Hugs and prayers that all will go very well!

Its now 9:30 p.m. and I will get this sent so I can get some sleep. Tia got out of surgery around 7 pm. I was waiting in her room from 6 pm on. Two magazines from cover to cover, swiping her jacket because it was cold in the room and even a bit of a nap while I waited. They moved a high comfy, wingback chair in for me. I hope it remains as it is much more comfortable then the other chair in the room. Tia looks like a mess and the only way I was sure it was her was I could see the her I know through just the slit in the very swollen eyes, which are kind'a hidden in the very swollen head which is wrapped in bandages and covered with the cooling masks. It's hard to believe that she will be anywhere presentable by Wednesday. The doctors are happy with the surgery and when I left, I left her in the capable hands of a very pretty male nurse (so many of the Spanish men are pretty) who informed me that he will be with her all night as she is his only patient. At least I think that is what he said. My Spanish is not good. Thank you to so many that sent me uplifting messages during the day. I appreciate you all.


Today's poem is called        THE WAIT


Waiting is hard... No matter what you're waiting for.

I feel like the dog ... Waiting at the Master's door.

Will the door open soon? They told me five but it's only noon.

Why can't I be a cat? For them a waits not where it's at.

To curl up in a sunny spot ... But I am too antsy and cannot.

Today my wait is for good news ... I hope the result is what we choose!

For her the wait will be very short ... She gets to sleep from port to port.

But for me this wait is hard ... Have we chosen the right card?

I would like to get up and pace ... More cat-in-cage like is that race.

For now a pace will not do ... A dog to be with out a chew.

Or find something to do with hands ... Actually my mind is what needs the bands.

Looking out over the sea ... Watching the water come then flee.

Telling myself to remember to breathe ... The waves hit the shore with a slap and a heave.

And I breathe ...

But no peace will be found ... Until this waiting time is bound


Debi

Debi, thank you for the update, and the poem!  Yes, many of us are almost unrecognizable as we come out of surgery, all wrapped and packaged.  The cooling pads are great at reducing the bruising and swelling, much more comfortable than ice packs.

Tia Anne is in there, and in good hands.  She may have a first few days that might be fuzzy in memory, the joys of general anesthesia and pain control meds. You can both relax now, though.  Time to rest and heal on the Mediterranean shore!

Thanks for the update.  I love the poem.  Take care of yourself also and make sure you get enough rest.  Give Tia my love when you get to talk.

Julie

Thanks for the news Debi. I'm very glad to hear that the surgery went well. recovering from major surgery is a slow process, now that I have some experience with that, although nothing like FFS.

I hope you are doing well too, and that your FM is keeping itself in the background.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

my post is missing, I hate when that happens.

short and sweet ... happy to hear that the prognosis is good and that Tia is identifiable behind all that swaddling. Don't let her be a baby about it .. well, ok, maybe a little

Today she was more recognizable with most of the bandages off. Still strips above the eyes. Has a real shiner under the right eye that ought to color nicely once it goes to greens and yellows. She was in good spirits today and we did a walk around the hospital and grounds before getting back into her cooling masks and trying to take an afternoon nap. She thinks she got about three hours of sleep last night. Anyway she sent me back to the hotel when she decided she couldn't sleep with me in the room. And we both knew she needed the sleep. I'll check in with her later even if only by email. Tomorrow it looks like she will be released to come back to the resort with a nurse stopping in here to check on her.

Thank you all for the well wishes. We are taking pictures but I will let her decide once back here what will be posted.

Siesta time for me too. Post more later.

Deb

A lovely poem Debi. Thanks for the update. Tia should be much better in day 3.

Hugs!

Yea! So happy it went well. Now rest and  behave yourselves.
Love,
Moni and Ann

 Hi Debi and Tia,

  Michelle told me and copied some of your post after Tia returned to the room. Thank you for keeping everyone updated. I hope you both have gotten the rest you needed. I hope the rest of the stay is uneventful and all heals properly. The bruising does eventually go away and so will the swelling though that will take somewhat longer.

