My jaws are sore

You know how if you don't use a muscle for a while, it atrophies? And then when you use it again, it hurts?

Welcome to my world.

Chewing isn't nearly as easy as it used to be. I'm learning how to do it quickly, but my jaw muscles aren't liking it. I am able to eat and talk and brush the insides of my teeth, however, so life is still wonderful.

Unwired at last

I can now open my jaw. Barely. I couldn't really clean the inside of my teeth because the opening was so small. It now feels like it's been a couple of days since I've brushed, which is a lot better than a couple of weeks.

I'm going to sleep for a bit and then try eating for the first time in what seems like forever.

It's time

I hate to be impatient, but it's definitely time to get my jaws unwired.

Actually, I thought that I'd be going nuts just from being hungry all the time. I've been able to eat fairly well. I just ate some wonderful blended potatoes, cheese, ham, and veggies. I had some V8 and some pomegranate blueberry juice (separately) to go with it. That may not sound appetizing, and it sure didn't look appetizing, but it wasn't bad at all.

The thing that's driving me nuts is that I haven't been able to brush the insides of my teeth for eleven days. I use mouthwash all the time, but that only goes so far.

So bring on the wire cutters! 17 hours and 4 minutes to go!

X-rays

I went in for some post-operative x-rays today. I, of course, had very little idea what to look for. I was able to locate the titanium without any trouble. I even found my braces ;-)

But the radiologist (or whoever took the x-rays; she may have had some other degree) said that the surgery was a very good one. She specifically pointed out a straight mid-line and said that my chin looked nice. I still can't see it very well because of the swelling. I hope that I'll get to compare the new to the old ones.

Anyway, it's great news - I sure would hate to have to have the surgery re-done, and it looks like that won't be an issue.

I wonder

I slept for eleven hours last night. That's a LOT of time sleeping. I wonder if I'm getting mine for sleeping so little during the semester, or if this a result of the operation. In either case, I hope I can get back to a more normal schedule soon.

Success

I have eradicated the mustache and goatee.

Now, to eradicate the swelling and bruising.

Something different: church

It was very amusing to see people's reaction to my condition today. Everyone was sensitive and kind, but some people knew that I would be having this surgery before it happened, and some didn't. And I think a lot of the teenagers hadn't seen the results of oral surgery before, so I think I got some odd looks.

My former bishop's wife pretended to hit me in the jaw, but I told her I wasn't allowed to box for six months (good thing I asked, huh?). So she said that the match is at her place around Thanksgiving. I like her.

I actually felt great the whole time, and of course, I'm much less swollen than I was a few days ago. So everybody's shocked reaction to how incredibly swollen I was turned out to be pretty funny.

I think it shocked just about everyone to have me in class without commenting on hardly anything. I did write a comment on the chalkboard during elders' quorum today.

Even though I didn't get to say very much, I was struck by how much the ward (congregation) really resembles a big family. We're all in it together. I felt like everybody's brother or nephew or the like while I was there.