Monday, June 12 - Day before surgery:
| This was one of several pre-surgical photos taken at Dr. Ousterhout's office in San Francisco. |
Late Tuesday, June 13 - Day of surgery:
| A photo taken by my sister, Kate, shortly after I awoke from surgery late Tuesday evening. I wore the head bandage and mouth drains for the next day and a half (but unfortunately didn't get any further pictures...Kate said I looked "like a Star Wars creature"). |
Thursday, June 15:
| I took this photo of myself about two hours after having my head bandage and drains removed. Surprisingly, this was also only a couple of hours before I was released from nursing care to tend for myself. This was about as open as my eyes could get, and as closed as my mouth could get, at this time.
A note about pain: So far, not much. I was on a self-administered morphine drip for the past two days, but surprisingly didn't have to click the pain button all that often. When I remembered, I clicked...but overall I looked much worse than I felt.
The nursing staff was helpful while I was under their care...my only complaint was that the floor was awfully loud (The noise level was comparable to a festive night back in my college dorm.) I spent most of my time drifting in and out of sleep.
|
Friday, June 16 - First day out of hospital care:
| My mother arrived Thursday afternoon and took this photo on Friday morning. This was the first time I could close my mouth and touch my teeth together. (Though I still had to breathe through my mouth, due to the nasal packing.)
The swelling of my eyes has begun to go down, but my eyelids were still a bright fuschia color at this time...looking like some sort of punk eyeliner. |
Saturday, June 17:
| I started turning all sorts of vibrant colors on Saturday morning...this photo captures a few of the yellows and reds that were now all over my face.
My swelling has already started going down...but is still there.
|