Good News from the Surgeon

Nothing but good news from my surgeon as I had one of my regular visits today.

• My opening has increased 5mm to a total of 27mm from my previous visit. The goal is 40mm. My muscles are recovering from the trauma they underwent during surgery so I have to work my way back up to a normal opening.
• I’m getting more feeling back in my chin. I’d say about 50% of the feeling has returned.
• The J-hook was removed. Some of you may have noticed a little hook hanging down in front off my upper teeth. Well, it used to be above the gum line and since then has descended which meant it was time to come out. It was used to hold a rubber band to keep the upper and lower jaws together in the early stages of recovery. I’ll leave it to your imagination where the other end of the hook was routed.

  There was a moment of humor. I asked the doc if he was going to apply any anesthetic before removing it. He said, “Well, you can endure the few seconds of pain from either the anesthetic needle or by just me pulling it out.” My response: “Pull away.”

• My teeth are not rotting away. I had a scare for the past few weeks where it appeared my teeth were becoming translucent. To my relief it was only an illusion. It happened to be only a thin film of gray matter deposited by the medicinal mouthwash I used for the first 3 weeks. The doc demonstrated by scraping a bit away showing the white enamel underneath. Thankfully a good cleaning will remove it, but it’ll probably have to wait until I get my orthodontics off.
• And last but not least, adios to the liquid diet! I’m free now to eat soft foods that require minimal chewing. I’m still holding out for Whataburger but I’ll take Rudy’s extra-moist brisket in the meantime.