whine whine whine
I forgot to mention that, from what the periodontist said, it sounds like the prep for the gum surgeries & the surgeries themselves will be less difficult than the cataract surgeries, but the recovery periods will be much more painful and restrictive.
After each gum surgery, I will have a week during which I cannot:
I can't have both gum surgeries done at the same time unless I want to go an entire week being unable to chew ANYTHING, which the periodontist says tends to drive people CRAZY after three days or so. One can only live on mushy-or-liquid foods for so long before they phone up Dr. Cangini and beg, "I want a hamburger!" So he strongly recommends having the two surgeries done at different times. And that means two separate week-long periods of restrictive recovery for me. Fun fun.
I'll have to think about whether I'm willing to do a week of no chewing, because I might prefer it to two weeks of less dramatic, chew-permitting recovery-just get it all over with at the same time. I'll have to think about how many different kinds of foods I enjoy that I would still be able to have. Pudding, Jell-o, applesauce, oatmeal, plain jook, ice cream (especially if it's from Ici), tomato soup, split pea soup (without ham), lots of other kinds of soups, hummus (eaten by itself? why not?), nut butter (eaten by itself with a spoon? why not?), nutrition drinks, milkshakes, smoothies (especially from Jamba Juice), very mushy refried beans, very mushy mashed potatoes (like the ones from KFC), soft scrambled eggs (I can scramble an egg, right? I just haven't done so in years.), ripe avocado (I certainly wouldn't mind eating this with a spoon), chicken broth, soft polenta, dal, custard, nearly anything from an Ethiopian restaurant ... hmm ... maybe I could do it. I'll have to think about it. I would really rather have one week of recovery instead of two, if I can manage it.
I've been feeling very down, nigh unto depression. It's just situational, and I'm sure I'll be feeling better tomorrow, but right now I'm very much down in the dumps. I'm just so tired of having things go wrong & having pain & having people want to give me more pain for my own good & just having my life constantly disrupted.
And then our toilet stopped working yesterday & I waited around all day today for the plumber to come & so didn't go to CWC (which probably would have been a bad idea anyway, given how unpredictable my digestion has been & how much my feet have been hurting, but I wanted to go anyway, because my friends are there & my art projects are there & I get lots of emotional support there & so I felt very much deprived) & when it was time for me to leave for my periodontist appointment at 2:00 the plumber still hadn't arrived & so I had to leave Shannon in charge of it, so I could have just gone to CWC anyway, and it was very frustrating.
I'm feeling pouty and put-upon and unfairly treated by the universe. Pout pout pout. I'm taking this moment to indulge myself and feel sorry for myself.
Pout.
Okay. Back to our regularly scheduled mature, adult, non-whiney program. At least for a while. :)
After each gum surgery, I will have a week during which I cannot:
- touch the graft in any way, including unconscious touches with my tongue. I will have to be on guard against this constantly, because we instinctively want to touch injuries like this.
- chew anything on the side with the graft. This will be specially difficult after one of the surgeries, because I know I tend to chew more on one side than the other, though I can't remember which side is my more-chewing side. I think it might be the left.
- do any kind of significant physical activity. This seems to involve even stretching and vigorous walking. Apparently, it is extremely easy to dislodge the new graft, and so I have to keep it as still as possible during the first week of healing.
I can't have both gum surgeries done at the same time unless I want to go an entire week being unable to chew ANYTHING, which the periodontist says tends to drive people CRAZY after three days or so. One can only live on mushy-or-liquid foods for so long before they phone up Dr. Cangini and beg, "I want a hamburger!" So he strongly recommends having the two surgeries done at different times. And that means two separate week-long periods of restrictive recovery for me. Fun fun.
I'll have to think about whether I'm willing to do a week of no chewing, because I might prefer it to two weeks of less dramatic, chew-permitting recovery-just get it all over with at the same time. I'll have to think about how many different kinds of foods I enjoy that I would still be able to have. Pudding, Jell-o, applesauce, oatmeal, plain jook, ice cream (especially if it's from Ici), tomato soup, split pea soup (without ham), lots of other kinds of soups, hummus (eaten by itself? why not?), nut butter (eaten by itself with a spoon? why not?), nutrition drinks, milkshakes, smoothies (especially from Jamba Juice), very mushy refried beans, very mushy mashed potatoes (like the ones from KFC), soft scrambled eggs (I can scramble an egg, right? I just haven't done so in years.), ripe avocado (I certainly wouldn't mind eating this with a spoon), chicken broth, soft polenta, dal, custard, nearly anything from an Ethiopian restaurant ... hmm ... maybe I could do it. I'll have to think about it. I would really rather have one week of recovery instead of two, if I can manage it.
I've been feeling very down, nigh unto depression. It's just situational, and I'm sure I'll be feeling better tomorrow, but right now I'm very much down in the dumps. I'm just so tired of having things go wrong & having pain & having people want to give me more pain for my own good & just having my life constantly disrupted.
And then our toilet stopped working yesterday & I waited around all day today for the plumber to come & so didn't go to CWC (which probably would have been a bad idea anyway, given how unpredictable my digestion has been & how much my feet have been hurting, but I wanted to go anyway, because my friends are there & my art projects are there & I get lots of emotional support there & so I felt very much deprived) & when it was time for me to leave for my periodontist appointment at 2:00 the plumber still hadn't arrived & so I had to leave Shannon in charge of it, so I could have just gone to CWC anyway, and it was very frustrating.
I'm feeling pouty and put-upon and unfairly treated by the universe. Pout pout pout. I'm taking this moment to indulge myself and feel sorry for myself.
Pout.
Okay. Back to our regularly scheduled mature, adult, non-whiney program. At least for a while. :)