#class iii underbite

Well I only had two teeth related appointments. 

Where did all these people come from? 

Hi! I occasionally from time to time look at the activity going on here. Even though this is a side blog if you sent me a message there is like a 110% chance I read it like within the same day. However, if it's like a "Hey, thanks for writing..." which I'm glad that many of you like the Other People... post(s) and the Note To Future Self post :) Then there is like a 50% chance I will respond after I read it. I promise I read everything (I probably have also looked at your blog - I'm a stalker just accept it). I read it, it makes me warm and fuzzy, I make a mental note to respond, and I don't respond until a week to a month later because I'm just a terrible person. But do constantly remind myself to message people back, but again I'm just terrible. 

But but buuuuut, if you message me anything along the lines of anything regarding your own bite, questions, just need someone to talk to not only do I definitely read it within the day I also respond right after I read it. So definitely talk to me. I love it when people do! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QdHLjoQG64

I honestly almost forgot about today.

I know I missed last month but it was a busy month and not much changed from two months. 

It was...odd getting my wires tightened and everything. Basically the only thing left with my teeth is align my back teeth, because when I bite down there are gaps back there. That's only because during surgery they want the front teeth to meet perfectly because if you have the back teeth meet they way they're suppose to the front teeth might not meet when they shift the jaws. Now it's just wire pulling and rubber bands. It felt really good to brush without the wires in. Hopefully I can get my braces off in four to six months! 

That's it so far I'll do a two month post-op post when I get there and I started a post on people and the first reactions I got when I went back to school, but then I got lazy and I had to make up finals so I kind of put it off but I'll get to that soon!

Before the strong elastics comes off and the guiding ones get put in I am going to talk about the liquid diet. Most blogs I’ve seen and video logs most people focus on the physical aspects like swelling and how the bite looks and kind of talk about food but I’m going to have a post dedicated to the food. 

So I’m a fairly small person according to doctors. I’m like 5’1” and before surgery on a day to day basis I had the eating habits of a rabbit. I could eat a lot but I also didn’t have to. I was never a meal person. I am a snack person I rather be continuously eating throughout the day than sit down and eat a huge meal and go on with my day and eat another meal. 

A friend of mine who has a similar thing described it perfectly as at a meal I can eat about a third or maybe even a forth of what a meal portion is and be full but sit a big bag of chips next to me and it’ll be gone in about an hour or two. 

That being said I still don’t eat much on the liquid diet. Which is probably not very good for me but that’s the way my appetite is.

But I do love food the day I got discharged from the hospital and went home one the first things I wrote to my sister after my nap was that I wanted chicken and a burger.

Some people only have to be on the liquid diet for a week some people two some even more. I’ve been on it for three and a half weeks. Not going to lie there are times and days where I just want real food so badly and seeing my family eat around me I just snap because it’s so frustrating. I might or might not have - did result in smelling food I couldn’t put in my mouth.

Now this is going to be my liquid diet. As with everything on this blog all of this is what I personally have to go through this and my own beliefs about food and stuff. This is just something to get the ball rolling if you need to go through this, take this information and do what you will with it. I just made it sound like I have some moral beliefs about food but I don’t. Not a vegan, not a vegetarian, or whatever diets there are out there. But my parents also provide for me and they control what liquid I get to put in my mouth for this period of time so here we go (but that’s more relevant for next time when I want to talk about the blender/no chew diet).      

My parents wanted to keep me on a pretty strict diet for the first week because they didn’t know how my body would react even though the doctors said I could have whatever I wanted. So for the first week all I had was Ensure with Ovaltine and water. For the first two weeks I had my splint in and if I wanted to drink through a cup water was the only thing that could easily get through the splint. But I found the syringe was just easier than trying with a cup. Once the splint was removed drinking with a cup just made things easier and make the gas less of a problem. (Going back to my whole thing connecting the syringe with being feed like a baby from my One Week Post-Op or Two Week Post-Op post). 

