At the Home Stretch - 5 weeks post-op!

Today marks my 5-week anniversary. Hooray!! That means one more week and my jaw will be fully healed. Of course, my recovery is far from complete. Dr. Asdell said that it will take a year to reach a 100% recovery.

So how does it feel to be 5 weeks post-op? In a word: fabulous. Let me count the ways:

1. I can smile. Doing my facial exercises really pays off - not only do I freak people out like Rachel, who likes to do hers in the car at traffic stops, but you really do get noticeable results. This helps me when I speak, too. I'm starting to sound less childlike. Nice!

2. I can eat soft foods. In addition to eating soups and smoothies, which I still do on a regular basis, I can now eat soft foods, like scrambled eggs, pancakes, casseroles, and lasagna. Hallelujah! I am rejoicing over this change in my diet.


3. I can breathe. Of course I can breathe, you say. Well, sure. But the first week after my surgery, I couldn't breathe out of my nose. I constantly had nose bleeds and congestion. I would have to take hot showers just to open my nasal passages a bit. It was pretty annoying to always have to breathe out of my mouth. And especially at night because I would wake up with a dehydrated tongue and scratchy throat. Gross!! Having this experience made me realize how much we take our bodies for granted. Now, please do me a favor and take a deep breath. Enjoy the passage of air as it enters and leaves your body. It's tremendous!

4. I have more energy. I was really tired the first few weeks after my surgery. And for good reason: Having both of your jaws broken and realigned is no picnic! This surgery is really traumatic to the body, so it does take time to bounce back and feel like a normal person again. But now I feel great! I'm back to riding my bike and hanging out with friends. I go out to public places, like the public library and Heather's coffee shop.

5. I feel relaxed. Since my surgery, I haven't had any coffee. For those of you who know me, that's perhaps a surprise to hear. I was the type of person who required at least two cups of coffee to get my day started. Now that I don't drink it, I feel more relaxed.  I sleep like a baby at night, too. We'll see if I can forgo drinking coffee once Fall semester begins, though.

But, there's still room for improvement!! Here are some areas that still need more time for recovery:

1. Numbness. My chin and lower lip are still numb. This makes my lower lip look crooked sometimes.

2. Bruising. I still have a very faint bruise on my lower right jaw. The bruise continues on my neck, near my vocal cords.

3. Voice. Although I don't sound like a 5-year old anymore, I still don't sound normal. Maybe now I sound like a 10-year-old.

4. Swelling. Yep, I still have swelling on my face. That will take time to heal.

5. Jaw. I have a limited range of motion when it comes to opening my jaw. I need to do keep doing Rachel's aggressive and exaggerated facial exercises - they really do help!

Trying Rachel's Aggressive Facial Exercises

After knitting this afternoon, I became curious about Rachel's "exaggerated" and "aggressive" facial exercises. Whatever she's doing is obviously working because she's looking like a million bucks these days! Plus, wearing this t-shirt gave me the confidence I needed to experiment with these ultra-intensive exercises.


So I kept toying with the idea of doing aggressive facial therapy. Maybe Rachel scrunches up her face into a ball, or something like it.


No, that didn't feel too aggressive. Maybe she tries opening her mouth as wide as possible to stretch her muscles.


Well, that's definitely exaggerated. Or maybe she opens her mouth plus scrunches up her nose (hey, I have swelling on my nose, so this combo could work!)


Wow, that looks scary. See, it even scared my dog, Willy.


Bingo! That's aggressive! And I can already see a difference. Thanks, Rachel! Hopefully, I'll start looking like a million bucks soon! :0)

At Home Spa Treatment

Well, it was bound to happen. My face and neck have broken out with acne. I have a long history dealing with acne, so I have all the preps I need to pamper my face and make it disappear. I know Holly recently dealt with this issue by using Pro-active, but sadly those products just don't work on me. (Case in point, I completed two 6-month long treatments of Accutane when I was in my early 20s. Not fun!)

So I pulled out my face steamer this morning; I added a few drops of my favorite rose water to it. While that was warming up, I washed my face, put on some background music, and drank a glass of water (that helps to get your skin to sweat). Then it was time for the steamer. I forgot how warm and relaxing this is, especially smelling those fragrant wafts of roses. After about 10-12 minutes, I finished with the steamer and then exfoliated my face using an apricot scrub. After the scrub, I used an astringent (made for sensitive skin) to remove the remaining dead skin cells. Last but not least, I put on a face moisturizer.