Hugs,
  Laurie

Hi Deb, Tia,                         10 April 2019

I'm a bit late to the party; never the less, I want to wish you both God Speed, God Bless, speedy recovery and all of your expectations met and exceeded. Have a safe and enjoyable stay in Spain and triumphant return to the USA.

Looking forward to seeing the both of you during your next visit to Texas. I now have my Crown Vic running like a champ, drive it just about everyday so the next time you beautiful ladies are here we can go out for dinner in my car.

Please give yourself and Tia a hug for me.

Best Always, Love
Christine

Susan and I are glad the surgery went well, and we hope the healing goes smoothly. We both wish you two all the best!

Hi Tia and Debi,

I feel terrible that I haven't been keeping up with your story. Sun-N-Fun and taxes have taken every minute of my awake time. I've been over your travels and so many of your pictures are so familiar from my similar trip back in December. I'll be seeing many of them again in June. It's a shame we couldn't all coordinate so we could see them together.

It sounds like Tia is recovering well, and I can't wait to see the results. She was beautiful before, so she should be glorious once the healing and swelling is done.

Enjoy your stay on the Mediterranean. We won't be able to afford a stay at the Guadalpin Banus next time, but just being in Marbella with my Bestie will be good enough.

Be well!


Stephanie

DAY 3 POST SURGERY

Kittie and I during the "Wait"

My wait is over and now the healing wait has begun. This will be longer and harder on both Tia and me. They released her from hospital yesterday late afternoon and I can assure you that this last twenty-six hours have seemed way longer then just one day. We will get through this. That has been todays mantra.

On another front, I stepped out and went in to town today for drawing paper and colored pencils. Took a taxi and wondered around an unknown place that has a language I don't know and accomplished everything I wanted to do. Plus did a little touristing and took some pictures. Rather proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone alone.




Actually the one I am very proud of is Tia. She decided to post two pictures. The first was taken two days before her surgery. The second was two days after as we were waiting for the taxi after being released from hospital. She is just a beautiful woman, what else is there to say.

   

Thank you all for your continued support.

Debi and Tia Anne

Quote from: Debi on April 11, 2019, 12:02:47 PM
DAY 3 POST SURGERY

Kittie and I during the "Wait"

My wait is over and now the healing wait has begun. This will be longer and harder on both Tia and me. They released her from hospital yesterday late afternoon and I can assure you that this last twenty-six hours have seemed way longer then just one day. We will get through this. That has been todays mantra.

On another front, I stepped out and went in to town today for drawing paper and colored pencils. Took a taxi and wondered around an unknown place that has a language I don't know and accomplished everything I wanted to do. Plus did a little touristing and took some pictures. Rather proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone alone.




Actually the one I am very proud of is Tia. She decided to post two pictures. The first was taken two days before her surgery. The second was two days after as we were waiting for the taxi after being released from hospital. She is just a beautiful woman, what else is there to say.

   

Thank you all for your continued support.

Debi and Tia Anne

Ah! On the steps of HC Hospital!

The difference is striking already. Tia will be so beautiful! I am amazed how little bruising there is, considering how the procedure is done.

The first week is a lot of no fun, but it passes fairly quickly. At least she doesn't have the incision in the back of her head, which, along with continually spraying the hair grafts, was what kept me from getting much sleep. I had to use one of those airplane donut pillows, so I didn't lay on the incision.

Good for you for striking out on your own in Marbella, Debi. It can be daunting, but enough people speak English that you can usually get by. After Kendra left, boredom and loneliness forced me out of my room for walks down the boardwalk to the east and downtown. I had to go after dark to avoid sunshine, so that was a little spooky in itself.

It's so cool reading about your adventures. It brings back good memories and anticipation of making more. Thank you for writing!

Stephanie

Tia! You look great. You'll probably be getting into Deb's hair very soon. My friend Ava sat with me on the couch all day her third day post-op.

Congratulations!
Hugs!

Love the pictures! Tia you don't look as bad as my imagination led me. Actually, you look really good, a little like a nun. You know I had to tease you some how. Deb, glad you are getting out teaching the masses American!

