Day 21: How to eat with a Spoon

It may sound like a strange title for a post but the reality is that eating is quite an ordeal presently, not least of which is because my mouth is not opening too far presently.

Think about it for a minute - if your mouth cannot open too much, how do you get the food in? Most people will simply say, "simple, just cut the food in to little pieces." I wholeheartedly agree with that as chewing is presently not happening very easily and so the smaller the better (it has to be soft food though remember as I am not allowed to eat meat or anything that requires chewing) but there is the minor issue of how to exactly get the food in to my mouth.

I first of all tried eating with a normal sized dinner spoon but no such luck as the spoon was way too wide and there simply wasn't the space in my mouth presently for it to fit! Strike one.

Next I tried a dessert spoon and it would fit into my mouth in terms of the width but the angle or depth of the spoon was too steep so that when I tried to put it in my mouth it would only fit in a quarter of the way before it hit the top and bottom of my teeth! Strike two.

Third attempt - a very flat, ice-cream spoon (above); it is flat enough that it can fit between my upper and lower jaw and narrow enough to fit also! So that is what I am using. With one exception; I have to put the spoon in my mouth upside-down as I don't have enough clearing room for the food at the top of my mouth because of my splint!! This splint is getting old really quickly . . .

So there you have it, I first of all cut the food in to little pieces (unless it is my daily addictive intake of instant pudding of course!) and then place it on the spoon. The next step is the tricky part as I have to turn the spoon upside down and then quickly slide it between my jaws and let the food drop in to my mouth! I love double jaw surgery . . .

So really, I basically have two options for eating:

• If the food is really soft or of a liquid consistency (like mac and cheese) then I obviously cannot turn the spoon upside down and so essentially I just put the spoon in my mouth as far as it will go and then basically just slurp it in my mouth! You would love being around the dinner table, the height of good manners and etiquette :)


• If the food has a thicker consistency (like mashed potatoes) than I put the food on my spoon, turn it upside down, put it in my mouth and viola!

You probably did not realise what it takes to actually get food in your mouth, did you! I know that I certainly did not. One thing about this surgery is that it truly makes you appreciate all of the so-called little things that you take for granted where eating is concerned; chewing, using a straw, getting a spoon in your mouth, etc! Hopefully this has answered some of your questions about how I manage to eat!

As for what foods I ate today, truthfully I didn't eat much as the inside of my mouth is still aching and I really haven't had much of an appetite. Probably another good consequence of this surgery is that I realise that I ate way too much food before my surgery; too many snacks, sodas, etc., that I simply didn't need to eat or probably shouldn't have been eating! Anyway, here is what I ate today!

1. Mashed potatoes and gravy (last of it so who knows what I will eat tomorrow! :)


2. Lemon instant pudding. A new flavour. I am going to start my own fan club for pudding I think.

You can see additional photographs under the ‘Photo Journal’ section above