the pendulum swings

and now i am happy and confident again.  my appointment with my surgeon was useful in that i saw my xray and things do look decent.  of course i still have quite a bit of swelling particularly on my "lower jaw" side and i need to be more patient in seeing the final results.

the surgeon pointed out that my upper lip is pulling upward on the opposite side, i guess due to muscle reaction to the surgery.  my teeth are also little uneven themselves and when i see them in their new place, accompanied by my crooked sneer, i'm perceiving the jaws' line-up to be off when it's actually pretty good. i think also, having stared at my own face for 30 years and registering the status quo as correct, now when things are adjusted to be actually straight, i see them as crooked.

i learned i have to do little manipulations of my sneer lip to try to help pull it down and relax the muscle over the next few months. and...the sort of bad news.... i have to keep my terminator screw/nails in my gums when i go back to el paso.  not only that, but i have to wear the dumb rubberbands on said screws, circa seventh grade.

this is good though because it will continue to improve my bite (easing that tension/clenching on the one side i was freaking out about) and guide my jaw into its proper position while the bone cuts are regrafting themselves or whatever.

still this is also bad, because the rubberbands are TIGHT, like, teeth are clenched together tight, and i can only muster a tiny little gap between them through which i slurp things and shove pills.  the bands make me talk funny and i am limited to eating things that are super liquidized.  they want me to keep them on all the time.  i realized though to brush 2/3 of the planes of my teeth i have to take them off, so i have to clarify this at my final appointment on thursday.

yesterday i was looking for dinner at some different restaurants and i was asking them 1) do you have soup? and 2) are there pieces of stuff in the soup? crazy-lady times. it's hard to find soup without pieces besides tomato.  i settled for egg drop last night.  even still the little egg floaty bits were getting beached on my teeth and then i would have to spit them out.  fyi, i was dismayed to discover campbell's cheddar cheese soup was pretty gross. maybe that's why it's usually only used for baking.

on another topic - i think insurance may be coming through for me.  hallelu!