Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night and I put it in your little shoe.

[nullalux]

Last week, a package arrived from Zip-N-Squeeze, emblazoned with their striking motto: "No Sucking Required!" This would have been more disturbing if we hadn't recently ordered feeding pouches for post-surgery recovery, but still! I should have asked if they had a discreet brown-paper-wrap option.

The package comes with a handy booklet entitled "Get Ready...Get Set...Squeeze!" Thank goodness for page 11, which helpfully advises me about Foods to Avoid Blending, such as: tacos, popcorn, pepperoni, candy, and bacon. You'll be relieved to note, however, that Spam is on the list of Foods Approved for Blending. Huzzah.

The delivery did serve, however, to remind me that the surgery itself is in less than three weeks (9 June). We've created an Amazon list of resources we'll need before then.

The procedure is a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO). This will lengthen my mandible (lower jaw) and correct my bite. There will also be a bone graft using bone from my hip. [Edit: It will actually be a graft of synthetic bone, made from coral.] The surgeon will be going through my cheeks (near the jaw line) to affix three tiny screws on each side, but the rest of the incisions will be intra-oral (inside my mouth). I've been told to expect swelling and bruising for several months, but there shouldn't be any lasting scars. There is a small chance of permanent nerve damage, resulting in loss of sensation in affected areas. Even if this does occur, however, it shouldn't be serious. I will be on a liquid diet for six weeks (hence the zipping and squeezing). For four weeks, I will need to sleep upright, and cannot lift over 10 lbs. My brackets will come off six months after surgery (November 2008). I'm very much looking forward to that part!

Comments

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

My dad has been on "thickened" foods after being ill, and he will hopefully be off them soon. If a case of Ensure or something like that is sitting around Mom's kitchen not being used, should I send it?

Best of luck with the surgery and recovery!

[chalepa-ta-kala.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweets. Glad your father is mending well.

I need to research Ensure. Do you know if it's non-dairy?

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Ensure comes in a wide variety of "flavors" including extra calcium and extra protein which are helpful for folks healing after surgeries. I'm pretty sure most of the variants are lactose-free, but if you're actually really milk allergic, double-check as I think they use other parts of the milk in some versions.

I'm not sure what kind the case Dad got is, other than I think it was strawberry. Ensure will send you a free sample if you sign up on their Web site. I've been meaning to try it myself for days when I'm too sick to eat.