7 Weeks later

I have had a busy week.  My energy is back, yippee and I just feel better.  I am able to do everything in my schedule; like today I left the house at 8:30am and I got home tonight at midnight (it's not usually that extreme).  I felt happy today, and realizing that made me feel even happier since it has been awhile.

As this week began I was able to wash the sides of my face for the first time with my usual face cleansing bar, scrub, and dry the sides of my face with a towel.  Baby steps, but an improvement all the same.

I was surprised to discover on 10/20/14  that a bad habit of mine is gone forever.  Whenever my fingernails became chipped, I would chew them even again.  When my fingernail tore today, I was unable to bite it off.  The repaired 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom, are too thick, and rounded.  I guess that is a positive thing.

I attended my FFL fit for life class on 10/20/14, where we lift weights, do floor exercise, and yoga.  I have to be careful about moving my head quickly, I have trouble balancing, and I have to support my neck with my hand.  Then, I went to Apple Athletic Club, which was my usual routine before my accident.  I walked on the elliptical for 20 minutes and didn't get very far (so I don't want to say what a short distance it was).  Before my accident I was jogging, but hey, it's a start.

APPOINTMENT WITH MY SURGEON DOCTOR 10/21/14
My doctor thinks I am doing very well and healing great.  He reminded me that I had severe facial trauma, which leads me to my next discovery; I wanted him to do surgery on my mouth this Thursday.  And my doctor said, "I put stitches there in your gum line on purpose.  It was necessary, the damage from the outside was actually a hole clear through to the nasal area.  I had to gather tissue inside your mouth and attach it above the hole, which was just above your teeth on the gum line.  It wouldn't be too great to have liquid come out your nose every time you drank liquids." Therefore he wanted to wait 3 to 4 weeks before attempting to fix this problem to allow more time for tissue, nerve, and bone growth.  So I have an appointment 3 weeks from now to see how it can be improved.  Because I have been healing so well, I forgot how severe the damage was.  It was kind of hard news to take, but I have to be thankful to have all my teeth-so far.  The 2 teeth cracked through the root have not died, and the couple of loose teeth have tightened in my gums.  I think the most damaged areas are what is still swollen, most of the left side of my mouth/lips, the bottom half of my nose and the area leading from my nose to the left corner of my mouth.  My surgeon did a great job, and I have been healing incredibly.  It's just hard to be patient and not have a normal face.

He reminded me that my full recovery will take a year to 18 months. 

My doctor also talked to me about staying out of the sun for the next YEAR, to always wear a hat and sunscreen.  Holy cow, a year.....that is a long time.  When I left my doctor's office I went to Macy's and bought a new hat.  Mark made fun of it, said I looked like the flying nun.  The salesgirl helped me choose it, and I got the one with the widest brim, because my leopard hat brim is not very wide and I would have to tip my head to keep the sun from falling on my lower nose.  Oh well, think positive.  I saw my primary care doctor yesterday and she told me she has another patient thrown from a horse a couple years ago and now the woman has epileptic seizures and other problems..

So my health update is: my headaches aren't as bad, not much changed with my face (and my doctor told me to expect that), and now that I am more active my neck is really sore and is bothering me.  Overall, I feel like a walking miracle.