A "Ho Hum" Kind of Day

Not much happened today, although it is now officially one week since my surgery. I am healing pretty well, and my pain level has sufficiently decreased. I felt a little panicky about falling behind on my homework, and I spend most of the day working on that. I have managed to complete about three quarters of my homework by the end of the day. I am so proud of myself, that I treat myself to some t.v. A guilty pleasure of mine is "America's Next Top Model" and the new cycle has just begun. This season, there is a contestant names Isis, who is physically a man, and is in the process of becoming a woman. I applaud Isis for taking the risk and entering the contest. Isis is actually very pretty and a very good model.

I will now stop flaunting my liberalism, and move on to one of my new favorite shows "Flight of the Conchords." It is a show about two New Zealand musicians trying to survive in New York City. They are quite funny, and their music is hilariously fantastic. And I know their significant others will give me dirty looks for this, but Bret and Jermaine are very attractive, in a goofily sexy kind of way. They are a bit too old for me however.

I forgot to mention that I have been turning the expansion device that is bridged across my mouth and attached to my teeth. I have attached a picture of what it looks like, but it is not the exact one in my mouth. It has been difficult getting the turning device hooked on to the device, and we had to use a pin once, but it is painless. I have had two of these previously, and my parents would have to bribe me with pumpkin ice cream to get me to turn the device. I do not remember the process being quite so painless. I will turn the device for about two week, and the expander will be removed, and a less invasive device will be placed to hold the expansion while my palate re-fuses. Oh yeah, it will also give me a gap tooth, but my oral surgeon has assured me it will not be that big due to the expansion I have already had. By the way, I discovered that the name of the surgery I had is "SARPE" (Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion). SARPE...I love that!

Post "Depart"um Depression

The inevitable day has come, and my grandma leaves today. I hold out some hope that my mother will be late picking my brother up from his early release day, but my mom decides to break character and arrive on time. It takes all my willpower to get in the car, as I know that I will soon be forced to say a difficult goodbye.
The ride to the airport is far too short, and before I know it, we've arrived at the Southwest terminal. My grandma gets out of the car, and I have half a mind to grab her arm and force her to stay. Instead, I throw my arms around her and give her a tight hug. I tell her I will call her on her birthday, as I fight back a violent stream of tears about to let loose. Soon, all the bags have been unpacked and all the goodbyes have been said. My grandma is on her way back to Arizona, and I am on my way to depression.
I am relieved of my sadness for a little while when Laurie Lieber, pilates teacher extraordinaire comes and visits me. She has brought me some lovely sunflowers and these cheer me up as well. We have a nice chat about my recovery and politics and how difficult it is to find my house. We live a block away from the Piedmont border so our address is constantly listed as Piedmont. I am happy to have a visitor and a distraction from my gloomy mood.
I make the mistake of watching "The Life Before Her Eyes." It is a very well done and well acted film, but the subject matter (a mentally ill student engaging in a murderous rampage, a mother watching her young daughter transform into a future delinquent and then catches her husband cheating) only puts me in a worse mood, and I am not sure I even completely understand the movie. I decide I will give this movie another try, or possibly read the book when I am in a better mood.
My father has decided to watch the Republican Convention for reasons I cannot fathom (his excuse? "We need to know our enemy") and I decide to tune in as well. What I hear makes me want to run to the toilet and vomit. Rudy Giuliani is just spewing verbal diarrhea and does not know what he is saying. Then Sarah Palin takes the mike, and let me tell you, she is not getting my vote for mother of the year anytime soon. If a) I had a four month old son with down's syndrome and b) a 17 year old daughter who was five months pregnant, I would not accept the vice presidential nomination. I would even have resigned my post as governor so that my children would not be subject to such scrutiny, and more importantly, I could focus on them and care for them since they are in obvious need of help. When she speaks, Palin speaks with great power and magnetism, but also with an incredible, high falutin arrogance. This is not a woman I would want leading me, and I find my homework much more appealing than watching her speak.
I need a rest after watching the Moron Convention, and I now know why songwriters talk of sleeping in a "cold and lonely bed."

