Day 43: She Speaks!

After six weeks of waiting patiently, and silently...I can speak! I am officially band-free from now onward and it feels so good. It was initially a  bit strange to experience having the bands off for extended periods of time, but I feel like that was just do to a familiarity that I developed for them over the past months.So far the only speech difficulties I am having are that my S's are slightly snaky, but it is improving daily. What was even more otherworldly than speaking these past few days was eating.

Eating what you might ask? Real food! Real, solid, chewable food. Keep in mind that the food I can now eat is still required by my surgeon to be soft. "As soft or softer than fish." as he says, which, really doesn't sound appetizing when put that way. However, even on a soft chew diet, chewing after over a month is more marvelous than you could possible imagine. It's comparable to that feeling children have when waking to the "perfect" present lying under a Christmas tree, or finding a large sum of money in the pocket of a jacket you haven't worn in a few months. My first meal, in fact, was tacos, soft shell of course.

Aside from eating and speaking, even more good news came today at my orthodontic appointment. Such great news that I believe it deserves a drum-roll (in a way)...

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My braces will come off in one to two months! I'm absolutely ecstatic. All that has to be fixed at the moment are minor details including small gaps that appeared in my upper teeth due to wearing the bands, and a slightly rotated lower incisor. Just from the time my wires were adjusted this morning until this evening I can see a significant reduction of the gaps that had formed, however; the rapid movement of my teeth resulted in my mouth hurting a bit. Although if a slightly annoying amount of pain means that I'll get my braces off this Fall, I can take it without a problem.

Unfortunately, Photobucket was down when I went to edit, so the fonts are rather lackluster.