Jogging

I went for a brief jog today. I didn't run hard and I didn't run long, but I did run. It was nice.

I haven't had any painkillers for two or three days now, and I'm doing fine. Oh yeah.

Cartwheel

I threw a frisbee around for a solid twenty minutes today. Including running and jumping. I even did a cartwheel. And it felt just fine.

A few minutes later, I jumped again. This time, I must have landed weird. I felt like I had jarred my jaw, so I promptly stopped and was indolent for the rest of the evening.

I haven't taken any painkillers in a while, and it doesn't really hurt, so I'm assuming that I didn't do anything terribly stupid. I'll need to be careful, though.

Plateau

I feel like everything has leveled off. Not a whole lot is going on. There's still pain from time to time, but nothing severe. There's still a tiny bit of swelling, but nothing that most people would even notice. I don't think I've been able to open my mouth any more or less since about two days after the unwiring, and I eat slowly.

Things aren't bad now, and although improvement will be slow, I'm confident that things will only get better. So life is good.

I almost look like myself

It's true. Most of the swelling is gone, and I recognize myself in the mirror now. There's still a little residual bruising, and the swelling isn't completely gone, but I don't expect people to pass me on the street without recognizing me anymore.

Eating is a lot easier than it was on Friday, too. There's still lots of room to improve, but I don't think I would be embarrassed eating in public anymore.

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!