Monday 11 July 2011

The battle of Balaclava

A friend e-mailed me yesterday to ask if I really meant what I’d said in an earlier post, that I had not suffered pain, and that really is true.  I suspect that I must be a bit unusual in that not least because of the pile of strong painkillers included in the hospital discharge pack by the doctor.
What does it feel like, then.  Well, do you know, its a it like wearing a woollen balaclava.  Not having been an armed robber, I last wore one when I skied with my school, years ago and you can feel your face when wearing it, which you rarely do.  I can feel the line of stitches and staples just under my hair line, the stitches around my eyes, the cast on my nose and the stitches under my chin.  Also the swelling in cheeks and jowls brings them into unusual sensory experience.  Also, like wearing a balaclava, there is some restriction of movement.
I can also feel the muscle stitching which achieves the facelift.  This does feel a bit like having a pudding basin cloth tied over your head from under your chin.
I have certainly had some discomfort.  Not least my eyes which if they don’t get their drops every 4 hours or so, start to get sore and misty, and there is plainly a fair amount of stitching, and swelling in my mouth which presently makes anything solid a challenge..
This time last week I was groggily breathing through a plastic mask having only just been brought round from the anaesthetic.  Today has been a quiet day at my rented apartment after the exertions of yesterday. Thank goodness for Radio 4 over the internet.  I did venture out to the supermarket during the afternoon and was asked by a nice young lady, firstly in Dutch and then in English, how I managed to walk on the cobbles in my heels.  I showed her my wedges and her reaction was ‘how sensible, you English are’ as she showed me her heels stashed in her bag in favour of flat shoes.  Now I am very much looking forward to nose cast and stitches coming out tomorrow, only a week now after surgery.   That’s not bad, and I do hope the selling sorts itself out reasonably soon, as part of the object was to give me a trimmer chin and less square jaw, and at the moment the selling is doing the opposite.
I’ll keep you posted
Moira

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