Day 25: Food again

Hello hello!

Yesterday, I had my first appointment with my orthodontist since the surgery. Nothing much really happened there, except that the tightened my braces and took out the surgical hooks. Oh, and he gave me a pack of 'cherry' rubberbands to change everyday, to ensure that my bite doesn't move. Dr Cheng was kind of rough with my mouth though. He pulled my lips out, pressed on my stitches (super ouch), and my teeth really hurt when he was putting on the coloured bands on the brackets, especially on my bottom teeth for some reason. But thank God the wire that was pulling on my inner left cheeks at the back of my mouth is gone! Now I can do my jaw exercises without restraint. Which reminds me, why does it seem like the dental doctors keep telling me to open my mouth wider (when I'm already opening my widest; have compassion!) and that I can chew cut up noodles...? Okay, I get it - just need to work even harder at it. :'/

(Author's note: Just to clarify, I might make Dr Cheng to be a scary orthodontist but really, he's just being efficient about his consultations. He's really professional and experienced, and things get done really fast. If the pain is unbearable, you just need to say ou..ou..ouchhh and he'll very graciously apologise... and then do it quicker so the (inevitable) pain will pass faster. Hahaha I likey my ortho.)

I just weighed myself today and happy to announce that I've gained about 1kg more since my 1.5 weeks post-op all-time low! Which means that I've lost about 2.5kg nett since pre-surgery. I actually hope that I don't put on to my original weight, but I also know that I'm not supposed to use this recovery period as an opportunity to lose weight. Hehehe shhh.

Whatever it is, I'm craving for sweet stuff all the time. If you would like to know, below is a list of what I consume everyday:

• 1 bowl per meal of blended vegetable soup, or rice porridge with fish fillet bits and carrots
• 2-3 packets of Ensure Plus
• 1 big cup of smoothie (either Avo-Nana or Berry-Nana-Oat)

On top of that, I sometimes also include some random drinks that I can't stop thinking about and must. drink. now. kind of stuff, like the recent Milo+milk ice blend. Sometimes, where rare fruit resources are available, I get to try some fruit drinks, like blending cempedak. If you consider what I've been eating drinking thus far, you'd understand when I say that IT WAS GLORIOUS SWEETNESS TO THE TONGUE (Ensure doesn't count because it's not like, naturally sweet). The cempedak fruit my dad bought from Malaysia was so thick and sweet that even adding 40ml of water per 5 seeds (of the flesh only, of course), it still tasted like the real thing! I could actually afford to add more water, but I was just spoilt by taste. :)) I actually took a picture of my 15 seeds + 120ml water + ice blend from the other night. It made 500ml of solid cempedak juice.

I know, it looks like just a yellow blob of.. thing. But that's because it was so thick! It was just awesome, for serious lack of a better word!

To fellow jaw surgery mates, I think this drink is a really good one to try if you're in Malaysia or Singapore or wherever you can get a good cempedak fruit. I imagine that it will really boost your appetite, especially in the early weeks of recovery. And it's not that difficult to make!