These were taken the day after surgery with my cell phone by my family. If you don’t like icky medical stuff, don’t look.

A quarter view. Staples, drain entries, and a horribly swollen face.

Closeup of the (32!) staples. That’s not ooze in the picture, just antibiotic gel.

Mutant vampire attack. The three puncture wounds across my chin are from what the surgical team used to keep my mouth open.

Side view. My ear looks really purple.

Front view. Staples and drains, oh my. I hadn’t realized how swollen my face really was until I looked at this one.

Look, ma, no tongue! It’s better than this now. As the doctor pointed out to us afer surgery, between swelling and a bit of tissue growth, it barely looks like anything is missing now. I still can’t stick out my tongue, since the muscle on the left is no longer there, and eating is a real adventure, but it’s light years better than I imagined it would be when we were initially told what the surgery would entail. You can also see a bit of the issue related to removal of nerve and muscle on the left: my left lower lip doesn’t pull down at all when I open my mouth in this image,

Drains and drugs. The drains were emptied periodically, and the IV was the entry point for antibiotics and morphine. I still have a knot on my right hand where the IV went in, and finally got the remainder of the tape residue off my hand and wrist about three weeks after the surgery.