The Dr. had told me in his outline of the procedures and treatments that following the lip-switch surgery my mouth would be sewn shut for approx. 3 weeks - save for an approx. 1/4″ opening on the “good side”. So - eat through a straw. Dr. recommended Ensure to assure adequate nutrition, and he warned me to not loose too much weight. Nobody needs to worry about me loosing too much weight - I love to eat! But it did present a challenge with that straw thing. It doesn’t exactly lend itself to big steak dinners, and such.
The effects of the surgery were, in general, less taxing than expected. I didn’t know just what to expect so had prepared myself & RK for “the worst”. Despite not feeling all that terrible, overall, I was bound and determined to take full advantage of these three weeks as a convalescent. It was wonderful! Sleep, nap, watch the tube (yeah - can’t afford fancy new set!), rummage through old photographs & scanning for upload.
Doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, the World bedamned!
NOT MY PROBLEM (mantra).
A short series of antibiotics. Twice daily wound care - tedious, but otherwise unremarkable. Went through Q-tips, saline solution, expensive ointment, sterile pads and flesh colored tape like it was going out of style. Towards the end, I produced a pretty decent looking bandage! Frequent follow-up visits with the Dr., who seemed pleased (that always helps…). My “new” lip was pink and staying warm, thank God!
Meanwhile, subcutaneous stitches were starting to poke through - very annoying. Most dissolved, as intended, but the rest toyed with my patience: the nurses/assistants at the Dr.’s office kept having to yank them for me. Little by little the regular stitches were snipped, too. All along - NO PAIN! I had made sure that the potent pain killer prescription was filled, along with the various other ones. But - so far - no need for it. YAY.
Some 6-8 lbs lighter and with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I received welcome news from the Dr. - he was going to do my lip division on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! How wonderful, such great timing - I’M HUNGRY! 
Bright and really early (had to use “the secret code” to access the building. That’s early!) Tuesday morning found me on location, ready and, again, excited. This is the one morning the Dr. is running late, darn it - it was wa-ay too early for my liking. Semi-napped for a bit. The Dr. had a full schedule (as always, from what I have gathered - when you want the Best…) and started some other patients’ procedures that would need subsequent wait time before getting to me. Local anesthetics, again, and some time to let them kick in. Then the team gathered and the lip-division started. Oh, dear! Who would’ve thought cutting through a 1/4″ of flesh could hurt that bad? I don’t think the Dr. missed the mark with the anesthetic (he’s way too expert for that), lips are just super sensitive areas. A very strange feeling when my lips started to separate - tension release from having been kept in place for some time. The final snip was such a relief, even through all that nasty pain, just being able to open the mouth felt like Heaven!
A little bit of lip BBQ and a pressure bandage finished off the treatment for the day. I was sure glad RK was there to do the driving-home bit - I was stunned at how much pain finally had become a part of this whole BCC mess. We did stop in on the way home to fill another prescription for the short run of antibiotics needed, just so we wouldn’t have to deal with any more excursions that day (the sun wasn’t even out of bed yet when our day started). I was exhausted! Went to bed, tried TV for distraction, snoozing - ANYTHING to make the pain go away. Gave it about two hours, then gave in and gingerly ingested prescription pain killers for the first time. Took another dose later that evening/night. That was it. I didn’t need any more after that - so, a total of 3 pain pills is all that’s missing from that bottle.
My Alton Brown inspired son and his girlfriend had invited both sides of the families to a Thanksgiving feast at their apartment of just about 1 month. And a Feast it was, very well done, son! I think even something unsuccessful would’ve been fabulous to me at that point - but this just made it all extra special.