Grandma's Last Day

Today I wake up in a sad mood. I realize that tomorrow my grandma who has been taking such good care of me is leaving for her home in Arizona. She had lived with us for about sixteen years up until this May, and that has been hard on me. I am very close to my grandma, and it has been hard not having her around. I am making salmon for dinner in her honor, as her 75th birthday is in six days, and she has a tradition of eating salmon on her birthday. I am in such a sad state, and my mouth is killing me, so my mom decides to drag me to Trader Joe's to go shopping for dinner while my grandma gets her hair done. While at Trader Joe's, my mom buys some internal arnica, which helps with the swelling and pain. My mom decides that we should go out to lunch. We pick a Vietnamese restauraunt called Xyclo. The food is tasty, and I decide to go back when I have regained feeling in my upper mouth and my menu options are a bit broader. When I get home, I can't bring myself to do much. I do some web surfing, and before I know it, dinnertime had arrived. I am glad to have something productive to do. The recipe for company salmon that Laura has sent me is a hit, and I feel glad to be able to give back to my grandma, even though it does not measure up to all she has given me. I dread tomorrow night when my bed will be strangely cold and empty.

She Can Chew!

I woke up this morning to the smell of Trader Joe's pecan cinnamon buns. The smell was overpowering, and I was feeling adventurous. Despite my mother's doubt that I could eat it, I grabbed a sticky bun off the platter, put it on to my plate, ripped off a hunk of the warm bready pastry and popped it in my mouth. Then to my amazement, I discovered that I was able to chew! I gently ground the bread with my teeth and swallowed. I was able to finish the entire bun.
I looked at the date a realized that it was September 1st which meant Gossip Girl was on tonight. I immediately tried to distract myself by adding music to my Ipod, and watching movies. I was also grateful that my friend Jordan in Arizona called. We were able to gush together about how excited we were for the new season to begin, and I had not talked to her since the night before my surgery. Then, as I was putting the final sentence on my Government homework I checked the clock. 7:59...one more minute!

I cleared my family out of the family room, minus my sister who is also an avid fan of the show, and planted myself on the couch. I changed the channel to The CW and was soon immersed in the world of the rich, young and tan Upper East Siders, now vacationing in the Hamptons. Speaking of tan, Penn Badgley's makeup artist has either applied too much fake tanning solution, or has not taken the time to rub the solution in. Poor Penn is absolutely orange and this is exaggerated by his crisp white suite. I am quickly distracted by the fact that Penn's character Dan has gotten back together with Serena, played by Blake Lively. Dan and Serena broke up last season, much to my upset. Penn and Blake make a cute onscreen (and offscreen????) couple. Throw in an english lord fighting with the villain you love to hate, Chuck Bassfor the affection of Blair( Blair's best line of the night? "Damn that motherchucker...I hate that Chuck Basstard!) and the boyishly handsome Nate's affair with an older, married woman that Serena is pretending to date him to cover it up? Oh yeah, its gonna be a fantastic season!



You Know I Loved It!
xoxo- Arielle

Books and Crooks

Today was a better day. I wake up in better spirits and less swollen. After breakfast, I decide to do something calm. My choice is to read. My English teacher has dropped off a book for me to red while I am away. It is a very quick and enjoyable read. It is a book about the relationship about a daughter and her mother written entirely in the form of notes left on their fridge. When I am finished, I decide to begin to do some work on my Hamlet homework.
All the reading has put me in a maternal mood. I am suddenly especially appreciative of all that my mother and my grandmother do for me. I decide it is time for a chick flick, so I choose Definitely, Maybe which is a very sweet story about a divorced father telling his young daughter how he met her mother. My mother and grandmother watch it with me, and we have some girl bonding time. Having my younger sister Maya there would have made it perfect, but she went to the Art and Soul festival, which I had been hoping to attend. She was very nice about it, and even brought me back a souvenir.
After the movie is over, I get a call from my singing teacher Libby. I am so touched that she called me. She is a person who makes my confidence about my abilities as a vocalist skyrocket, and is just a good person. We have a nice chat and I am already anticipating my next lesson. My good mod turns in to stress when my sister announces that she is bringing three of her friends to our house for a sleepover. About thirty minutes later, I get a text from Forrest asking if he can come visit me. I warn him of my sister’s sleepover and give him the option of coming over tomorrow when there would not be four crazy pre-teens, but since Monday is Labor Day, he has made plans and cannot do it tonight. So he plans to come over despite the other company.
Forrest arrives with a stuffed moose and some tea from his recent trip to Canada. After chatting a while, my mom decides she would like to rent a movie. While she runs over to blockbuster, Maya and her friends put on an impromptu concert for us. Maya and her friend Sam, both quite skilled at guitar and mandolin begin to play a song that I have never heard, but both of the girls know. Maya and Sam both write songs, and I cannot tell if these are songs that were made famous by an obscure indie band or an original composition. Then Maya’s other two guest begin to dance in an odd yet slightly seductive manner. I find it quite amusing and enjoy the performance thoroughly, but I can feel Forrest squirming uncomfortably beside me. My mom arrives and the concert ends.
My mom has chosen The Bank Job, which is based on the real story of a group of thieves who robbed a bank of millions from the safety deposit box in the basement of the bank. It was not as bloody and violent as I was expecting, but it was certainly not a G-rated romantic comedy. By the end of the movie, Forrest, my mother and I are all practically asleep. Forrest leaves and we all tumble into bed. I realize that tomorrow is the first day of September, which means the new season of my favorite t.v show, Gossip Girl, premieres. I fall asleep in anticipation of the return of Blair, Serena, Dan, Jenny, Nate, and of course, Chuck Bass.

