Five Highs

this dirty-hair, no-makeup thing seems to be a theme... #rockinit

Okay, you guys. I made it. It's been one week since the surgery and this damsel in distress is alive—still in some distress, but alive nonetheless. It's mostly thanks to my adoring fiance, who, on more than one occasion fed me narcotic-laced milkshakes through a syringe in the middle of the night as he "slept" in a sleeping bag air mattress nightmare...among other knight-in-shining-ly duties. So thanks, Nathan.

Still, I've been trapped in a bit of a funk the past few days, and so tonight I thought it might be best for me to reflect on some highs of the week, because, honestly, I'm at a point where I literally need to count my blessings to help me realize life is not so bad after all. I stink at being thankful. So here goes it.

1. The surgery is finally over. After years and years of knowing it was coming, and months and months of hoping it would happen in time for the wedding—it did! Never again do I have to say "I'm getting orthognathic surgery." It's in the past and I can finally move forward.
2. I've had low pain, low nausea, and low swelling. These are supposed to be three big symptoms of maxillofacial surgery, but they've been so small in my case. Only 2 hours of that curled-over-a-bucket, I'm-about-to-throw-up feeling took place the first night in the hospital, and since then I've only felt a little sick here and there due to an abundance of medicine and a deficiency of food. In fact, it's been a few days since I've felt nauseous. Also, I expected the pain to be a lot worse, but other than a bad face-ache when the pain meds wear off and pallet pain when swallowing, I've been in no sort of desperate agony. AND the swelling I've experienced has been basically nothing in contrast to how big I thought my face would be. My surgery symptoms have been a walk-in-the-park compared to most maxillofacial post-ops, and for that I am so grateful.
3. People have been so good to me. I owe a HUGE thanks to my mom and dad for supporting me financially and emotionally through this experience. My friends and family have been caring and encouraging. I've received more prayer during this time than I can ever remember in my life. And, obviously, my fiance has gone to the moon and back to take the best care of me in the world. I feel so loved, and that's a good feeling to have.
4. Things are getting better. This is a huge one I have to remind myself of. Whether it feels like it or not, I'm less swollen today than yesterday. I'm slowly weaning myself off of drugs. I've fed myself, by myself, for the past twenty-four hours. I got more sleep last night than the night before. I'm becoming more and more independent each day. It's little things like this that I need to look for and tell myself, "Each day will be better than the last."
5. God is good. That sounds like a cop-out—like I just can't think of a #5—but it's not. All my highs (post-op and otherwise) are thanks to Him. There are very few times in my life that I've felt His presence as much as I have at certain points this week. He's been in me and all around me, bringing me peace and love and, thank-goodness, life. Hopefully He blesses me with that again tomorrow, and I'll wake up with a thankful heart for everything I've listed above.