Practical Advice

Hi

After a really quite low day yesterday , when, for some reason I was absolutely shattered , I was glad to get up and about this morning. After ladling on the Vaseline I braved the shower and washed and blow dried my hair. "That's interesting ", I hear you cry, " Tell me about the time you let your library tickets !" . Well, I'm only telling you because I think that's not bad only 4 days after the op although this procedure does seem to drain my battery faster than I would have imagined.

Anyway, I still haven't managed to get either daughter to sort out the photo problem, but I will. Then you will see how things are healing. And it is amazing how things move on.

Well, I'm clearly not in a philosophical mood so I thought I'd tell you a couple of things I've found useful. They are perhaps only of interest if your incision affects the mouth and lip area but...

- As I have stitches running down from my nose and some in my lip, the aim is to disturb that area as little as possible whilst it heals. Opening my mouth to any degree clearly impacted on the  site. My normal toothbrush was way too robust and bulky . I got a child's toothbrush - teeny tiny, Thumbelinaesque. It's great and avoided the plaque vs open wound dilemma. Top tip.

- I used cotton wool buds to apply the Vaseline. More control and less mess.

- Used straws to consume soup, yoghurt , tea, anything that I could eat and which didn't need too great a vacuum to move upwards. If you have to pull too hard it's going to cause a strain on the lips. I'm sure there's a joke there somewhere ....

- I got ( or more accurately, my lovely Mum got ) a hand blender and mashed up whatever was hanging about. I made the mistake of turning my back yesterday and left a delicious mix of potato, feta, ham, asparagus and plain yoghurt within reach of my Cavapoo. Very little left unless I was willing to wipe it off her beard - which, hungry though I was, I wasn't ! Happy dog though .

-Frozen smoothie boxes from Sainsburys , mixed with apple juice , were a less cloying alternative to the pre prepared bottles and were, initially, all I could manage.

I think I'm scraping the barrel now. I'm ready for some more Anne Patchett's " Commonwealth " and an early night. Tomorrow morning the stitches may come out. I'm not looking forward to that but, as its Mr No Nonsense Hussain , I will get a grip and behave like the 54 year old I am , rather than the 8 year old I feel.