Part 4

I took this photo of myself once the anesthesia had begun to wear off. It was less about documenting the procedure and more about wanting to see what my face looked like. There were no mirrors handy at the time so I had to resort to taking a picture. The band wrapped around my cheeks and chin have ice packs inside to help settle the swelling.

My lips look bloody in this photo. They’re not, they were just blood red from the swelling. My face numb from about my eyes down to my neck and the oxygen tube is the most annoying medical device I’ve ever had to use.

My mom recalls the night at the hospital as brutal but she says my nurses were fantastic. The most vivid memory is my vomiting reaction to nausea medication. They tried to give it to me again a few hours later and I all but panicked. I wrote as fast as I could on a piece of paper not to give it to me.