I'm going to incorporate this into my routine, maybe 2-3 times per week. That should take care of the flare-up. It's really not that bad, but I do want to be proactive and nip this in the bud!

Four-week Celebration - Yay!

Today I joyfully celebrated my four-week anniversary! For breakfast, I enjoyed two Birthday Pancakes - basically they're buttermilk pancakes with a few chocolate chips thrown in the batter for good measure. What a marvelous way to start the day. It was phenomenal to use a fork again. Seriously.

Then Heather and I took a short trip to Saugatuck, MI this afternoon. (It's about an hour from where we live.) We had lunch at this little Italian pizza shop. I wanted to order pizza so bad, but the crust looked a little too crispy. So we decided to share a veggie lasagna instead. Oh! It was so delicious!!! The tomato sauce was tangy and a bit sweet. And the lasagna was covered with mozzarella and ricatta cheese that was layered with zucchini, squash, onion, and carrot slices. And I managed to eat a few bites of bread soaked in the sauce. Of course, it took me twice as long to eat my portion. But Heather was totally cool about it. Thank goodness!

After lunch, we moseyed around the shops and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. It really was a beautiful day to take a stroll in a quaint town. When our food finally settled, we made a pit stop at a gelato shop. I ordered a vanilla gelato, which was excellent. And Heather got a mint chocolate chip gelato, which was also very tasty. This is life, I thought. To bask in the sunshine with a good friend and Italian ice cream.

But we were here for business purposes, actually. Heather owns a local coffee shop in South Bend called Chicory Cafe, and she needed to pick up an order of gelato for her store. So we headed back into the car to another small town called Fennville. Believe it or not, this little town houses a huge warehouse that makes gelato from scratch. It was pretty cool to see the behind-the-scenes action in making gelato.

What a perfect way to celebrate my four-week anniversary. I really feel elated. And for posterity, I've taken two photos to chronicle how I look today (with the hope that one day this will be a distant and cheerful memory!):





And in case you missed the memo, Rachel, Kam, and I have joined forces to launch a sister blog called Jaw Dropping Blends. That's right, we're sharing our blended-diet recipes with other folks who are in our shoes! Please check it out and give us a slurp! :0)

Dr. Asdell - A Man of Several Talents

I met with Dr. Asdell this morning for a weekly check-up. The nurse usually escorts me to the "motorcycle" or "plane" room. That's right, when Dr. Asdell is not performing oral surgery, he's riding his Harley or flying a plane around the Midwest. Amazing, right? He's definitely a daredevil in my book (of course, what do you expect from a bookworm!). But today, I was led to another room. Immediately, my curiosity was piqued to discover how the room was decorated - he really does put his personality on the walls. And I was not disappointed. This room was covered in music memorabilia - there were autographed photographs, drums, a painting from the Chicago Jazz Festival, and tickets framed on the wall.

"So, Dr. Asdell likes music," I said to the nurse.

"Oh yes," she replied. "He's a drummer in a band called Alteregos. They're all doctors. Have you heard of Viagra Falls?" No, I didn't. "Well, they're another local doctor band, but the Alteregos pride themselves on being the first local doctor band in the area."

Who knew? I certainly didn't! Of course, when Dr. Asdell came into the room, I mused about discovering this aspect of him. He laughed, of course. I think it's so awesome that he has a variety of interests. Just by observing those walls, he's taught me that life is too short to just do one thing. It's clear he has several passions in life - I hope to one day broaden my passions as well, although it won't involve aerodynamics!

The check-up went well. He told me to continue wearing the bands. Now that I've worn them for two weeks, it doesn't feel uncomfortable, so it was no bother to hear that. He also said he wants to see me in two weeks. Oh no! What am I going to do not seeing these folks next week? ;0)

Surprisingly, the best news I received today came from the receptionist - I was talking to her about my blended diet, and she said that now I'm nearly 4-weeks post-op, it's okay for me to eat scrambled eggs (and cheese!). My heart soared in elation! I couldn't wait to get home and make this for brunch. And it was oh-so-good! Three cheers for scrambled eggs - hooray, hooray, hooray!

