And even more progress!

Well, now it seems like the progress is increasing exponentially by the day. I am currently able to eat 75% of what I'd been eating with a syringe with a baby spoon. Today I went as far as a fork and ate cottage cheese, without putting it into a blender. I can't really say I'm chewing yet; more like swirling the item long enough in my mouth so that I can swallow it. I also brushed the inside of my mouth with a baby toothbrush; this is another first.

I tried eating a small piece of fish, just to see what would happen. What happened (I know you're on the edge of your chair in suspense) is that I chewed and chewed and chewed and eventually gave up. I'm not really chewing as much as both my upper and lower molars were touching the fish, with the rubber bands getting in the way and no real chewing taking place.

I have to eat tiny bites and not talk too much and be really careful when I open because my jaw still easily objects and goes into spasm. Still, this is huge progress.

I feel like a toddler who is learning to walk and finds that it's easier to resort to crawling. I'm a much faster eater with a syringe than with utensils.

And for another fascinating fact...I'm a left-handed syringer, but right-handed for most other tasks. So I have some degree of ambidexterity (that's a very big word, you know). I wonder what other things I can do left-handed? I'm not eager for another situation like this accident to present itself for me to find out.

Anyway, I am more and more optimistic that I will be eating with some degree of normalcy soon. Still wired for at least another week (not sure about the rubber bands) and now have nasal surgery in June. But still, I'm enjoying every last one of these baby steps!

--K--