One week post-surgery

Yesterday was Rob's one week anniversary of his jaw surgery! To celebrate we took him to the oral surgeon's office for his follow-up appointment. The surgeon was pleased with how everything turned out and was amazed how good Rob looked. It was cool to see Rob's x-rays with his 4 screws holding his lower jaw together. We also celebrated by eating, or in Rob's case swallowing, salmon. Since Rob has another 5 weeks of no chewing, we are trying to vary his meals so he doesn't get sick of the same old things. It has amazed me what foods Rob really can eat without chewing - shredded BBQ pork, sloppy-joe meat, pancakes. Surprisingly he isn't living on shakes and smoothies! Though it does take him awhile to eat and his jaw is pretty sore by the end from opening and shutting it. Rob's swelling has done down by about half. You can see Rob's yellowish bruising on his face and neck. It hasn't bruised as badly as we both thought it would. Though Rob's upper chest has this huge bruise that is purple now and we think that must be where the surgeon placed his foot while breaking Rob's jaw! We have to find some humor in all of this! Rob goes back to school on Friday and was scheduled to see 16 patients that day, but has cancelled half of them so his day is more spread out. It will take Rob longer than usual to do things since he can't speak as well and it hurts to talk after awhile. I worry about him lasting through the entire day. He tires very easily after being up and doing something for 30-60 minutes. Plus all of the assistants in the clinic and front desk staff are on an union strike which started today. Hopefully it won't last too long since now Rob is all on his own to do everything!