Take it Easy

This past week, I've managed to take it easy by reading novels and moseying around the house. Sounds hum drum, I know, but I must confess that most of my friends and colleagues would consider me to be a workaholic. (That's nothing to be proud about!) So in addition to revising a manuscript for publication, I read Life of Pi and The Alchemist. Life of Pi is my all-time favorite book and it was my second time reading it. And I would quickly put The Alchemist on my top 10 list. It's fabulous. I'm currently The Shadow of the Wind, which is a complicated and engrossing story about a young boy who discovers a book from the Cemetery of the Forgotten Books, which turns out to be cursed - and of course, reading that book gets him involved in a thrilling adventure.

Ok, so I'm a bookworm. What can I say, I love entertaining my imagination!

But I'm also a member of Netflix, so I've been taking advantage of my membership these days, too. Last night, I watched a foreign film called Caramel. Check out the trailer below. You may be surprised to know it's a Lebanese film. I don't know much about that culture, so I felt like my eyes were opened a little bit by watching this flick.



I also watched a quirky documentary called Run Granny Run. It's about a woman affectionally known as "Granny D" who decides to run for Senate at the tender age of 94-years old. She's actually really inspiring. When she was 90-years old, she walked all the way from California to her home state of New Hampshire. That's quite an accomplishment!

I'm Halfway There

Today marks my 3-week anniversary. I should be more ecstatic about this, but my mind has been focused on other matters today (like writing a journal article). So time to recharge my batteries and reflect on this jaw breaking moment. First, I must say that I still experience pain in my jaws. I take this as a sign of healing, but I'm still taking pain meds to offset the discomfort. During the day, the pain is relatively minor, but the greatest pain I feel is usually in the mornings. I figured it's because I slept throughout the night and missed taking a 3am dose of pain meds. It's really not a big deal, though. I just take another dose around 8am, wait for the magic to appear around 8:45am, and then take the dogs out for their morning walk.

In terms of swelling, well...it's still present. But I think it's finally going down some. Yeah!




And my voice still sounds rather childlike. Someone was telling me that men like women having higher-pitched voices. Immediately I raised my eyebrow in disbelief. Who are you kidding, buster? And then they pointed out how Donald Trump likes women with such voices, as though that would change my opinion. I thought this person was completely nuts! Plus, it doesn't help when the neighborhood guys chastised me last week about my voice. So I'm not buying it.

Oh, one last thing before I forget - my lower lip and chin are completely numb. Sometimes it tingles (and it feels great!), but I've noticed no real improvement in this area of my face. I remind myself to give it some time. Patience isn't exactly my virtue, but I'm working on it. :0)

Another Visit with Dr. Asdell

I went to see Dr. Asdell for my 3-week post-op visit. The nurses said the swelling has continued to go down, which was nice to hear (although once again, I'm not fully convinced by their report!). Dr. Asdell said my bite was improving, thanks to the bands. So he wants me to continue wearing them for another week. He said that maybe next week he'll consider repositioning the bands elsewhere in my mouth for further improvement. Because I want the best care possible, I'm not going to complain about this. I don't want to take any short cuts and regret those decisions later!

Dr. Asdell also asked me about my voice. Now I have noticed a slight improvement, but it's still not 100% back to normal. He said he was puzzled by it - he told me that he's dealt with hundreds of patients and I'm the only one to have been marred by a high-pitched voice. That's not exactly reassuring, but he told me to try doing some vocal exercises. I'll give it a try because I don't want to have to go to physical therapy just to restore my "old" voice. I promised him I wasn't toking on any helium as part of my pain management, and he chuckled. We both suspect the voice change is due to the intubation. But really, I'm less concerned about what caused this to happen in the first place, and more focused on my recovery. So later today I'll look online to see what kinds of "vocal exercises" I should be doing. Thank goodness for this blog so that no one has to suffer from hearing me toot my broken horn! :0)

smoothie, Smoothie, SMOOTHIE!! Yeah!!

I hit a home run in Smoothie Land today. Heather and I went to a local health food shop that featured a smoothie bar. I ordered a strawberry smoothie with a dash of whey protein powder and flax seed oil. Scrumptious!! I also picked up cinnamon for my Cream of Wheat breakfasts. It's really the little things in life that make life so worth living. :0)

Later this afternoon I also experimented by making a peanut butter cookie milkshake.* It was so yummy! All I did was add a few scoops of peanut butter cookie mix with ice, milk, and a bit of chocolate powder to simulate the hershey kiss that goes on top of those cookies. I blended it for less than a minute, and voilà - you have a delicious (but *not* nutritious!) peanut butter cookie delight!

