Recovery: Day 3

Today I woke up with itchy hives on the back of my knees.  I wasn't sure if it was from my parents' dog, which I'm allergic to, or if I was having a small allergic reaction to my antibiotic or one of my other medications.  I called Dr. Haas' cell phone and left a message telling him I have no known allergies to medicines, but I have hives on my legs, and asked him whether or not I should continue the antibiotic. He called me right back and told me I could stop taking all medications, and said I no longer needed any of them.  Shortly after that conversation, the hives disappeared, so I kind of think it was just from dry skin or my allergy to the dog, so I've taken my pills today.  Since Phillip comes home tonight, I'll be going home.  If I get hives again, I'll stop with the medication.  If I don't, I'll just chalk it up to my dog allergy.  But I figured I only have two more days on the antibiotic anyway, and I'd like to finish the course if possible.

While I had Dr. Haas on the phone, I asked him how to irrigate my nose.  He told me to go get the Ocean brand saline drops, and that it was perfectly fine to put the nozzle in my nose.  So I've done that several times today, which has softened the dried blood enough where I could suck it out with one of my baby nephew's nasal aspirators (we put it in the dishwasher afterward).  Since I've done that, I'm breathing through my nose and I am much more comfortable.  There are still bumps of swollen tissue in the inside corners of my nostrils that are a little painful, but I should also probably quit touching and picking at them.

The other little aggravation I blogged about yesterday has been slightly resolved, but not by much, if you catch my drift. Nuff said about that.

One thing I haven't mentioned much but probably should, is my diet. Before the surgery, I stocked up with soup and yogurt and soft stuff, because that's what the pre-op instructions said to do.  Thursday, the day of my surgery, I ate soup for lunch and dinner.  Since I take the Lyrica at night and I need to eat food with it, I had a piece of bread with peanut butter on it.  I got it down, but it was a little bit difficult.  I had to tear it into little pieces so I didn't have to take bites off it, just put them in my mouth and chew a little bit.  The next day I had a BLT for lunch, and it was just a little bit more difficult than normal to open my mouth wide enough to take large bites.  It wasn't painful, though.  Friday night I had more soup for dinner again, and then yesterday, Saturday, I was eating solid foods with no problem whatsoever.  This is another thing that has pleasantly surprised me about this whole experience.  I thought it would take a little bit to get back into the swing of a regular diet, but it only took two days post-op.

OK, without further adieu, pictures from today:

My black eyes are now yellow eyes, but I still have purple bruising on my eyelids.  My swelling has gone down considerably, and even though I can still see it and my mom can too, I doubt many other people would notice it.  I think if I didn't have the splint on my nose, I could put on a little makeup and no one would know I had surgery 3 days ago.  And speaking of that splint, it comes off in two days!