Metal Mouth

As you might recall, I got braces a couple of months ago because my tongue is too big for my mouth. Sad but true.

All and all, it’s going fine. The first couple of weeks pretty much sucked my will to live, but it’s continually gotten better and most days I don’t have much pain at all. I’ve figured out how to eat, for the most part, and other than cutting corn off the cob and not being able to bite into an apple, it hasn’t been that big of a deal. My inability to eat popcorn, however, is very disturbing to Sam. Every once in a while he’ll randomly say “Poor Mommy can’t even eat popcorn at the movies!” or something along those lines.

I’ve been following the doctor’s orders really closely – I know how much I paid for the pleasure of orthodontic treatment and I do not want to screw it up – but there’s one thing I can’t bring myself to do.

I can’t drink coffee through a straw.

Everything else? No problem. I have even abstained from red wine. But there is just something unnatural about using a straw in a coffee mug. And I am not about to give up coffee.

So, I just live with the fear that I am irreparably staining my teeth and I’ll have bracket-shaped spots on my teeth whenever I get these things off.

But guess what!

I think this whole thing is working. I feel so good. I can get out of bed in the morning without calculating the minutes until I can go back to bed, I don’t feel the need to nap in the afternoon (and the few times I’ve tried, I haven’t been able to. Unheard of!), and I have more energy than I can remember having since… well, ever. It is really kind of amazing.

I saw my doctor (the one who diagnosed my giant tongue) last week and he said he couldn’t be more pleased with my progress. I’m still on hydro-cortisone for my adrenal system, but he thinks I’ll be able to wean myself off of it before too awfully long.

Oh – I nearly forgot… a few of you have asked to see a picture of me with my braces, so against my better judgement, here you go!