I think I'm back on track with making smoothies. Excellent! I'm feeling good about this now.

Also, on a totally unrelated note, I was thinking about the purpose of pain today during my afternoon walk with the pups. It would be a lie for me to say that I enjoy feeling pain in my jaws, but I'm grateful for this information. Feeling this pain reminds me to take it easy, that I'm not fully recovered yet so don't try anything stupid, like eat a chicken sandwich or chew gum.

(Those acts by the way, were recently discussed by a member on the Yahoo! Orthognathic Support Group. Someone who hadn't fully recovered from their jaw surgery decided to eat a sandwich and chew gum 4-weeks post op and complained how much their jaw hurt afterwards. I'd rather not venture down that path and regret it later!)

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*I think next week I'm going to experiment by making a chocolate chip cookie milkshake. Good-bye weight loss, hello weight gain! :0)

Odwalla Try Some? Hmm...Do I Have to?

I know Melissa was raving about Naked Juice earlier this week, and that idea got me craving a smoothie. But not just any smoothie - I really wanted one from Planet Smoothie. Unfortunately, however, there's no Planet Smoothie in Indiana. Grrr!!!

So I called my friend Heather who owns a coffee shop in South Bend. She suggested that I try one of the Odwalla smoothies. I've had their lemonade before and it was excellent, so what the heck, I thought. If I can't have a decadent smoothie from Planet Smoothie, then this ought to be second best.

I bought two Odwalla drinks - the lemonade, of course, plus another one called Superfood. It sounded healthy and packed with calories, which I desperately need. (I've lost 5 pounds since the surgery. I really don't need to lose any weight!) But when I opened the Superfood bottle, I immediately regretted this decision. Although it smelled fruity, the drink was so green!

Ok, I told myself not to look at the juice while I drank it. It tasted fine (there was a bit too much apple juice for my liking, so I kept chanting 'mango, mango, mango' to myself to trick my brain into enjoying this drink more than I actually did). I slurped it until it all gone. Phew! Next time, I'm just going to make my own smoothie. That took a lot of mental energy! 

Two-week anniversary - ooh yeah!

Two weeks ago at approximately 7:30am, I was trying to hop off the operating table and avoid having jaw surgery altogether. Thank goodness I was given a "cocktail" to slow my responses, otherwise I would've gotten the heck out of the OR room and sprinted back home. (So much for being called "brave" by my friends!) I remember seeing my favorite nurse, Terri, in the operating room. "Oh, good," I thought. "Terri will rescue me!" But no, she didn't. She just waved to me as Dr. Schroeder, my anesthesiologist, gently nudged me to lay down and to breathe in some oxygen. It was more like me hyperventilating into the mask, but three puffs later, I was down for the count.

Fast forward to today. I'm feeling great, despite these rubber bands forcing my lower jaw into compliance. The swelling is still around, much to my chagrin, but what more can I do? I use my heating pad religiously and I sleep upright. There's nothing else to my knowledge that will make the swelling disappear more quickly.

And I feel so lucky to have made friends in the blogosphere. Rachel has given me several good ideas on what to make (I'm still enjoying my cream of wheat & bananas breakfast, thanks to her!). And I'm going to make a pit stop at the grocery store later today to pick up some sweet potatoes. I'm looking forward to trying this recipe, Rachel! I'm also glad to be connected with Kam, Holly, and Melissa. I really do feel like we're all in this together, sharing our ideas, experiences, and tips with each other. It makes the healing process all the more enjoyable and manageable.

So here's how I look like today, still sporting the cabbage-patch kid look (although my friend Jessica said I resembled John McCain. What?!?!? That's crazy talk!). I've decided to forgo wearing make-up until the swelling has gone away. And as you can tell, I have zero motivation for styling my hair. "C'est la vie," as the French say, that's life for me these days, and I'm so happy to be two-weeks post op. Hooray!!!!

Rubber Banded!!

I like the title of Rachel's post today called Silence of the Bands, but I have another perspective about rubber bands. They hurt!!

