lingual frenectomy

this past friday i had my surgery. for most people, their frenum (the piece of tissue that holds your tongue down to the bottom of your mouth) is in the middle of their tongue. for me, my frenum was at the tip of my tongue. this is called being tongue-tied. most people have their frenum snipped when they are babies...my parents didnt. so, last friday i suffered in order to have a freed tongue. the surgery only took 45 minutes. i had a local anastetic so i was awake during the procedure. i could hear them snipping and sucking up the saliva and blood. even though my tongue was numb, i could still 'feel' when they snipped something (it didnt hurt but felt more like pressure). at the end of the surgery i was able to stick my tongue out! it was such a neat sensation.

later when the anastesia wore off, i was definitely in some pain. thank goodness they had prescribed vicatin and ibuprofin as well as amoxcycilin. i've been taking these quite frequently over the past few days. my tongue is still swollen and its painful to move it around. i also cant eat since this uses the tongue quite a bit. i've been on a soup diet but only the soups that are completely pureed - if there are chunks this tends to be too much for me to handle. i've also been enjoying a lot of ice cream (yes!).

i stayed at joel's these past few days so that he could take care of me. he was so wonderful! he would make me soup and get me water and pills. whatever i needed he took care of.

i've also sustained quite a bit of teasing. my language is far from articulate and the boys have felt the need to make fun of my speech. i definitely feel like i am mentally handicapped especially when i am drooling and am doped up. needless to say its been an interesting few days.

i'm still a bit sore and swollen and am not sure if i'll be able to work on tuesday. i hope this heals soon. also, i don't have much tongue movement and am supposed to be exercising it so that it doesnt heal back to how it was. if i want to be able to stick it out further or fold it back in my mouth i need to be doing that now. but it really hurts and its kind of hard because its swollen and i still have the stiches in. i'm just hoping that it will be worth it in the end.