It was fun while it lasted...

I wake up the next day at 12:45, something I have not done in a long time. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered I have slept in an awkward postion my left side, which has caused my face to swell larger than my right side. After a breakfast of non-gelatin Jello and cranberry juice, my mom helps me brush my teeth for the first time since Thursday morning. The actual bushing itself is uncomfortable, but makes my mouth feel better, fresher and cleaner. My brother has his friend Spencer and his twin sister Madison over for play-date. The twins’ mother, who happens to be my boss at the Orinda Park Pool Canteen, tells me sympathetic stories of her own troubles with her jaw. I am grateful that she was able to do most of the talking, as I am more sore today, and talking had become increasingly difficult.
I don’t do much today. I am feeling so lethargic and swollen that I cannot bring myself to read any Hamlet. I can’t even fall asleep. After a while, the twins leave and a family friend comes over to dinner. My mom has been very sensible about the food she makes for dinner, and has prepared hummus and eggplant dip with a super soft and tasty flat bread. After dinner it is time for pain meds. I have not needed to use the Tylenol with codeine since my pain level has been relatively low, but I am in enough discomfort to request some. It’s not particularly tasty, but I had help chasing it down. I think Mary Poppins should have changed the lyrics to “Just a spoonful of homemade chocolate cupcake mashed with cream cheese frosting makes the Tylenol with codeine go down” although her lyrics tend to roll off the tongue more easily.
Despite my cupcake, I am not feeling very well from the codeine, so I decide to turn on a movie. I was hoping my Blockbuster order of the first season of Flight of the Conchords would arrive today, but I must settle for Smart People starring Ellen Page of Juno fame. I think Ellen is very talented, and she is about my height, a hard quality to find in today’s media. It is a very cute movie, but by the end I am trying not to vomit. I quickly tie my ice bags around my face, and fall asleep, being careful not to sleep on my side. I fall asleep hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.

Go Obama, Go!

I awake the next morning in good spirits. My mother wakes me and tells me that I look like a "Who" from the Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" which explains the name of this blog. She also told me that she has Tivo'd the end of the Democratic Convention, and that there were some incredible speeches made that night. I change my clothes and head upstairs. I walk upstairs, and wonder what breakfast will be like. Eating has become quite difficult, because the palate expansion has numbed my upper lip and teeth. I notice my grandmother is eating a peach. Peaches are probably my favorite things to eat in the entire world, but I cannot chew anything. My grandmother, who has noticed me staring longingly at the peach on her plate, comes up with the brilliant idea of mashing up a peach so it is easier to eat. She mashes up another of the peaches my mom bought from the farmer's market, and I promptly devour the entire thing. I do not thing I have ever eaten anything so delicious. When I finish eating, I warm up the Tivo and flip on the recorded Democratic convention. I watch Al Gore's speech, and immediately disagree with the common belief that he is not a good speaker. His speech is very focused and clear, and I love that he is trying to raise awareness about Global Warming. We really are killing our planet and it is nice to see that somebody actually cares besides me. The we get to Obama. Ohhhhhhhhhhh Obama! The man could turn any pessimist into an optimist. His speech is so inspiring that it convinced me that Obama could save the world. I had struggled between Hillary and Obama, as I thought they were both respectable and experienced candidates. Obama's speech convinces me that I made the right choice. I know that one man cannot fix every problem in America magically overnight, but I am convinced that Obama, can at least help America get back on its feet and headed back in the right direction. When the speech is over, I realize I have not looked in the mirror. When I do, I nearly have a heart attack. My face is in fact one that you might find in Whoville. My cheeks are so puffed out and swollen, I could have been mistaken for a chipmunk about to hibernate. There are two positives though. The first is that my upper lip in now full enough to balance out my lower lip, and I wonder (with some false hope) if maybe my oral surgeon injected some restlyane without my knowledge. The second is that I have no bruising, which is a miracle considering how fair I am...thanks Western European heritage. My mother has decided to document my face as it swells and deflates. After taking our daily photograph, I turn on the movie I didn't finish last night. I turn on my laptop, which has recently returned from the dead, and I find a message from my friend Julia, who is also at home recovering from a back injury. Throughout the day, we have a lovely conversation about our recoveries, and our love for Obama. I remain lazy for most of the day, but several things happen in between: I receive a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from my mom's sister and her family in Arizona. I promptly place them on my bedside table and my room immediately brightens up. My nose also begins to bleed, which is expected to continue for a few days. This is difficult at first, because not only am I not allowed to blow my nose for six weeks, but I am also prohibited from sneezing through my nose, and must do so throught my nose. I quickly work around clearing my nose without blowing my nose or using my finger. Thank God for saline spray! My good day is topped off the tradition my father and I have of watching The Soup every Friday night. It is a show that basically pokes fun at all the ridiculously idiotic stuff on television, formerly known as Talk Soup with Greg Kinnear. I suggest everybody watch the The Soup Friday nights at 10 on E! Fun Fact: I am apparently related to the host, Joel McHale. According to my grandmother (whose maiden name is McHale) all McHales are related. Go figure.