Dr. Asdell put two bands on my teeth today because my lower jaw was jutting too far to the left, thanks to the swelling. He told me that wearing rubber bands is different than being banded shut. I didn't know there was a difference - I've heard people talk about wearing splints and getting banded shut following their jaw surgeries, but I didn't have to go through that. I think it's because he used rigid fixation (meaning he used really strong screws to hold my jaws together, I guess).

The nurses at Dr. Asdell's office were happy to see me. They noticed that the swelling has gone down. Of course, I thought they were just being nice. I'm still fairly swollen and jealous of Rachel! She's looking like one hot momma over there in Texas and I'm still looking like a cabbage patch kid! ;0)

After my appointment, I went home, took some Tylenol and enjoyed a long nap. That has been my general approach in dealing with this pain. And man, oh man, wearing these rubber bands is not pleasant. Dr. Asdell wants to see me again next week, so I'm hoping he will free me of these bands real quick. Cheers to wishful thinking!

Brotherly Love

Remember I called my brother and left him a message on his voice mail a few days ago? Well, here's his response, which I've copied verbatim from Facebook:

"You sound like a mouse.....in a good way! I had no idea who you were on the vm until you said it was you! Bet you look like a million dollars!"

So I told him to check my blog for pictures. And then he responded by sending me a note and photo on my phone:


"Is this what your face looks like? Get it fixed!"

Now that's what I call brotherly love. He's lucky to live in Atlanta while I'm here in South Bend. Otherwise, I might return the favor by punching him in the guts! ;0)

Glamour Shot Photos!

Just kidding, no glamour shot photos here. I look like a cabbage patch kid, after all. But Rachel has inspired me by putting up her pictures so quickly, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

As with most things in life, we need to be able to make comparisons to see if there's a difference in an outcome. And we want to make fair comparisons, so the photos you're about to see were all taken using a web cam.

Here's a "before" picture taken on June 9th:


Ok, drumroll please......................................................................

And here's how I look today:









My face is obviously still swollen, which provides me with this nice asymmetric look. I'm still bruised on my neck, too. I'm 10 days post-op, so I just need to give it more time for the swelling to go down.

In other news, my friend Jessica had a good laugh when she heard me speak on the phone today. I decided to spread this joy by leaving a message on my brother's phone and then calling my friend Dawn. When Dawn picked up, she was naturally startled to hear me. She said I sounded like a 6-year old. I took that as a complement. Apparently, my voice has already aged by a year and it's only been a day since I complained about sounding like a 5-year old. Ooh yeah!

Voicebox Vandal

The last time I went for a teeth cleaning, my dentist and I had a pleasant chat about a friend of his who also had jaw surgery. Dr. Campbell went on about the wonderful outcomes from that surgery and how a surprising thing happened with his friend - her accent changed. Apparently, her family was of European descent (maybe from Sweden, I can't remember exactly where), and guess what? Her new accent sounded like she came directly from that country.

So we laughed about that for a bit because although I was raised in Georgia, I really don't have a southern accent. (I would say it's fairly neutral.) And I certainly wasn't going into this operation with any optimism about acquiring a southern twang or drawl.

Well, before you jump to any conclusions, let me first say that I had completely forgotten about the conversation I had with Dr. Campbell. I suppose there were larger issues about this surgery that consumed my attention.

And no, I don't have a southern accent now. But my voice box has been tinkered with because I sound like a completely different person. If I had to describe this alleged person, I would quickly put her at about 5 years of age. That's right, I sound like a kid. Somehow, my pitch has risen a few notes from my normal range of speech. I'm hoping my voice will drop as the swelling goes down.

Oh, for the love, is this some kind of twisted puberty joke?

When I took the pups for a walk this afternoon, three guys across the street asked me what kinds of dogs I have. I told them I have a miniature schnauzer and a bichon, in my kiddie voice, of course. They all laughed at me. "Can you say that again?," they asked.

Now I'm a college professor, but I was in no mood to lecture them about being polite to strangers. "No thank you," I said as I continued walking. "Wow, that was a high-pitched voice," they all chuckled.

I felt indignant, but I didn't think that giving them a piece of my mind would be worth the effort. But now I'm getting a little worried about this new-fangled voice of mine. I really want my old voice box to come back before fall semester begins. I don't want my own students to tease me about sounding like a kid. 

One Week Post-Op!

