Now that I'm at day 18, I think I'm finished with taking any sort of pain medication. I've been taking some children's Motrin at night before getting in bed, mainly so I don't wake up at night with any mild pain. I was taking "children's Motrin" since it's the only liquid kind available at my local pharmacy. My jaws are wired shut, so it's difficult to get anything but liquid down my throat. In my first week of recovery I tried crushing up Advil and mixing it into a shake, but I don't think it was very effective. Also the residue of the pill burned my throat each time I tried that method, so I recommend children's Motrin.

I've been having a lot of water, Gatorade, Ensure and soup. The photo above shows three of the liquid soups I've been consuming. I bought them at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and a normal grocery store. I recommend these especially if you're wired shut. There's a potato soup at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods that's great too. The soups are able to get past the closed jaws. I usually melt some shredded cheese and sour cream into the soups to give them more fat, calories and other things that will help keep my weight as normal as possible during recovery.

It's been 18 days since surgery. My swelling is basically all gone. I can't tell if there's a slight amount of swelling left or not, so as far as I know I'm back to normal. My bones are healing. My stitches have likely dissolved. I am still not having much trouble with wires poking my gums, so that's good. I will have my wires cut and my jaws opened next week, so I'm looking forward to beginning the chewing process on soft foods again. Most of all though, I can't wait to eat pizza in several weeks. Or a burger and fries. Or fried chicken. Or tacos. I'm hungry.

Second Surgery Recovery Days 15-18: Working from home