Day 54: Restaurants Are Cheaper When You Don’t Eat

  • Pain: 0/10
  • Inconvenience: 3/10

This is the current state of my teeth. They’re big, they’re prominent and they’re no longer the victims of a class 3 malocclusion. I find it difficult to wrap my upper lip around them when I attempt to smile, and they still hit the brackets on my bottom teeth before my molars ever come into contact with each other. However, this is still Graham 2.0. So get used to it.

I’ve readjusted into my liquid diet routine and am no longer counting the days until I can eat solid food again. I’ve realized that when you get all excited for a specific triumph and then it fails to pass, you’re quite let down. If I have no hope in sight, then I successfully eliminate the opportunity for failure. Wow, that sounded quite programmatic. Maybe I’m spending too much time in front of the computer these days.

I must admit, there are perks to the splint being gone. I can articulate words much easier and I’m able to drink from cups and bottles pretty naturally again. I had my first sip of alcohol in months a few nights ago as well. I was prepared for a pretty hard hit since I don’t have much food in me these days, but luckily it didn’t affect me much at all. I’ve also noticed that restaurants are surprisingly more affordable when you don’t eat.

I appreciate all the comments on my Liberation Day post. They reminded me that I’m still in the early stages of recovery. My surgeon told me not to worry about anything until at least 6 months have passed since surgery. Since it’s only been a mere 2 months for me, I shouldn’t be fretting about my lack of feeling or the inability to eat quite yet. One of my high school teachers had jaw surgery a few decades ago and didn’t attain full feeling in his chin for 2 full years!

And now for something completely different, I leave you with an assortment of sales pitches focusing on the turboencabulator. Apparently, this is what some people hear when speaking with engineers, or so I’ve been told.

(I hope ya’ll caught my Monty Python reference.)

12 Comments

  1. Hi Graham,

    I’m curious how long it took for your mouth to feel normal again. I’m sure that gaining feeling back helps some, but I’m wondering if your mouth ever feels normal again? It appears you’re about 4 years post surgery and I’m curious how your mouth/lips/chin feel all this time later.

    I’m at day 54 today and still awaiting my chin and lower lip to come back “online.” I have some feeling on the left side of my lip and chin, but the right side is still numb.

    Bret

    • Bret, I began feeling completely back to normal at around the 6-month mark. The only remnant of my surgery is a few small permanently numb patches in my chin, but I honestly don’t even notice unless someone asks about them. Don’t give up hope just yet—there’s still a good chance more of your nerves will wake up in the next few months. =)

  2. Wonderful essay, obtained the pleasure of reading

  3. I have stop counting the days too Graham. I check your blog regularly, evry 2 days now just to see the similarities and am not even curious to read ur liberation day. I have a meeting with my lecturer for my dissertation. I hope she recognises me 🙂 Till then, all the best.

  4. For what it’s worth, your smile looks no different than most people I know – I’d say you’ve got goodly proportioned front teeth – you’ll get used to them!

  5. Liquid vitamin D actually has no taste at all, and it mixes great in smoothies. It looks like oil, but like I said, has no taste.

  6. Sounds good. Providing it doesn’t taste too odd, maybe I can mix it in with smoothies.

  7. A supplement you might want to add to your diet is vitamin D. It will help with bone healing and formation. I’ve been taking it for a long time as it also protects you from getting the flu. You can buy it in gel caps or in liquid form. I take 10,000 iu per day.

  8. @fitislandgirl: No problem! Get ready to lose way too much weight. =)

    @cin: Thanks! I still can’t wait to eat!

    @Judy: Yeah, who knows, I may be on liquid forever. 😛 I’m going to start drinking protein shakes again this week because I find I almost faint at the gym without them.

    I’m also making a bunch more vegetable soup with a friend tomorrow, so that should help.

    I haven’t gotten sick yet, so I *think* I’m getting enough nutrients.

  9. it’s true, it is still early in your recovery. just hang tight and see how things progress. i think the whole journey will have a big emotional and mental component as well as the physical. you are so awesome to refocus on the positive again! : )

    however, i do worry that with your now prolonged liquid diet, you are not getting enough nutrition. maybe an active guy like you needs more than chunky soup and ensure! have you added more variety into your liquid diet? cottage cheese has mad amounts of protein in it and tastes quite yummy blended with jello instant pudding! not liquid, but soft and puddingy!
    if you are back in the gym, maybe you should be drinking some protein shakes occasionally and maybe some of that “greens plus” for some concentrated nutrition.
    keep healing up!

  10. looking really handsome!!! Everything will be perfect in a flash!!! You’ll see, time will fly right by.

  11. Hi there!

    I came across your site last night through Google. I’m from PEI and undergoing double jaw surgery June 1st. I really love your site. Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂

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