Patience certainly is a virtue- 6 MONTHS!

Thursday marked 6 months since my surgery, aka 6 months since I've been pretty much a one-topic pony (let's be real, I talked about it a lottttt leading up to the big day). I'm now broadening my horizons conversationally, but I'm going to just take 6 months like the big deal that it is and celebrate it with a lil blog post. 6 months is a really long time, and July seems like an eternity ago. I've just spent part of my afternoon browsing through old photos (post-surgery, but back when I was bedridden) and I've gotta say, I secretly didn't think I ever wouldn't be swollen. To be fair, I still am swollen to a degree, but I'd say I've made a stride or two! Exhibit A:

This is what 6 months of healing can do

If I've learned anything from this ordeal, other than of course the importance of modern pharmacology and the necessity of having parents who don't need sleep, it's that patience is absolutely a virtue. Whoever coined that phrase most definitely took their vitamins that morning. Healing is a really big pain in the interim, but eventually swelling goes down, hair grows back, and scars fade. Exhibit B:

I'm not discounting the power of a shower and some softer, more forgiving (read: not hospital) illumination, but time really is the hero in these two pictures. Obviously. I guess I shouldn't really say patience is a virtue, because it's not like I had a choice in the matter, but I like the saying so I'm keeping it. Point being, if you stick with it, things will get better. Feel free to get that nugget of wisdom embroidered onto a pillow and apply that logic to every problem you ever have. You are so welcome.

It has dawned on me that 6 months from now I will have a university degree (well, if all goes well), and I will maybe, maybe, have some sort of idea of what I'm doing with my life. I've applied to this masters of biotech program at uoft that would be lovely to get in to. Not shockingly, the marvel that is a prosthetic jaw has sparked my interest in the field, and I'm pretty much the self-proclaimed poster child of how biotechnology can change lives. (That's more or less the cliffnotes version of my letter of intent). So maybe I'll be doing that in 6 months. Or maybe I'll be traveling. Or maybe I'll be living at home and walking my dog a lot- it's a toss up, really.

Also, my average from the semester before surgery to the one after went up 17%. Like, what?  I CAN'T EVEN DEAL. Maybe there is something to be said about studying sans-headaches and all that. My level of effort remained virtually unchanged so it is the only variable I can think of. My only regret is that this surgery couldn't have happened before the nightmare that I like to call "Organic Chemistry". So yeah, 2012 wrapped itself up nicely and even the Mayans couldn't take that away from me.

The holiday was lovely and full of food, family, and fun. Christmas was busy but fantastic as always and new years was decidedly way better than usual because I hosted a party- no paying outrageous downtown cover, no trekking around in the cold, no making small talk with people I didn't want to. Glorious. The 3 weeks flew by though, filled with Nutcracker shows (I think we had 11 this year- new low?), many many trips to the eatons centre in between said shows, and boisterous outings with the coolest kids I know (we even went bowling). The break was definitely a success but I came back to school feeling anything but refreshed. Ah well, though- now I'm in the home stretch. Counting down the days til my beloved braces and I part ways, til I get a degree, and til I can raise my eyebrows (the jury is still out on that one but I have faith).

For now, it's time to shower and take my dad's car back home because my parents are coming back from their 25th anniversary vacay tonight. (Yay for them! The best people ever- not even biased). Time to put an end to all these wild adventures and road trips I've been up to all week (heehee just kidding poppa...just to the grocery store). I'll be glad to be home tonight. Really, I'm just excited to lie down...I got the A-OK from the doc to exercise again, so I've re-acquired a gym membership and I'm hurtin. Feels good not to be a slug though. Except I've just come to the realization that now I am the proud owner of a 12 month membership to two different gyms. But alas, a problem for another day.

6 month smiles!

So all in all, everything is going well. Oh except the other day I pulled a piece of bone out of my gum- that was really weird.

Happy new year everyone!

A