Hugs,
Moni

Wahoo!!!  You're on the other side now and each day will get better.  And better.
Wish I was there to give both of you a nice warm hug on the Mediterranean.

Debi,

  Love the touristy photos.  Tia, I can't wait to see you in person.  Both of you can now relax and just have Tia heal and rest.

Take care, love

Julie

Greetings All,

Deb has been doing most all of our postings on this thread. With her being smarter, nicer, better with words and art and of course much more beautiful (Laurie, feel free to add any descriptors you wish), it makes total sense that she does do the posting. That said, she is the expert on dialog and travel pictures but she has to sit and worry as I, from time to time, struggle in healing. Those are my words to tell.

Last evening while I was hiding in our room feeling ugly and totally unfit for society, she was down on the beach partying with three Russian guys. That must tell you something about the kind of strain she has been under, if she were clear thinking she would have been partying with some of the beautiful Spanish men around here. On a side note; transitioning has gotten me to look at men from time to time and I can tell you if any of them are pleasing to look at and some of the men down here are very nice to look at (my doctors are beautiful, huggers and one even kisses my cheek from time to time, oh my), but my orientation hasn't shifted an inch.......girls own my lust (yes, there are some lovely Spanish women here as well) and Deb is the only one that can ring my chimes.

A week ago last Thursday we had a pre op consultation with FacialTeam here in Marbella Spain and last Monday was surgery. Monday and Tuesday nights were at the hospital (a ten minute walk from our hotel). Recovery began at the hospital and will continue at the hotel until next Wednesday when we plan to move to Old Town Marbella (far more affordable) for another week of healing before heading home around the 25th of the month. For those curious folks, I had brow and orbital ridge reduction, eyelid reduction, a nose job, lip lift and chin work; both shortening it as well as shifting it a bit. Today is my fifth day post op. There is some pain, better described as strong discomfort from head aches and the swelling. And there is bruising! A couple of weeks ago we were in the l'Orangerie museum in Paris being awed by Monet's work. He would paint a brown tree trunk, but looking as closely as I could, there was no brown on the panel, his use of every other color in creation with wild and free brush strokes to create brown was amazing.....but it was nothing to the hues and shades of color creating the purplish bruising displayed on my visage. This is to be expected as I am only at day five of post op, and we are seeing reduction in the color already. A combination of the swelling of my face and particularly my nose and a compression strap arrangement to aid in the healing has sleeping difficult so far and is making Deb's job of caring for me all the more difficult with me being rather bitchy much of the time (remember the comments of the Russian boys on the beach?) In the five nights since surgery I haven't slept for more than a couple of hours at a time. It is kind of a drag and I can really bitch well but it is part of the price of what I chose to do so feel free to tell me to suck it up..... (and I will come back at you for making me cry!).

Next Tuesday they plan to remove the coronal incision sutures and eye lid sutures as well as the nose bandage. The lip lift sutures and the ones inside of my mouth are dissolving sutures and will take their own sweet time to set themselves free. I am really looking forward to Tuesday's unveiling. The hints of what I can see are very promising and have me excited. Just looking at the early on before and after photos that Deb posted a few days ago show a considerable change to my nose/forehead area and those are with bandages and two days post op.

FacialTeam has been wonderful through out all of this. During this week of recovery, they are providing daily nurse visits to take care of issues and check on healing. My patient coordinator, Isabel, is wonderful and she gave me a phone with her number on speed dial. This morning I had an acupuncture session with another more aggressive one scheduled for this afternoon. The intention of these, combined with laser therapy and previous lymphatic massages (amazingly soft and gentle) has been to improve drainage and aid in bruise reduction. They have also supplied me with a pharmaceutical cream that is to stimulate nutrient flow for greater bruise resuction. They have even been providing rides to and from the hospital and airport as needed to help reduce the strain of it all. Whether all of this smoke and mirrors is effective or not is yet to be see (and felt) but so far it appears to be working and I just flat out enjoy the pampering!

Enough for now, this is turning into a wall of words and most folks have probably fallen asleep a few paragraphs ago. Deb is down on the beach for lunch and drooling. We will post more later.

Love you all,
Tia Anne