Day 29

Today, the gums inside my mouth bled a lot less when I used the rubber tip, so that's some good progress! Still hopeful that I can heal the slight recession on some of the teeth. I checked them again with the little dentist mirror and it doesn't look as horrible as I initial thought. I think I just freaked out about it and it made everything seem much worst than it is. I don't even feel pain when I swish cold water in there, so it can't be THAT bad!

I still want to make sure it doesn't get worse though, but there is no longer a lot of pressure on my bottom teeth from my upper teeth, which I feel was the main cause of the gum recession. I've learned to relax my jaw better, too.

Last night, I started feeling like the numb part of my bottom lip was vibrating and almost burning a little. Suddenly, it felt less stiff! I still can't feel when I touch it, but it definitely feels less "dead" than it used to. More like half dead. I can also feel pressure all around the numb area. I asked my husband to put a pen on different area, and when he did it super lightly, I couldn't really feel it, but if he pressed just a little bit, I could tell where it was semi accurately.

Not much else to report on day 29; just waiting on the weekend when I'll be able to remove my bands during the day and try to chew! I might not do it on Saturday itself because I've got a baby shower brunch in the afternoon and then we're going to celebrate the New Year with some friends that night. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave my jaw unbanded in public for a day. What if it starts hurting, or what if I accidentally hit myself in the face, like I clumsily do constantly? I would feel safer doing it when I'm at home, since I don't know what to expect. I know this is very paranoid of me :P

I did want to talk about something a little unpleasant and maybe TMI, but let's discuss poop on a liquid diet. Now here's the thing: I've been eating liquid food very rich in protein and calories, which means there is very little fiber in my meals. I realized that I basically eat 1 banana a day and that's pretty much it in terms of fruits and veggies. Sure, there might be a bit of veggies and grains in my dinner, depending on what I made, but it's not enough. For about 4-5 days last week, my poops were quite hard and dense, and it made me constipated.

I almost bought a stool softener, but then I didn't want to add another pill I'd have to squeeze through my teeth, so I thought of trying Metamucil. But that stuff is full of useless added sugar or fake sugar, and I feel like I'm eating enough added sugar with Ensure, so I looked for a non-flavored version, and discovered Benefiber.

Again, not a paid advertisement, I promise!

Man, that stuff is gold. You can also buy a generic version at your pharmacy, too! But basically, you just add 2 tablespoons of this powdered fiber supplement to your meal 3 times a day, and that's it. It tastes like nothing and dissolves pretty well (except in Ensure... I think it's too slimy). I just dump it in my smoothie when I add the cocoa powder and I don't even know it's there.

I've been doing it for the past 3 days and I'm happy to report that my poop is back to normal! I definitely recommend using something like Benefiber. You could of course also make more smoothies with fruits and veggies, but honestly, I'm still always looking for a way to maximize the calories to volume content of my food, and I always feel like a fruit smoothie isn't high in calorie enough. I think I've mentioned this before, but when I'm hungry, I feel like it's important for me to eat as much calories as I can before it goes away, so a simple fruit smoothie seems like a waste. Of course, your experience may vary, and maybe you'll be constantly hungry and it won't be a problem! But if you run into a similar situation, get yourself a fiber supplement.