Back to my usual tricks...

So I am woken by my grandmother at about 5:30 in the morning. She has graciously agreed come and stay with me while I am recovering (about ten days). Normally, I never eat breakfast, but for some reason I am particularly hungry this morning, which is ironic since I am not allowed to eat or drink. I decide to avoid the kitchen like the plague. We (me, my grandma and my mother) pack our things and head towards Alameda Hospital, a change from Kaiser Oakland, my usual romping grounds.
We arrive around 6:00 and check in. We are directed to the waiting rooms, where I am promptly instructed to strip naked and put on a gown. I feel extremely uncomfortable without any underwear, but it is necessary that I am completely bare, save my gown. I spend about an hour having my blood pressure and temperature talking and meeting with the various doctors and anesthesiologists. I am forced to repeat my allergies and essentially my entire medical history. By the end, I never want to hear the words "amoxicillin" again. Finally at about 7:30, things get rolling. My I.V is inserted, and I am wheeled down to the O.R.
I am greeted by yet another doctor who not only wants to know my allergies but has apparently mistaken my fused spine for paraplegia. After clearing everything up I am wheeled into the O.R. I am lifted from my gurney on to the operating table. A mask is promptly put on to my face. I asked it was the anesthesia, to which the nurse replied that it was only oxygen. "It's like cooking. You gotta mix different ingredients and then you taste it to see if it needs more garlic." The last thing I remember hearing is "We're adding the garlic now" and I was out. Waking up from surgery is really the hardest part of the surgery. I am stuck in recovery room one all by myself, and incredibly groggy and I don't remember much of this time period except for the doctors talking about the temperature I had during the surgery. 45 minutes later I am finally awake enough to be moved in another recovery room where I am finally allowed to see my family. My mother observes that I am not swollen or bruised very much. I now have two ice bags on the side of my face. I have a lucky stuffed German Shepherd creatively named "Wolfy"(I was eight, ok?) I always take into my surgeries. During my surgery, the doctors put a hospital bracelet and a surgical mask on him, which my mother finds absolutely hysterical. I was also allowed to keep my upper widom teeth, but the bottom teeth were removed in pieces, so they were too broken to save. After drinking some water, having my I.V out, and choking down some Tylenol with codeine (even though I am hardly sore), I drag myself into a wheelchair, and am wheeled to the car, and we head home.
The codeine is making me a little nauseous, and I am extremeley tired, so after sending a quick text to a very concerned friend of mine, I fall asleep and drift in and out of sleep, waking occasionally to adjust my ice, eat some applesauce, or drink some water, which has become a task since I am not allowed to use a straw. Around 8, I feel awake enough to check my email and various social networking sites. All the well wishes and concerned friends of mine make me feel incredibly loved and appriciated, and I wonder what I have done to deserve such love. I begin to watch "What Happens In Vegas" but I get too tired to finish it, and I fall asleep halfway through the movie, glad that the hardest part of the coming weeks has come to an end.