Splint-free! Blender-free!

Since I've aleady given away the punch line, I won't even try to tell you everything that happened. But, at my appointment in Chapel Hill yesterday, as soon as my doctor walked in, I looked him in the eyes and said, "What do I have to do to convince you to take this splint out?"

"How long has it been in there?" he asked, poking around my mouth with his fingers.

Holding back the urge to slap him upside his head, I said, "Schiksch weeksch."

Well, everything was looking great. My lower jaw apparently has settled in to its new position. My jaws are healing well. Even my sleep seems to be better (more on that later). So, out came the wire cutters and off came the &%$#&$&ing splint. It was totally pain-free.

And, out came the toothbrush. Have you ever come home to take a shower a really long camping trip out in the middle of nowhere? Remember how that felt? Ahhhhhhh ... Minty fesh, baby!

It does feel a little weird having my teeth clack together for the first time in more than a month. But, the advantage there is ...

... I ate my last two meals like the big people do, sitting at a table, my food on a plate and not in liquid form. I did it all without a blender. OK, so it wasn't a T-bone or anything like that. Last night was quiche and broccoli cooked soft. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, oatmeal, yogurt and OJ. But, what a difference. I think I'm about 90 percent normal now -- well, what passes for normal for me.

Speaking of which, I think I might have turned a corner this week with sleep. It's still not 100 percent there, but I really had some good days. I think most of my problems are due to my sleep pattern still being screwy. I keep waking up around 2:30 and 4:30 for some reason. But, I'm dreaming several times a night. They're fairly long and complete, as opposed to the static-y, jumbled looping crap that used to leave me feeling drained in the morning.

This weekend, I'm going to post the before/after photos that I promised, oh, about two weeks ago. Since I'm splint-free, I have no more excuses.

One thing I forgot to mention: My speech is still not quite there yet. I have a numb spot on my tongue and the inside of my mouth is different shape. It's much better than it was with the splint, but I'm having trouble with the "s" sound. It still comes out as "sch" sometimes. I'm working on it. Maybe I can do cartoon voice-overs ... .