Surgery +3

Surgery was Thursday, the next day, the helmet came off, and on Tuesday, it's back to the doctor for some stitch removal. And I got the flu' - just to make things interesting. The flu' wasn't fun, but it wasn't H1N1 either (thank goodness): fever, sore throat, and my muscles felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Just more pain to add to that from the face lift. I also got roaring conjunctivitis from the ice water gauze packs. The latter was likely due to the ice in my freezer. Not only were the stitches pulling my eyelids, my eyelashes were welded together. I felt like a mess, and I wasn't inaccurate in my assessment. I would recommend anyone get purified water and keep it in the refrigerator to avoid this issue. The good thing that happened is I was finally able to take a shower.

The doctor looked me over, and decided to remove the stitches from the brow lift, and some of them around my ears. He explained that he took them out earlier than usual because there was less scarring that way - I'm all for that. The removal process wasn't much fun (a couple of the stitches stuck together), but at least blinking my eyes was no longer painful. He also found that I'd contacted some kind of dermatitis (this resembled a whitish scum-like layer on my face around the jaws). I was told to lightly wash the area with plain water and use Neosporin (which worked). I told the doctor that I had been spraying my face with Dr. Wheatgrass, and he thought I was crazy, but it did make me feel better. I was to come back again on Thursday to have the rest of the stitches and the staples removed.

Back home, I carefully washed my face, and assessed the results to date. The brow area was still an angry red, and where the stitches were, the 'lips' of the wound weren't fully closed, but looked to be fairly well stuck together. Best of all, I didn't have to sleep on a slant on my back anymore. (They first told me to sleep propped up in a lounge chair for 3 days, but with 2 curious cats, and I overly friendly dog, I really wanted to sleep behind a closed door, so I declined.) Sleeping wasn't yet much fun (the staples still feel like nails in my skull), but at least I could move from side to side without waking myself up each time.

I also started putting Egyptian Magic Cream on my face - especially where the stitches were. When my spouse had knee surgery two years ago, and we'd used this stuff on the scar with great results, so I thought why not try it on faces, too.

Things that are still unfun: wearing glasses - the ear bits almost exactly follow the cut lines; laying down - the staples, the cut lines, and the bruises hurt, so sleeping is still an adventure; combing/brushing my hair - I have to use my fingers; plucking my eyebrows - this is almost impossible, and I was beginning to look like Andy Rooney on a bad day. I have two recommendations: have your eyebrows waxed and get a good haircut prior to the surgery.