finally some relief - day 15

I saw my oral surgeon yesterday, and THANK GOD, he took off my rubber bands. It's such an amazing feeling to be able to open your mouth and talk normal after a week of not being able to do so. It's also an amazing feeling being able to eat things such as rice and mashed potatoes again, instead of the soup you've had for 7 days straight. I can only imagine what it will feel like to eat a steak or french fries.

I still have complaints though. I'm still hungry. I've lost 9 lbs so far and it's only been 2 weeks. My weight loss is, however, supposed to slow down. At this rate, I will probably be down by at least 20 lbs when this is over. That is, if my weight loss slows down as expected.

The only thing I dislike about my rubber bands being off is that I am constantly analyzing my bite. Over and over and over again. My jaw actually got sore last night from biting down so many times, trying to make sure that it was still in the right place. What is throwing me off is that my teeth still have a lot of movement to make, so they do not all touch in the back. This of course makes me feel as if my bite is off, when it's not my bite, but the position of my teeth.

I've noticed that the right side of my jaw (the side that is more swollen), is much more painful than the left. I wonder why that is? Perhaps he had to do more work to that side.

I also noticed that I can really feel my stitches now. They go all the way into my cheek and about halfway up towards my upper jaw. I didn't realize how big the incisions were. I'm also bothered by my braces bracket in the back for the first time. I think I've been incredibly numb this entire time, and now I  can finally feel it poking me. It hurts!! Unfortunately, I can't open my mouth wide enough for my orthodontist to fix it, so this is something I'll have to life with for a little while.

Everyone says that my swelling is down a great deal, although my surgeon still said I have a long way to go in that department. 

I can't wait until I can open my mouth wide enough to brush the back of my teeth. I would give anything to be able to do that again. I wonder if I can use mouthwash safely when I still have incisions that are healing?

Anyways, here is to hoping I can forget about my bite for awhile. I need to quit worrying...I can't wait until this awful recovery process is finally over.