Supplies, Food & Tips

I will continually update this to help anyone else having similar surgery. Stuff I found invaluable…May not work for everyone but made life easier for me. 

Things for the hospital:

• Comfortable clothes with a wide neck shirt 
• Cool touch or aloe tissues
  (hospital tissues are rough, you may not have feeling but your skin will still thank you. 
• Face wash wipes for sensitive skin
• Lip balm
• Surgeon's info card
• Phone Charger
• A book of pre-written answers and questions for pointing to while groaning
  (I did not need this because I could actually talk)
• Hand held mirror WITH magnification - so you know where your facial features are. Magnify for nose mining

Things for home:

• Everything from the hospital still applies
• A powerful blender - The vitamix we got for our wedding is now my favorite thing
• Saline nasal spray (take care of your nose)
• Contour Pillow- You will need to sleep upright for a bit.
  This is the one I got (with pillowcase)
• Ice / heat wrap - I purchased something similar to this Bed Buddy. It is wise to have multiple ice packs that are soft for your face when you return from the hospital. The first week I wore one all night, it was comforting. 
• Q-tips - very important for mining expeditions of the nostrils.
• Breathe Right Strips - Breathing is a good thing…sometimes your nose make swell up and breathing between teeth is way less satisfying 
• Liquid vitamin complex 
• Loose comfy clothing - you may want dark colors as you will be getting food on them
• Light-weight eye mask

Tooth care:

• Baby tooth brush - super small, super soft. I picked up one from wholefoods that is perfect.
• A waterpik! Low setting = getting all the junk out of your teeth, braces, bands safely…and you need to keep everything in your mouth as tidy as possible
• Proxabrush - Helps get stuck food out of braces if the waterpik couldn't / you can fit between teeth to get annoying particles off the back of teeth.
• Fluoride toothpaste - I bought Toms mint 

Skin & Lip Care:

• Immediately following surgery a sensitive skin cleansing wipe will be very useful. I got one from Burts Bees that I liked: Sensitive Facial Cleansing Towelettes with Cotton Extract
• After the first week I needed something with a little more grit. Burts bees agian had a wipe I liked: Exfoliating Towelettes - Peach and Willow Bark
• Around the third week I was able to scrub my skin a little more, with oily skin a common occurrence with this surgery I opted for something a little stronger…Gentle, works really well and it looks like pudding: Lush - Cupcake, fresh face mask
• Lip scrub - Your lips will go thru the ringer. A few times a week I have been giving them a good scrub, they get chapped super easy (add its not even winter). I made my own a few times (recipe here)  but eventually decided to skip the sugar and use one from Lush: Mint Julips Lip Scrub 
• Pair the scrub with a good balm: Lush - Ultrabalm

Liquid Diet:

The first few days will be hard to have anything that isnt straight broth or clear juice. Miso Soup broth was my favorite. I also would eat chicken and veggie stock. Both of those can help blend down heavier soups and solids later.

Some of my favorite syringe eating foods:

• Instant oatmeal - Cook as normal, blend with milk, heat up again if needed. Actually feels like food
• Apple sauce stirred with apple juice - quick blood sugar boost
• Chicken noodle soup - blended to death
• Greek yogurt - add to smoothies to introduce probiotics into your guts. The meds will be giving your body a hard time
• Leafy greens - I freeze a container and add to smoothies. Fresh is very good but since it takes me a while to go through a large batch I prefer to freeze. I also like my drinks cold.
• Looza brand juice - they have a variety of more uncommon juices…banana, guava, ect.  Great to add to smoothies instead of milk or soy
• Wallaby brand yogurt - the perfect consistency for getting into the tube. no blending needed
• Creamy soup (broccoli cheddar, tomato, potato leek, ect) thinned and blended with veggie stock
• Green smoothies - fresh spinach, avocado, greek yogurt, frozen peaches
• Peanut butter blended into smoothies fills you up a little more
• Protein powder - add to smoothies for vitamins
• Orgain brand nutritional shake 
• Kefir - Drinking yogurt - My favorites are Wallaby brand chocolate and Siggs brand blueberry

"Odd" blended meals:

• Egg and cheese - a little milk with cut cheddar, microwave for 1 min (till cheese is soft), add to blender, add one hard boiled egg. YUM
• Pizza - 1 slice of veggie thin crust pizza and veggie stock, blended till smooth (soup consistency). Tastes just like pizza
• Cupcake - Blend 1/4 a cupcake with milk…fantastic thing.
• Mac & Cheese - Cook pasta until extremely soft, add cheese, add to blender with a little milk and blend on high. This is super tasty BUT you have to eat it quick. As it cools it takes on a paste type consistency…not easy to get into the tube. 

Smoothies I enjoy:

• Frozen leafy greens, frozen blackberries, greek yogurt and Looza banana juice
• Peanut butter, brown rice protein powder - chocolate, and frozen banana
• Pumpkin puree, greek yogurt, cinnamon, nutmeg, frozen ginger cubes, ice and soy milk
• Frozen pineapple, coconut oil, greek yogurt, frozen banana, soy milk and frozen ginger
• Greek yogurt, frozen strawberries, and protein powder
• 1 cup Fresh Leafy greens, half of pear, cup of banana juice, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, frozen peaches, frozen raspberries

The next phase - Soft "Solids":

• Avocado with a little salt, cut into tiny cubes
• Eggs, eggs and more eggs….I found i could go out to eat with people if we went somewhere that had breakfast food
• Pancakes! The fluffier the easier to "chew"
• quinoa, rice, small pasta (orzo) - will need to waterpik all the bits out of braces but its worth it
• Tofu - cubed and pan seared
• Frozen veggies - they come in tiny cubes and if you cook them longer they get softer
• Sweet potato - cooked with a little sea salt and butter