Yeap! I felt that I needed a vacation that didn't require too much stress. I knew I couldn't do anything strenuous since I'm only two weeks post-op. We went off to Deep Creek Lake. It was so pretty!  The first day we got there, we went on a boat ride on the Deep Creek Lake.. they say its the first MAN-MADE lake. I thought it was pretty cool.

I had my best friend Brookeann braid my hair everyday since I couldn't do much with my hair since a lot of the hair was shaved and wanted to hide that area and the scar. I felt like I looked like Frankenstein.

I noticed that my car was overheating a lot on the way up there :( It was leaking antifreeze, not sure why.

I took my 2 year old dog, Kaitu with us. He had a blast playing with two other dogs that were at the rental townhouse and got to play in a huge back yard.  It was a nice trip for post surgery. We normally do roller coasters and amusement parks for Memorial Day weekend but I knew I couldn't do it this year.

Here are a few photos :)

Me & Tom

My 2 year old, Kaitu jumping in the air to get the frisbee!

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The post-operative visit with Dr.Limb went very well. He was pleased with the outcome of my surgery. No complications during surgery. Also said that I had less bleeding than normal.

Here is a photo at the hospital. You can see that my face is swollen on the left. Surgery was on Tuesday morning, this photo was taken on Friday morning... not too bad 3 days post-op.

But I did have some dizziness that day and a few bloodsugar drops as well. But it was my first day out...did some errands with mom and picked up a big bottle of Tylenol for pain management for the next week or so.

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My goodness, I will tell you what a difficult night I had after surgery. Barely slept at all. Could not get comfortable with the pain.

After the 24 hours, I started to feel a lot of relief, the pain reduced in about half and got more color back in my skin. Was able to stay awake longer.

Its 2:40am, I couldn't sleep, I am here at my desk blogging and doing my scrapbook, something quiet and relaxing. In about 12 hours, the bandages will come off and my first attempt to take a shower.

I do experience some jaw pain that my mentor, Abbie Cranmer mentioned to me via email. But no neck pain, I am afraid to move my neck so I haven't been able to move it as much.

Otherwise I feel that I am doing pretty good post-op wise.

I did find out earlier this evening, from one of my surgeons that I had a rough time in the OR. I don't know details yet. I will be getting this information from Dr. Limb and his peers on Friday on my post-op appointment. I do remember that I kept asking for more pain meds during recovery which limited my visit with my family and fiancee.

Oh did I tell you that I got engaged this past Saturday? I dont think I have kept my eyes off of my sparkly engagement ring! Will keep you posted on the recovery part.

Here's a photo of me. I'm not too happy here!

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Post-Op was an challenge for me. I had problems with pain management during the first phase of recovery.

I remember bits and pieces coming out of the OR and the first hour of recovery.

I vaguelly remember seeing my surgeon, Dr.Limb saying that everything went well. Also his sidekick visiting me as well. I was so out of it during that time.

The nurse kept asking me if I was in pain. Scaling 1-10, I was always at 8 for a few hours maybe. But after a few times of waking me up, one of the nurses told me that in order to see my family and fiancée, it needs to be below 5.

Ok. Thanks SmartyPants, I just found a loophole to get outta there faster. The next time she came up to me and asked me what my pain level is, I told her it was between 4-5. Found my ticket home.

During that time, my pre-op nurse, Victoria visited me. I thought it was so sweet of her.


My mom took a picture of this photograph of Victoria that was on one of the walls in the pre-op area. She was so nice to me and I was scared shitless. She kept telling me that she would take care of me. She did.

Alrighty, back to the subject; another nurse comes by and prepares for me to WALK over to the second phase of recovery. And I was a little dizzy at the time. (I'm thinking how in the heck am I gonna get there safely??) So, I gently asked the two nurses if they could bring the chair to me and I'll hop on it. I was still in my sleepy stages during this time.

Got over there and got a spanking brand new nurse. Much nicer than the other one. She brings my family and my fiancée. Then my MOTHER starts snapping away her photos with her phone. I'm like what is SHE doing?!?! From the pictures below, you can obviously see that I was not in any mood to smile.



Told ya!

But here is a lovely photo of my fiancée, Tom.


And another of me and my dad.

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