The ticker is ticking...

So the ticker says that there is exactly 7 days until my surgery. The countdown is surreal. I can't believe that 1 week from today around this time, I will be in the hospital done with my surgery, probably feeling miserable. I spent some time yesterday doing more research on jaw surgery. Quite a lot of people have posted their pictures up on the internet. The pictures kinda made everything real. Some people had it really easy -- by the 10th day, they've already resorted back to their normal looks. Some had it bad - with black eyes and bruises all over. I hope I won't fall under the "bad" group's statistic.

My family celebrated Thanksgiving today (1 day later than the official date). While it was nice to have everyone gather around to eat the feast, I can't help but think about this being the last big feast I will have before my surgery... then I will be down to a liquid diet for the next few weeks. Speaking of liquid diet, I went to Rite Aid today and bought a pack of Ensure and a pack of Boost. I bought one of each because I don't know which tastes better. I hope they taste decent, period. I will be drinking those for a while. In addition to the liquid foods, I went to Target last weekend to get stuff for post-surgery. I bought some children toothbrushes and non-alcoholic mouthwash. These are some of the things the hospital recommended. I feel very unready. I'm sure there are things that I need and I don't have.

Less than a month

I don't know if the surgery thing has or has not really settled in my brain yet. I told everyone at work, friends and family that I will undergo corrective jaw surgery in December. It's quite hard to detail everything, but for the most part, we've tried to make it into jokes so there is less anxiety. I will be out of the office for 6 weeks, which takes me away through Jan 15, 2007. I am a bit worried about things at work without my presence, but there's really nothing I can do at that point. I don't know when will I be "well" enough to even worry about work.

I received my packet of information from Kaiser 2 weeks ago. I must say that the Maxillofacial Surgery office is actually quite efficient. I've also got the doc to sign off on my 6-week medical leave within 1 day. That was nice. Now I have to get X-rays done. There was a lot of information in that packet, which had a lot of "what to expect" info. I think it scared me quite a bit. I really don't know how my body will handle everything. I am most worried about vomiting, which they say will happen, and of course the food and everything else. I'm trying not to think about it too much, and I think it has been working for the most part. I have a lot of stuff going on at work, including a business trip in 1 week, which is taking my mind off the surgery. But I know, as I get closer to the date for my leave, work will suddenly explode and I will be in a bind to finish things before I go. Whatever, I'll try not to worry about it now!