Sunday, January 25, 2015

Setting the pace for 2015

Days since op: 220! Gosh, time really flies!
Pain Level: 1.  My chin hurts when I rub it. I think things are still not quite fused up.   
Swelling: I like to believe I'm still swollen.
Sleep last night: Okay, I've been trying to "get a life" nowadays so I do stay out late and sleep late...but now it's more for social reasons than due to discomfort from the surgery.
Other weirdness: Right cheek feels permanently tight. Surgeonman says it's due to some bone thing and that if I wanted to get rid of it, I might need to go back to surgery to shave some of the bone off. :( 
Mood: Lazy Sunday. It's a nice feeling to be able to laze a day away.

It's interesting how time works...that as one walks through life, you make decisions at certain junctures to build on the plot of one's life. Right now, my life has been about work, my pets, getting back to German, as well as fencing. Yes! I'm back to fencing! And here's proof!


It is such a joy to have a blade again. 
Feels like I got a part of me back! :)

It wasn't easy getting back on the piste. This past Wednesday was the first time I was back to fencing others (after a long 8 year break) and gosh did I get trashed. I did score a few points... but pretty much lost every bout - including to a left hander who decided to fence me with his right hand. Thanks.

Warrior has grown so much now. This was a picture of him just a few weeks ago. 



Isn't he the sweetest little thing? :)
And this is a more recent picture of him...except with a little surprise!

Warrior has siblings!

It was just two weeks ago that when I was checking Mummyrabbit whether her milk was sufficient for Warrior that I realized something weird was going on in her tummy. There was something more than just milk in there which left me puzzled because we had seperated Daddyrabbit from her since the delivery of Warrior. Then it clicked! The day Warrior was born, we thought we had lost the whole litter and decided to leave Mummyrabbit with Daddyrabbit... you know, for emotional support. And yeah, this was apparently what happened in those 5 minutes. On the day she gave birth! (That bastard! Haha) But yes, there is so much truth to the term "breeding like rabbits". Initially, I had thought she only had two because they felt so small in her, but when the time came, five little kits appeared.... bringing the total number of rabbits I now own to NINE (the parents, Marshmallow, Warrior, and five new little kits). 

I thought I had a handful with four at first, but now with nine I totally know what it feels like to be a working mother. :D

Mummyrabbit with her five new little kits.

This was them at a few days old. They looked like little pigs.
They were much smaller than when I remembered how Warrior was.

My five little loves. 
All getting white with fur.
The one with a little cut on his nose is Explorer.
I'm not sure how he got that cut, but it might have been from an accident with Mummyrabbit, Warrior, or from a one time I almost lost him when he crawled out and under the cage. I still don't know how that happened, but thank God I went to check on them and found him or he may not have survived!

But yep, life seems to be on to a rolling start this year. I'm back to fencing, checking in to Duolingo everyday for my German, Pilates on Saturdays.... somehow life seems to be getting back on track. There's a quote that I have on my bathroom wall that says "It does not matter how many times you fall. What matters is that you get back up." Take as much time as you need, but get back up. :)

The process is irritating though, and sometimes I get really impatient with my progress. Be it with my fitness (or current lack of), with work, with heart issues, with healing from the jaw surgery (go away numbness!), but some things just take time.

This week, I'm going to try to get my electronic life, financials, and paperwork in order.

To a wonderful 2015!


Saturday, January 03, 2015

Happy.

Days since op: 198
Pain Level: 0.5 - Orthoman put a band in. I thought it wasn't much, but gosh it hurt over time!
Swelling: Gonna ask Surgeonman about my right cheek next week.
Sleep last night: Stayed out late with friends just talking till 5 in the morning. Wasn't very wise considering it brought back the high fever today. X_X
Other weirdness: I now have a "button" on one of my teeth.
Mood: Meh~ I've been sick - as in, that I'm still ill with the flu...high fever, stuffy nose, bad cough...the full works.

So I went to see Orthoman yesterday (I practically flew there because of a really packed day!), I was so glad to finally grt there because I had missed two weeks of appointments. It wasn't anything too exciting...seemed like the usual changing of the bands... except this time he pasted this little metal button on one of my teeth to pull it outwards. 

As so:

Doesn't look like much, but that little band pulling at my teeth hurt like crap last night.
I'm just glad it was just a matter of affixing the little fella (no drilling or other scary stuff). I got Cranberries (the rubber bands) and though I initially thought I'd call Orthoman back and tell him to give me something tighter so things will move faster, I was really surprised how much they hurt at dinner time! #neverunderestimateOrthomanagain

I asked Orthoman about the little clump of nerves in my right cheek I was pretty worried about, and it turns out that they are salivary glands and is purely, and I quote, "anatomical". Okay, sure, Mr. Orthoman. I've also recently been feeling a little weird about my jaws - as in, a physical weird - because it sometimes feels as if I can tell exactly where the cut in the bone across my top jaw is and that my jaws are "floating" and aren't really connected to the rest of my skull. Does that make sense? Orthoman attributed it to the possibility that my nerves are still waking up which makes me more attuned to sensations. Crap, I don't know what it's going to feel like in another half a year! The last thing I want is to feel like an old lady with dentures!

