a second for me to put it together, I had to giggle at how quickly I came up with an explanation that was completely illogical.

Good Lord, Blogger is soooo slow, and I just have not wanted to deal with it. Anyhoo, I am doing splendidly. Tim and I just walked down to Starbuck's and I got an expensive cup of hot, dark water. I really feel wonderful this morning. I am really beginning to love the morning ocean gloom of San Juan Capistrano. It's a clean smelling coolness that readily burns off by about 10 am, but while it lingers it brings the chilled stillness of morning to almost tangible levels.

"What can I point to? It's air." (Odd little movie reference, that has nothing to do with cold mornings, but I think Dad will get a kick out of it.)