Jay Leno Called...

"He wants his chin back!" was amongst the many jokes I heard this past week. Let me explain.  I went in for Gum Graft Surgery last Tuesday the 10th.  I've known about the fact that I needed this sugery for about 5 or 6 years now but have been dreading it.  Finally it came to the point when I needed to just bite the bullet and do it.

Note: Graphic information (if you don't want to hear it, skip the next sentance)

Basically, they had to scrape the gums away from my bottom teeth, then insert some donor flesh, yes, I said donor flesh, then sew it all back together after stretching my gums up over the new insert. 

I was awake the entire time and even though I couldn't really feel much, I could see it and HEAR it. I almost threw up a couple times and I swear that if I were to do it again, heaven for bid, I would pay the $500 cash and let them knock me out.

They hooked me up to a heart monitor, put scrubs over me, pulled my hair up in a shower cap type thing and put surgical glasses on me. Then, the surgery began. They shot me up about 20+ times in the mouth to numb it and off they went. Pretty sick.

By the time they were done, I was numb and a little swollen. They gave me two prescriptions. One for an antibiotic and one for Ibuprofen 800.  When I got my wisdom teeth out, it was the only pain killer that didn't make me sick.  It doesn't work fabulously, but it takes the edge off. I got a bottle of some cleaner they wanted me to dab with a q-tip in the effected area and some ice packs.  

Thanks to my sweet friend Megan for bringing my family dinner that night and to Megan and Kristi for my trashy magazines & flowers and to my mom for being here through this whole mess and helping me out at home. I'm blessed to be surrounded by awsomeness. :-)

That night, while putting the girls to bed, Addy swung around and whacked me right in the face. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt like no other.  I took a deep breath and continued with mommy duty.  The next morning, Hailey jumped on my lap, quickly leaned back on me and in the process threw her head right into my chin. Yep! That hurt too.  By the end of that afternoon, my face swelled up so big I couldn't talk. I did get some free ice cream out of it though.. the owner felt bad for the elephant woman in his yogurt shop. Why I went out in public, I don't know, other than that I promised the girls some ice cream. I should get the mom of the year award or something. 

That night, was excruciating.  I don't even know how to describe that night. I couldn't sleep, watched a couple things on Netflix with my Nook, tried to sleep, read a book, tried to sleep and something snapped. I was in so much pain and agony that I ended up in the shower...  at 3am.  I was shaking and had the water turned SO hot that my skin was bright red, but I was still shivering. Nate brought me some water and all I could do was cry. I didn't know what to do to make myself feel better and even worse, neither did Nate. He felt awful and I could see he was trying so hard to figure out what to do. I was really close to having him take me to the ER because I felt like my face was going to explode or get stretch marks or something. It was swelling so fast and so bad that I could feel my skin stretching and it was AWFUL!

Two days later, I ended up back at the doctors office. My swelling had gone down minimally, and it scared the doctor. He didn't expect it to be that bad and told me it was at a point of dangerous swelling due to trauma. He asked me to think back to the day of surgery and try to remember if I had bumped my face AT ALL.  After I told him about the incidents with my kiddos, we quickly realized that the extreme swelling had a reason. Later that day, I had to run to the store for some groceries and Addy was in the cart. She stood up and elbowed me right in the chin AGAIN! Seriously???

Now, i'm down to a fat chin and lots of green and yellow coloring. My entire chin and neck turned into a bruise. My lips are completely purple and I look like a circus freak! Good times.

Day 1

Right after surgery

Day 2

The next morning

That afternoon 

(after my nap)

Day 3

 (this is what I would look like with a horrible lip job)

I was so swollen, I couldn't close my mouth. Look how huge my bottom lip is in comparison to my top lip. EWE!

Day 4 

(Bruising begins)

Day 5 

(swollen + green chin & neck = attractive)

It's a pretty scary sight, it's true, and it hurts like no other, but at least I don't look like as much like an elephant anymore. :-)  It can only get better, right?