Did I also mention how I had a slightly envious episode watching a friend chomp down on a candy cane? She literally just used her teeth and broke parts of the candy cane off and just chomped at it! It's totally sacrilegious (because we all know that candy canes are meant to be properly licked/sucked on, which is the appropriate method in which all candies should be rightfully consumed), but I was amazed how she could just chomp down on a hard candy cane!! I think it's going to be a few years before I attain that sort of functionality.

I was really hoping that I'd be able to get these silly braces off by Chinese New Year in February, but Dr. Wee insists that it'd be another 4-5 months of braces. :(((( NOOOooooOOOooo... When will this ever end? I really expected them to be off a lot earlier! :( Part of me would like to think he's just this uber perfectionist, but at the same time it feels like he's dragging this out. I've been in braces for 2 years! And I guess it kinda sucks that a lot of other JS patients have already been "freed" from the metal. Patience, Claire Ariela! Patience!

Also, after a long chat and some reflecting over the events of the past few years, I have decided that this year, I WILL BE HAPPY.
Awesome New Year Resolution. Everyone should include it on their list.

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Recalibrate 2015

Day since the surgery: 196
Pain Level: 0 - No pain, right cheek just feels numb and weird - as usual.
Swelling: Because of the tightness, I'm pretty sure my right cheek is still swollen. Gonna see Surgeonman next week...maybe he'll have some answers.
Sleep last night: Very late (It was NYE) and very disrupted (the flu is back with a vengeance and has gone to my lungs or something...ended up coughing all night).
Other weirdness: Even though I'm past 6 months post-op, I randomly found myself drooling again today. I think it's from a combination of a (still) numb lip and chin, the sickies, and a general heightened inability to feel things whilst I'm sick. It was weird. I thought I was supposed to be past that.
Mood: Sick.

It's the 1st of the New Year and whilst I've friends who went suntanning, shopping, biking, and all sorts of ways to "start the year with a bang", I spent the whole day huddled on my couch trying to sleep the flu off. It's pretty much the end of the day now and I am determined to make plans for the new year.

Looking back at the past year, I guess I've achieved some and missed most:

ARIELA'S 2014 GOALS



  • 01. Jaw surgery 2014
  • 02. Take my next German exam (Nope)
  • 03. Read the whole Bible through (Still got about half to go)
  • 04. Travel out at least onceJapan, HK
  • 05. Receive at least one award this yearSPA
  • 06. Keep on top of my springcleaning plans - clear one area a month (Nope)
  • 07. Finish a half marathon (Nope)
  • 08. Get to the next business achievement bracket (Goal:3GAV) (Nope)
  • 09. Get involved in food sustainability efforts Got connected with SDO.
  • 10. Be more open to people. Meet new people. Make new friends. New church, new cell group.
  • 11. Get back to 48kg and stay there. No more excuses (Nope)
  • 12. Make a list of intl friends and keep in touch (Nope)
  • 13. Read 12 books (Maybe, I'm not sure)
  • 14. Take the GREs - even if not for grad sch, then at least for some closure (Nope)

  • And this was what I thought the years ahead would plan out to be:

    REWARDS & MILESTONES



  • Oct14: Gym, 52Kg, Tioman Birthday (Nope. Nope. Nope.)
  • Nov14: 16Nov Run for Hope 10K, Hunger Games 20Nov! Watched the hunger games, but couldn't run.)
  • Dec14: 7 Dec 21K Half Marathon (Postponed to 2015)
  • Jan15: Hiking Trip (Doesn't look like it now unless I can find friends to go with.)
  • Apr15: Fencing (I'm starting earlier.)
  • Jun15: Portfolio Shoot (Not ready)
  • Oct15: Germany (Yes. I shall.)
  • Summer16: England & Agape/YWAM (Maybe earlier) 
  • Jul16: Graduation (Nope, not anymore now that I've deregistered from grad school)
  • I guess the craziness at work stole more away from me than I expected. I also gave up graduate school because I was too overwhelmed by work (again).

    There used to be a saying that Singaporeans focused a lot on the 5Cs in life (Cash, Car, Condo, Country Club Membership, Credit Card) mainly as a rhetoric to how materialistic we can be. In 2012, the main newspaper in Singapore reported a shift in the definition of the 5Cs to Control, Confidence, Community, Career, and a Can-do Attitude...propaganda if you ask me. I guess I have my own set of "C"s this year too - Community, Companionship, and Career, being three of them.

    The new goals for the year ahead are in the side bar...including the new milestones. I have fewer goals this year... some of which I have to work quite hard at. Here's to an awesome 2015 - a better year, with many beautiful memories.