You can’t say I didn’t warn you!

This morning at work, I decided to count how many actual work days I have left between now and surgery. Surgery is 35 days away, and I have *gulp* 16 work days between now and then!!

Cue blood pressure rising, breathing getting shallow, pulse racing…

I don’t know why this number stresses me out, but it does. Only 16?! Oh man! I’ve got so much to do in these sixteen days, it ain’t even funny. I was just given my first title assignments (which means I found out what books we’re publishing next fall that I’m in charge of the marketing campaigns for), and I’m super excited about them. But surgery kind of throws a crimp in the beginning of my campaigns, not to mention the training I still have ahead of me. So, we’ll see what needs to happen.

So, I stressed out a little when I realized how limited my time is, but used the rest of the day to plow through my to-do list. I’m feeling a little better now. Sort of. But that might just be because it’s the first night of a 4-day weekend. 🙂

In other news, I’m working on getting my non-work life in order with the 35 days remaining before surgery, too. I spent a few hours reading other jaw surgery patient blogs the other day. I did this earlier this year, too, when I thought my surgery would be this summer. My absolute favorite is Double Jaw Surgery. Graham manages to make me laugh even when I’m cringing at the horrible recovery process. (Earlier this year I also thought my surgery would be double jaw…so Graham’s blog doesn’t make me as nervous as it used to.)

Anyway, one of my favorite things about Graham’s blog is how practical he is. He has a whole page dedicated to questions patients might or should have before surgery. It’s so helpful! He also has recovery tips, food ideas, and a list of suggested items to have on hand. All this, and he is funny. It’s great! Another thing I really admire is that, more than a year after his surgery, he’s still active on his blog. He responds to all of the comments (and he gets hundreds. I kid you not.). He never fails to encourage others who are going through this process. I want to be like that. I want this blog to be as honest, brutal, helpful, conversational and encouraging as his is.

So be warned: that is my goal. As I document my recovery, I’ll probably talk candidly about things like drool, digestion issues and the resulting bathroom experiences, diet complaints, numbness, pain, blood, mucus, not to mention the extreme emotions I’ll probably experience…. I am just going to close my eyes (metaphorically, of course. Otherwise typing will be hard.) and pretend that those of you reading this are not my coworkers, friends, family, church members and facebook acquaintances. I’m going to pretend you are all staring down the long road of jaw surgery, too, and desperately need the encouragement and honesty of a blog like mine–like Graham’s was for me.

You can’t say I didn’t warn you!

And, since I’m all about lightening the mood at the end of my posts, a video. You may have seen this girl and her dad in another video a few years ago. It’s so sweet! This one makes me laugh because she gets so excited during the chorus. I love her passion!! I’m happy to watch this darling child sing with the enthusiasm in my own heart while I’m unable to physically sing for the next few months.

By the way, this dynamic duo has a whole bunch of adorable videos on YouTube. (I love this one, too!) You’re welcome. 🙂