Yay! I'm starting to feel like my usual self again. I had been on Acetaminophen-Codeine and Penicillin this past week, and I just felt like a zombie! But no more. I finished taking the Penicillin and I'm now managing the pain with extra-strength Tylenol, which is a great alternative because I'm not sleeping all day and all night as I have been. This switch has also given me enough energy to walk the dogs today. I tried doing that yesterday, but had to hobble home after walking half a block. Thank goodness Sean was able to finish walking the dogs for me.

I feel so blessed. Sean has been an angel making me pot after pot of nutritious (and delicious!) soups! I have plenty of soup to last me 6 weeks because he's converted my freezer into a fortified soup kitchen.

If you find yourself in my position (that is, having jaw surgery), then please convince a loved one to make the chicken soup recipe he posted on the blog yesterday. It really is so good!!

And to celebrate my one-week anniversary, I had my favorite ice cream. Yum!

Food for a jawsome recovery

So this is Sean here. An update on Michelle - she is doing great, although the recovery, like many aspects of life, has its ups and downs. One minute Michelle is feeling great, the next she is once again in pain. Such is the road to recovery. Michelle's swelling has gone down considerably, and I assure you no one would now mistake her for a chipmunk.

One of my duties over the past week or so has been cooking for Michelle. This gave me the opportunity to try some recipes for soups. I myself am a fan of the soup - any meal you can eat entirely with a spoon is entirely okay by me. Who wants to chew, especially after having both your upper and lower jaw broken and held together by some IKEA-like screws? I don't, and neither does Michelle. So I have made a few tasty soups that are worth trying for those of you who are looking after a loved one who has gone through orthognathic surgery. And who knows? Maybe with a little inspiration you can improve on these humble recipes and become the next Wolfgang Puck or that asshole on Hell's Kitchen.

Let me preface these recipes by saying that there is one item completely indispensable to any person helping someone through this surgery. The one thing that you need to get through this period is a hand-held blender like this:













OF course, and as is usual, it was not my insight that led to this handy gadget. It was a post-surgery gift from Dr. Wong, Michelle's orthodontist. He rightly stated that this implement would be more useful than flowers, because flowers die, but you'll need a blender for at least six weeks. And this guy must be an angel - having one of these devices has made life easier for all of us. Thank you Dr. Wong - you were definitely not wrong!

So far, my favorite recipe comes from my mother, who for the past year has been making chicken noodle soup like its no tomorrow. I modified the recipe (not wanting to give away her secret) but I believe this is a nutritious meal that Michelle really enjoyed, which freezes well and provides vitamins and minerals that will help in the recovery process. So here is the basic recipe.

Chicken soup for the orthognathic soul

About 3 pounds of split chicken breast, with bone
About a half dozen carrots
About a half dozen stalks of celery
About three small onions, chopped
About a tablespoon of garlic powder
About a handful of parsley
About a teaspoon of salt and pepper, to taste
About 1 big can of crushed tomatoes
Anything creative you find in your friend's cabinet (oregano, basil, curry)

Clean chicken. Put in stock pot, skin and all. Cover with water to about 2 inches above the chicken. Put to a boil. While waiting to boil, chop up carrots, onions, and celery (leaving the leaves on the celery). Once chicken comes to a boil, skim the scum on the surface. Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic powder, parsley, salt pepper, crushed tomatoes, and other inspirational ingredients you find in the cabinet (don't use anchovies). Simmer for 2 hours while you play with your friend's dog. Occasionally stir. Then take out the chicken and break off the meat into a tupperware container. Then use a spoon with holes in it and transfer the vegetables in the stock pot to a sieve. Save the carrots into a separate container and place in the fridge. Use a spoon and crush the vegetables through the sieve into the stock pot so that the resulting soup has all of the nutrients from the vegetables. Then take off the stove and allow the cool considerably. After cooling, place in the fridge over night, allowing the fat to rise to the surface. The next day, skim the fat off the surface. Now you have your stock. When making the soup, combine chicken and carrots and stock. Heat on the stove, and once warm, take your hand held blender and grind it into a pulp that can fit through a straw. Bring it to your friend who just had orthognathic surgery, and I promise, he or she will enjoy!



Save a little for yourself, too. Remember - you might be looking after someone who went through the surgery, but you need nourishment yourself. Don't forget to eat!