I'm talkin' and I ain't shuttin' up!

On Friday, I went to the OS and had the splint removed. I had a moment of panic when he said, "Well, maybe we'll leave it in for another week". On one hand, I didn't want to lose progress and go against his advice. On the other hand, I wanted to talk...and eat...and work!

He took out all the nasty elastics and let me brush my teeth...aaah! He then clipped a couple of wires attaching the splint to my upper braces. It didn't look as big as I thought it would be. It really looked like one of the trays I used to have for bleaching my teeth. One big difference though - it was nasty! It was black and had food bits stuck in it. I am not exaggerating the yuck factor. The OS said that the Peridex mouthwash makes it turn black. (Imagine what it does to my mouth? hmmm) I brushed my teeth again. (It was just as good if not better the second time).

I was certain he would attach elastics on some of the side hooks. He did so that I have one set one each side. I was not expecting him to put elastics down the middle. I hadn't had middle elastics for a week. They buzz when I talk. Even worse, he double elasticed (elasticed? Is that a word?) down the middle. Now I look like I have a nasty mouth booger. It is very noticable when I smile or talk.

In better news, I can take all my elastics off for up to 4 hours a day and next week he said I might get 12 hours a day. This enables me to do all my workshops, elastic free. I try and save my elastic-free time for meals but it is nice to work without them. Today, I had to do a three hour workshop so I'm guessing I'm in elastic prison for the rest of the day.

Honestly, I thought the food would get better. It is still soup, only lumpier. I can swallow pills now (very handy since I had a headache yesterday). Otherwise, not much goes in. My salvation is scrambled eggs. However, I can't get them in with a regular spoon, a baby spoon or a fork. Fingers work. Not pretty, but they work. You don't want to see me eat. Needless to say, I am drinking something simple like Ensure at work so I don't scare people. I tried some flaky fish and I even gummed part of a muffin and a french fry. The results did not justify the effort so I gave up. I've stopped blendering like a maniac as the only recipe that worked was eggs/toast. Everything else was just liquid goo.

I haven't had a headache since the surgery. I was rejoicing. Yesterday, I had a headache after starting back to work. Coincidence? I swear the carpets are mouldy. I actually had a good day workwise but I noticed that I was stuffed up.

A word about pain. I have some. This is really the first week I've had some. Maybe I'm overdoing the talking since I haven't done it in a while. I noticed that I get more of it at night. Perhaps I'm sleeping funny? I'm not sure whether the sharper pain in my left jaw is worse than the numb/prickly pain on the right. Today, the right side feels exactly like water trickling down my chin. I keep worrying that I'm drooling or spilling because I was doing that a lot when I started drinking out of a cup again. Because of the numbness, I don't always know I have mouth incontinence until I see it on my shirt.

As if going back to work (and having my coworker laid off) wasn't stressful enough, I have 8 more hockey games this week and a new puppy. Puppy is very cute but very needy. He needs constant attention until he suddenly drops off to sleep. We took the very small car to go pick him up (2 hours away). The plan was that I would put a blanket on my lap and hold him. In fact, he immediately wanted to jump into the back seat and spent the whole ride with the three kids. They are the only ones who can tire him out. The little monkey jumped up yesterday and almost hit my chin. Ack!

New puppy went out into the backyard with the kids. I told them to take a leash but they didn't. Puppy crawled in through a hole in the hottub enclosure and got stuck. My husband wasn't even two minutes out the door. I couldn't get puppy to back up and out. My husband stole my toolbox again leaving me with one multi-tool in my possession. I had to unbolt the side of the hottub enclosure to get puppy out. While I was doing this, he fell asleep.

I'm seeing the OS again on Friday. I guess we'll see what happens next.

Boring is good...right?

Honestly, not much to report. I saw my OS on Friday. He took off the bands and let me brush as much of my mouth as I could reach. It was kind of scary. I guess I was thinking my jaw would fall off or something. Actually, it was also gross. There were lots of bits of food stuck in there. I've been a lot more careful straining my soups this week. The OS said I looked fine and removed the middle elastic band, keeping the other four. It really helps! The middle elastic band kept me from pronouncing certain letters and it had a tendency to twang like a banjo resulting in a nasty buzzing sensation.

I actually went to both my son's hockey games this weekend. Yay! (even though they got their butts kicked in game #2.) The second game was almost two hours away and we rode on a bus to get there. It sucked in that I couldn't make myself understood over the noise of the engine and everyone avoided me as a result. I even had to get another mother to order my son lunch. Feeling useless has been one of the worst parts of this.

My speech is better. My family can make out most of what I'm saying. I haven't used the board much in the last two days. I'm just hoping that I'm good for next Monday. I'm supposed to be going back to work. There is so much to worry about. Will I be able to talk? What will I eat? Will I survive a whole day? What if my coworkers have stolen all my paperclips? ha ha. It will be a sad week because one of the head honchos is coming to visit...and that means my co-worker will be let go. Just back in time to say goodbye.

This Friday is the big day - I see the OS and I am supposed to get the splint off. I'm not sure about the elastic arrangement at that point.

I've scared myself a couple of times with the splint. Sneezing and yawning are always adventures and for a couple of seconds, I pop out of the splint. I slipped today and chomped on my splint really hard. Everything was okay but it freaked me out. I have only broken one elastic. That was on the first day home so I think it was a dud anyway.

My bruising is all but gone. My chin is a bit puffy but I had a fat chin before so who would even notice? I have officially lost 12 pounds so that's okay by me. I have a lot of pins and needles going on in the right chin area so maybe that area will come back some day. Lucky for me, I have full control of my mouth and face. There is just one dead spot on my lower right lip and chin. Confession - I have experienced "mouth incontinence" as someone so colorfully put it. If I don't hold the glass right, there is dribbling. Ack! What if I dribble at work?

Nobody has said anything like, "Gee you look different" or "great" or anything. To me, I just look like someone who is trying very hard to hold their mouth closed. It isn't necessarily an improvement but I know it is early days and I must be patient.

Embarrassing moment today: I had a chatty supermarket clerk who kept asking me questions so I had to explain and then everyone in line heard. Ugh.

Funny moment of the week - I lit a candle yesterday and when I went to blow it out, I realized that I had no "blow". Nada. Nothing. Good thing it wasn't my birthday cake ha ha