The Giant Hole

Friday, April 1st I had my lower left Wisdom Tooth removed.

No, I was not asleep, I was heavily, heavily numbed and I sat there as my dentist, whom I love, had a heck of a time getting it out. I thought my jaw was going to break. No lie. That sucker did NOT want to come out.

I have known for a month now that I was getting this done and yet somehow I had convinced myself that it would be no big deal. Well, I guess I should have planned better. I was and still am in quite a bit of pain. I still can't open my jaw and chewing is a huge problem. Thankfully, I'm 5 days in and it's getting minutely better each day.

The big obstacle for me this past week has been food. I've managed to eat soup, mashed potatoes, pasta and scrambled eggs and now I am DESPERATE for some other varieties of food. I've tried fruits and cooked vegetables and soft breads but those still required me to open my mouth way too much. The problem has been my calories. Usually I eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats and whole grains. Yes, your standard healthy diet. And because these are all very filling I am able to keep my calorie count in check. Well, since I've been on a mainly soft carb diet, I find that these foods don't keep me satisfied long and thus my calorie count has been kind of out of whack.

Ah, the perils of healthy teeth.

I have, however, managed to keep my exercise in check. I haven't done anything too vigorous. I found the harder I worked out the harder the pain in my head pounded. So, mainly walks and ballet strength training for me.

Now I sit and wait for this giant hole in my mouth to fill, for my jaw to start working again, and for the ability to chew food on BOTH sides of my mouth.

It's funny. Pure bliss for me right now would to be able to take a huge giant bite of a sandwich, or hamburger or anything that A) had some sort of meat B) had crisp, fresh vegetables on it and C) required me to open my mouth more than half an inch.

You know, it's the simple things.