• Pain: 0/10
• Inconvenience: 2/10

Elastics, elastics, elastics.

Big news: Two of my teeth on the right side of my mouth are now touching throughout the day! I have those annoying little elastics to thank for a job well done. They may be the bane of my existence, but they’re also putting out in a big way. I took the liberty of sticking one of them on my face so you can see just how tiny they really are. That small piece of stretchable genius goes around 5 teeth at a time. They also come in a cool bag with a cartoon moose on the front, so really, I have nothing to complain about.

I’ve started changing my elastics twice per day–morning and night–in an attempt to achieve the quickest results possible (to fit in with our society’s focus on instant gratification). The elastics stretch out really fast when I’m talking as much as I do, so they’re rendered fairly useless by the end of the day.

I’ve seen my family and several friends over the past week and they’ve all said the exact same thing (with quite a bit of excitement, I might add): “I can’t believe how different you look!” Apparently my face is a different shape altogether and my entire body is noticeably lacking weight. I still can’t accept that I look any different. Perhaps when you’re looking in the mirror every single day, the change is gradual enough that you fail to notice it, whereas for people who haven’t seen me since before the surgery, the change is quite substantial.

I tried my first solid meal at Julio’s Barrio a few nights ago. After scouring their menu for the meal closest to pureed, I settled with chili (or chilli, or chile, depending on what your ethnicity is). I couldn’t chew it very well, so I ended up swallowing most of it whole and felt a little uncomfortable as a result. The waitress kept coming by wondering if I liked it or not because I was taking so long to eat it (it took me 1.5 hours to eat half of the dish). I eventually explained my predicament to her so she would stop fretting about the meal. I think I’ll keep on blending for now.

From that experience, I realized that I need to learn how to chew again. You’d think it’s a completely natural process, but you’d be wrong. You can do it without thinking because you have decades of practice. I challenge you to not eat for 8 weeks along with having your mouth rearranged, and then try to chew again. You’ll be in the same boat as I am. It took 100% of my concentration and brain power to simply bring my teeth together in all the right places. I was honestly having difficulty chewing and talking at the same time!

I think I’m going to attempt to build a carrot cake soon. I’m confident I could mash it up with my tongue enough to swallow it in somewhat manageable pieces. On top of that, carrot cake is absolutely heavenly. And 2 goods reasons is more than enough for me!