A Tale of Two Office Visits and Back to Work

On Tuesday, I went to see my orthodontist so he could check my progress. He told me that things looked good and that he would start moving my teeth again at my next appointment on August 15th. From there, I should be in braces another 3-6 months. That's means that my braces could be off as early as November 15th. :) There is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

On Wednesday, I went to see the oral surgeon for my second post-op. According to my orthodonist, my oral surgeon is in charge of things right now in order to make sure that my bite stays aligned. At the oral surgeon's office, he pointed out that my midline was off since the muscles in my lower jaw were trying to move it back to it's old position. He put three rubberbands in my mouth to adjust my midline in the right spot and I will see him again this Wednesday. Asides from brushing my teeth at night and the occassional meal, I keep my rubberbands in 24-7.

I started back at work this week and I felt that I had enough energy to get through my workday. I think my energy levels were good going back to work since I took two weeks off to recover and rested a lot over the holiday weekend.

The toughest part about being back at work this week was the diet. There is only so much you can have when you're on a non-chew diet and the lack of variety makes it tough. When I tell people that, the only thing they can say is, "At least you get the benefit of losing weight." I suppose that is a benefit, but when you're not trying to lose weight, it's not that much comfort.

Despite some challenges, I've discovered that a lot of food can be eaten when you're on a non-chew diet. The best bet being Mexican since there are plenty of options between the cheese enchiladas, tamales, refried beans and guacamole. Other food I've had success with are blintzes, pasta stars (bite size pasta) and meatloaf.

This week, I tried to get back into my workout routine. I went to the rock climbing gym on Wednesday and went outdoor rock climbing on Saturday. Climbing outdoors on Saturday was a bit tough. It wasn't the climbing per se that exhausted me, but the hike uphill to the climbing spot. I drank a lot of water while I was up there and drank two Ensure so that definitely helped.

The swelling has gone down a ton and most people don't even think it looks like I had surgery. My smile is a lot better now although there is still a bit of swelling in the chin. Promise I'll upload some pictures tomorrow evening. :)