Sarpe Recovery - Day 5

Today was the big day! I had my post-op appointment this morning at 10:30am. My surgeon was happily surprised at how good I looked. My jaw has started to bruise and I was a lovely shade of yellow/green when I had my appointment. However, according to my surgeon, most of his patients who go through the same procedure bruise more heavily than me. He said the bruises will probably become more pronounced within the next couple of days but to just keep using the heat pad to help promote blood circulation. They should slowly start to diminish as I heal.

He told me that I can start to amp up my diet (which makes me very happy). This means I can eat more than ice cream, yogurt and mashed potatoes. My local grocery store had a sale on some really nice looking salmon and wild cod so I think I'll make that tonight to celebrate. Oh man, just thinking about it makes me so hungry!

I was also told that I can now take ibuprofen again. You have no idea how happy I was when he told me that I could start taking the ibuprofen again. Tylenol helps to take the edge off but doesn't even come close to what ibuprofen does. If I want to take the ibuprofen I will have to amp up my diet though because my stomach will be very upset if I take the ibuprofen without eating first.

I am still not allowed to blow my nose or use a straw. I can do both starting next week which is good cause I've been dying for an iced coffee and to be able to blow my nose. I think I can wait a little longer though.

And lastly, the best part, he gave me the ok to go back to work! He told me that it was up to me and how I felt but that if I wanted to go back, he said he was fine with it. He was a little concerned with me over-doing it though so he suggested a modified lite duty. For the first week I'm back, he doesn't want me to do any heavy lifting and to limit my talking on the phone which I'm totally fine with. I work in a pharmacy and there's a bunch of stuff I can do without answering the phone or lifting heavy stuff so I'm not concerned. I have another appointment tomorrow morning at the hospital where I will get cleared to go back to work. I can't officially work until occupational health clears me. It's a little bit of over-kill but I understand why they do it. Patient safety comes first and they need to make sure that I'm well enough to work so that my patients leave happy and healthy. I'll just have to talk to my boss about coming back early and hopefully she'll have something for me to do.

There was a slight hiccup with the orthodontist though. Apparently, I was supposed to also have a post-op appointment with my orthodontist. When I was last there, I asked about when I should see her again, and was told 6 weeks after my surgery. So that's what I scheduled. When I told Dr. Keith that, he said that there must have been some kind of mistake because I should have had an appointment to see her 1-2 weeks after my surgery. It doesn't really surprise me, the people at the front office can be super spacey. And they have a lot of new staff that aren't that familiar with schedules. But he called my orthodontist and fixed everything. Now I have an orthodontist appointment Friday morning at 8am. I'm not looking forward to driving into Boston on a Friday morning but I will do it.

Anyway, I feel a lot better and am looking forward to getting back to work.