Day 27 - Surgeons and Seamstresses

I keep snapping my elastic bands. Today one more snapped. I have this weird phenomenon that keeps occurring. I'll be relaxing, like sleeping or browsing the web, and then I get a sudden need to cough, but it's so difficult being banded shut and all, that I hold it in. Then I feel like I'm choking, so I tell my subconscious-self to relax, that I'm getting plenty of air and that I will survive. But this time it was too late and I had released my cough and snapped the band on my top teeth. Well, two down. One or two is okay, according to my surgeon, but any more will require an inconvenient visit up north to have them replaced. I'm going to be preparing my food for the next couple of days in an extra blenderized fashion, to ensure that I don't have to open my mouth more than necessary, and snap more bands.

It occurred to me today that the breaking of the elastics may be caused from my newfound adoration for tomato soup. After all, tomatoes are acidic, and could potentially break the little rubber bands holding my jaws together. So today I took a break from the tomato soup and tried broccoli cheese soup. I added way too much milk and was left with a queasy feeling afterwards. I think I'll save the other can for when I can have soft foods. Ahem, Thursday, please.......

In today's rough economy, I was considering similar jobs that a tradesman could potentially transfer into, if needed. I was looking at my mouth in shock at the wonderful alignment of my new jaws. I thought that if there was ever a decreased need for surgeons, my surgeon could be a seamstress. It then occurred to me that I doubt there would ever not be a need for surgeons, but perhaps a decreased need for seamstresses, and they are the ones who could assist in doing the focused needlework, planning and mapping out of breaking jaws and sewing them back together. After-all, my surgeon is meticulous and my jaws are aligned perfectly. Kind of a weird thought I suppose.

My jaws do look great though, and I am shocked, not that I didn't have faith that the operation would be a success, but because of other jaw surgery patients. All my prior reading had indicated that one would not be able to get a firm image of what the jaw alignment would look like, until at least a few months after surgery. Well, the day after surgery, when I bravely looked in the mirror at the hospital, I looked like the little blue girl from Willy Wonka who ate the candy she wasn't supposed to eat and blew up to the size of a whale. I was enormous, yet I instantly could tell that my lips were meeting, although they were initially meeting more than they do now, due to incessant swelling. A few days after surgery however I was given an even better image of how my jaws would look, as the swelling dissipated. I conclude that operation-break-my-jaw was completed by the most qualified in the field.

My jaw pain is null today and the slight remnants of pain are vastly decreasing each day. However, I still am timid when it comes to laying directly on my jaw, like when lying on Douggie while watching a movie. A few weeks ago I had to manually drag my head with my hand when I got up out of bed. I felt like the walking dead. I'm happy to say that my head gets up all on its own now, but still will require a bit more R&R until it's back to normal. All part of the good ol' healing process.

Douggie and I went to Borders tonight because tomorrow is their last day before they are closed for good. They had a few items, and everything is now 90% off, but once again, unless you want a copy of Sarah Palin's book, sorry, you're out of luck! I did get some cheap gift bags though. Chao Borders, it 'twas nice knowing you!

Check out Doug's new hair cut :)