round two!

i'm sure all of you are quite surprised to hear that, yes, breaking every bone in your face does tend to slow you down when it comes to blogging.

first off, there was the problem that my eyes were swollen shut, and then there's the throbbing pain, and all that other fun stuff.

but anyway, that shit is in the PAST. i'm on way back up!

recovery has been going smoothly and steadily. every day i see visible improvements in my face and feel better. i have more energy. i'm able to keep my eyes open all day, which has been a huge help for morale. the first few days, i couldn't keep them open at all. i rejoiced when i kept them open for an entire episode of the office a few days ago. no joke.

so needless to say, things are progressing well and i'm back on the way to health.

now, of course, here's the bad news.

i need to go BACK to the hospital for more surgery.

we had a follow-up with the doc yesterday and they're not happy with how my jaw is now lining up. obviously if they don't get the line-up of your jaw exactly right, it causes all kinds of problems for you later in life and obviously the need to chew things and bite correctly are important. the thing is, we probably should have wired my jaw shut in the first place, but since they didn't, we gotta go back and fix the jaw and then wire it shut. it's another surgical procedure, and it doesn't quite put me back at square one, but we are taking a big step backwards.

i'm bummed that now my jaw will be wired shut. eating has been hard enough for me. i have no appetite and the liquid diet, as you can guess, isn't too exciting. plus, all of you know how much i love to talk.. and now i'll be unable to. the PLUS side of all of this, however, is that my eyes and nose will be largely unaffected. that means that my eyes won't swell up again, my nose will continue healing normally, and i won't have any vision problems. this is HUGE. my biggest problem the past few days has been not being able to see. if i can watch movies, read the laptop screen, read a book, i will be just fine.

so that's the latest update. i think we go in for surgery again on thursday. i'll have more specific details for richmond people if you feel like visiting. i've missed all of you and i can't wait till i'm back home in richmond for good. mom and dad have been taking good care of me up in northern va, but i miss my FRIENDS.

speaking of which, i just wanted to say.. the outpouring of visits, calls, e-mails, texts, has been absolutely overwhelming. i seriously can't thank you guys enough. i feel so loved right now, and i know that's cheesy, but it's true. i have amazing friends and you guys really came out in force this past week. it didn't go unnoticed. THANK YOU.

well, that's the update. i promise more hilariousness and youtube videos soon. this surgery shit is really bumming out my blog.

love,

phil

edit: surgery is now scheduled for tuesday. this is a good thing. i am anxious to get it over with, but this gives my eyes and nose more time to heal up and the swelling to go down before this next round of craziness. i'll keep you posted!