Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Three steps forward, two steps back

I walked into the maxillo facial surgeon's office on Monday and was told that the wires clamping my jaw together would be replaced by rubber bands. What this means is that the wires around each tooth remained intact but the "up and down" wires holding my upper and lower jaws together were removed. The "individual tooth wires" and the rubber bands will then be on for another two weeks. I was also told now I could easily talk, switch to soft foods, and breathe again.

Based on this, which of the following is/are NOT true:

a) My gums would be less cut up by the wires.
b) I could switch from a mostly liquids to a soft foods diet.
c) I could talk more easily.
d) I could throw away the syringes.

If you identified b), c), and d) as the false statements, you would be correct and win a gold star!

I made the mistake, however, of taking the surgeon at his word and got very excited talking to Jake during the trip home about getting rid of the syringes and eating overcooked eggs for lunch. I then got home, tried to take a bite a yogurt with a spoon, screamed in agony, realized that my jaw was also very unhappy with all of the talking, and decided that the surgeon needed to actually go through this experience so that he'd know what he was talking about.

Sigh.

Still, things on the medical front are better. It's easier to use the syringe than when the foods had to made it past all of the wires. I can breathe a little bit better, even if not as well as expected. I'm talking to an ENT surgeon at Tufts about scheduling nasal surgery for May or June. I have fewer wires chopping up my lips (which have pretty major callouses on them).

I think I'm more frustrated now though by the slow progress because my expectations were so high. Truth be told, I am feeling a little sorry for myself.

--K--