I'm so over resting in the recliner and watching/listening to the television. Housebound for 3 days with orders to totally chillax and let things just happen around me is not exactly what I am used to. Little bit, well, no, a lot of oral surgery Friday, and now I am in chill out mode until Monday afternoon. Thank Heavens for Vicodin, mashed potatoes and Jello! Hoorah, my diet of choice for the next few days. There's not a lot of imagination in the whole thing, but at this point in time, if it's mushy and doesn't require chewing and has some semblance of flavor, I'll take it.
I have dreaded this surgery for months. I've scheduled it and cancelled more times than I want to talk about, but it's done now and I am so glad to have it over. Four hours in the surgery chair, nitrous oxide and a gallon or two of novocaine, I now have about 50% less jawbone and more stitches than I care to count. Parting words from the surgeon, I've never done this on someone without them being asleep before, but you did great! Awesome, that's just exactly what I wanted to hear from someone that just spent over 3 hours with his hands in my mouth sawing, chiseling and tugging. Great memories, let me tell you. He informed me that he removed boulders from my mouth and it was too bad I didn't need bone grafts because there was plenty to go around. Really! I didn't need to know all of that. None the less, it's done, and now I can look forward to the results in a couple months.
Recuperation is a blast. Husband and son waiting on me hand and foot. They are very glad that I can talk now, because they were getting weary of the bell that I was using to get their attention. Apparently, I can't write fast enough to let them know what I needed and it seems that we were playing a game of charades for awhile. Hello, no, mellow, no....Oh, you want more Jello! Got it. Today was exciting. I actually tried some scrambled eggs. They tasted soooooo good.
So, a little note about being in the chair with the weight of the world pushing down on my lower jaw, conversations about boulders in my mouth and bone grafts, I'm scared. I'm anxious, nervous, wanting this whole ordeal to just be over. The nitrous was long past making me relax a little, so I did the only other thing that I knew to do, I started having a conversation with God. I asked Him to hold my hand, to make the noise go away, to just let it be over. I was so focused on my conversation, that things were over and done with and I didn't realize it. The greatest anti anxiety treatment out there - God!
I was pretty shaky and not looking my best. I still don't and I understand that the bruising will all start in a couple of days. Maybe I will get lucky and NOT look like I was hit by a freight train. From here on out, everything else should be easy.
You know me by now and you know that I turn to prayer regularly. It's a direct connection to the one Person that can help me through anything, and you don't ever have to worry about losing your signal! Now, I'm sitting here, taking it easy and trying to put more distance in between my pain pills. TV is just really obnoxious sometimes, and then I see a national news story about a young woman in a cell phone store that was able to walk away from an armed robbery by sharing God with the robber. She witnessed to that desperate man and not only saved her own life, but probably his too. When she finished, he thanked her and walked out of that store a changed soul. He is in custody now, according to the report, but his life was changed forever because of the spiritual strength of one very passionately religious young woman who chose to share her God with the panicky, desperate young man. She is alive because of it.
I'm alive too, very much so, physically and spiritually. My ordeal Friday wasn't the least bit pleasant, it was painful in spite of the goofy gas and the novocaine, and in the aftermath, it still is. But somewhere in the middle of my laughing gas stupor, I had an epiphany and I became lucid enough to call on my "Daddy" to hold my hand and help me get through it all, and He did.
Whether it's oral surgery, an armed robbery, a test in school, giving a speech, or just plain courage to face the world in any scenario, there is one Person that is there for us every moment of every day forever, and that is God. He's helped me out more times than I can even remember, and He is there to help you too. Just ask Him!
Yippee! It's supper time, black cherry jello and spooned chocolate milk shake. Yum! Don't think I have to worry about steak any time soon. So, Bon Appetit and God bless each and every one of you!
In His Glory!
me
