Day 13: Mashed Potatoes

Feeling much better every day; my energy levels are getting much better and apart from the fact I talk funny (always have anyway what with being a Brit living in America), a swollen-ish face that anybody who didn't know me would simply make the observation that I have a chubby face and bruising which stubbornly refuses to go away, you would never know I just had both of my jaws broken almost a fortnight ago! How time flies.The picture on the left is my attempt at a smile, freaky eh? You might wonder why I haven't smiled in many of my pictures and the simple answer is that I wasn't able to physically (sometimes mentally in all probability). This recovery is a work in progress as they say.

My posts of the past few days have focused on eating and food as really that it is the biggest challenge I face everyday presently - no different than most people really! :) My mouth seems to be able to open a wee' bit more than yesterday but I am not in a position to put a baby spoon in my mouth just yet. The spoon almost fits in and so I am trying not to just suck my food but rather put the spoon in as far as it will go and then slide the spoon back and let the splint take care of the rest - it basically levels the food off the spoon so that it stays in my mouth. Not terribly fun but at least I am not just sucking the food in to my mouth! I have just realised that this the first positive thing I have said about my splint! :)

Today we tried mashed potatoes and gravy as my surgeon said that was a good food to attempt to eat. Indeed it was. Spilled a lot (really would like feeling back in my lips and chin!) but it tasted great! Also ate lemon pudding and honestly to watch and hear me eat that food at the dinner table must be the most distracting event you could imagine but the family does a great job of just going along with it and occasionally laughing! Hopefully, the more I open and close my mouth the wider it will open over time. I am getting there slowly but surely.

Removing and adding my bands is now a quick process ever since changing to the triangle pattern and I really experience no difficulty in removing them or putting them back on. I didn't even have one snap today so I must be doing something right!

In terms of pain medication, I only used it once today (Ibuprofen) and that was first thing in the morning when I woke up as that is when my jaws are the most painful typically. This is no doubt to do with my sleeping position; propped up at probably a 45 degree angle and my jaw is not in its default position. I typically still ice and heat as I hope (perhaps erroneously) that the ice will continue to battle against the swelling and the heat makes my joint throbbing go away!

Short post today to make up for the epic I wrote yesterday!

As for what foods were eaten today:

1. Macaroni and cheese


2. Mashed potatoes and gravy


3. Vanilla pudding (a very high slurpability factor!)

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