I think after the first week my mom found her juicer from the 90s and that’s when I got apple juice. So almost everyday when I wanted something different I got fresh apple juice. I also had the canned pineapple juice to help with swelling. 

Then about two and a half weeks post-op my parents started giving me broths and soups. I’m Chinese so any Chinese-American child with really Asian parents can agree that their mom makes soups/broths by boiling water with chicken or any other meat. So I’ve just had clear chicken broth my mom makes. Because of whatever healing properties chickens have I don’t fully understand. I can’t have beef, which goes back to what I said earlier in the post about how my parents basically control what I get to drink. Asians, or just my family, believe that after surgery with a wound the patient shoudn’t have things like beef, seafood (shrimp, crab), eggs, or tofu because they might cause infections. I don’t understand it but I am also a very paranoid person so I am fine with cutting things out until I heal. But I’m kind of disappointed that once I start the no chew/blender diet I can’t have tofu or scrambled eggs. 

But I digress. 

Around the same time my sister had Progresso Soup and I took some and put it in my cup and I started getting more soup by just straining the broth from the chicken and noodles (or whatever is in the particular soup) and just drinking that. 

I tried clam chowder but it was too thick. I also tried boxed butternut squash soup from the supermarket but it was also too thick. 

My mom gave me congee but it was a bit on the thinner side so it was easier to swallow through my teeth. But that’s basically all I’ve had in the last three weeks. 

I think my second day post-op I had some Boost orange juice one of the doctors ordered for me while I was in the hospital, but ever since I was little orange juice made me produce a lot of phlegm so I decided to stop with that. 

Nutritional Milk I would recommend any form of Ensure or nutritional milk in any flavor you prefer so you get the stuff your body is missing out on. My parents just have a full case of canned vanilla Ensure that taste weird to me so I make it taste less nutritional milk like with a teaspoon of Ovaltine that I dissolve in a little bit of hot water before I pour the milk in. Doctors suggest 3-5 cans a day. I don’t like drinking it so I try getting by with 3 cans a day if I have nothing else to drink but if I get more soups I try to sneak away with 2 cans. I know it’s bad for me but I really don’t like drinking it. My doctor ordered me strawberry Ensure when I was in the hospital and it comes in a bottle with a cap and I thought that didn’t taste too bad. But try to mix up your flavors, I think I hate drinking it because I’ve been drinking the same exact thing for three weeks.  

If you’re not a fan of the milk I know Ensure makes like juice/flavored water varieties or you can try Boost that’s also a nutritional drink I know they do juices not so sure if they make milks.

Fruit Juice I actually prefer fresh juice because it’s less sugar so I produce less phlegm. I’ve just been making apple juice but feel free to make or buy whatever juice you like. For 8 ounces I use two green apples and three red apples and that’s enough for one average mug full of juice. You’ll have a lot of pulp left in the juicer if your jaw is shut you can’t have it but I’ve seen my mom take the pulp and mix in some honey and it’s like apple sauce. My grandma seems to like it so if you don’t want to waste the pulp.  

Pineapple Juice I drink this to help with the swelling and I get mine from a can so it taste like how pineapple juice should taste. 

Canned Soup I just take canned soup that has a broth so something like chicken noodle with a broth based cook it the way the can says to and then separate the broth from everything else. Wait for it to cool until it’s warm (use the trick parents use to test if milk is warm enough for their newborn to have). Then someone else can have the noodles. 

Feel free to make your own soups too if you want, but make sure it’s a bit on the thin/runnier side.

Congee I don’t understand how I drank this but couldn’t get through the butternut squash soup. But it was runny not thick and it had broken rice bits in and I just brushed those out when I was done. 

Oh I had Starbucks one day. 

You can basically have whatever you like as long as it’s in liquid form. And I do not suggest taking solid food and just blending it because the desperation for pizza was strong (I’ve seen it done). Just remember the nutritional milk is to help make up for things you might not be able to have at the time. It's important make it apart of your diet. But make soups, have your coffee and tea .