Day 15 – All around me are familiar faces

Today was my second post-op visit to the orthodontist. As you will be aware, she is quite risk-averse and doesn't think I should even be doing the light, virtual working I have been doing since Day 10. At the last appointment, the mother took the side of the orthodontist – just as you would expect a mother to do. This time would be different, though. I told her she could come into the clinic with me on the condition that she sat in silence. Gagged.

We got to the hospital a bit early, and we saw the orthodontist walk past in the waiting room. She said hi and apologised profusely for the delay – apparently the maxfax was coming to the appointment too and he was held up in surgery.

I said in the Day 10 post that after the eight years which I have been regularly attending clinic, the orthodontic team feel a bit like family. Here's why:

• The orthodontic nurse I've known the longest walked past, asked me how I was and apologised profusely for the delay. The maxfax was still in surgery
• The orthodontic nurse who always expresses amazement at my travels with work¹ walked past, asked me how I was and apologised for the delay. The maxfax was still in surgery. I guessed he may have been called into an emergency for a car crash or something as maxfax surgery happens in Wolverhampton, not Walsall. Fortunately not – he pulls teeth out on Tuesdays in Walsall. 
• The orthodontic nurse whose son has recently started at university, studying economics, walked past, asked me how I was and apologised profusely for the delay. She'd just been in surgery with the maxfax and he would be here soon.
• The newest orthodontic nurse walked past, asked me how I was and apologised profusely for the delay. The maxfax had to quickly see someone on the ward.
• A nurse I've only seen around a couple of times walked past, asked me how I was and apologised profusely for the delay, and said the maxfax would be here soon.
• The last two nurses headed out for home, joking that they weren't abandoning me, and that the maxfax was on his way.

It's quite fitting that due to the most awful advert on Earth – the Lloyds one with the instrumental from Gary Jules' horrendous cover of Mad World – I've had an annoying earworm for the last few days. Fortunately, since Deutschland 83, I've fallen in love with 80s music. The Tears For Fears original works well to rid me of the awful sound. ♫All around me are familiar faces...♫ Pretty fitting.

Anyway, I digress...

Maxfax arrived.  The total delay was about half an hour, which wasn't bad considering he'd just come out of surgery. It definitely wasn't worthy of all the profuse apologies.

The gagged mother joined me in the clinic. Maxfax and ortho were both very happy with progress and amazed that I am fit and well. Apparently, recovery is not meant to be this fast. But it is.

Maxfax offered me another doctor's note. I declined. Ortho shot me a look that could kill and turned to the mother for back-up. The mother abided by the gagging order. Maxfax laughed and said it makes his life easier if he doesn't need to write.

I explained that I feel completely fine, apart from slight pins and needles on my chin. If I were to take time off sick for this, it would follow that I should take a week off every time I get so much of a hint of a runny nose. Ortho accepted that.

So, the outcome of the appointment was that the slight misalignment post-surgery will be partially corrected by the remaining orthodontics. Also, it is exaggerated by the fact that my front teeth have been built up² and one is slightly bigger than the other.

I found out why Days 2 and 3 were so horrendous. Apparently maxfax injects a drug that causes the swelling to be delayed. It gets us out of hospital faster, but it's a shock when the whole head inflates, with the bruising gradually working it's way down to the neck like a goitre. Thankfully that stage didn't last too long for me.

I've got to go back to ortho on the 31st. If the teeth and jaws have mooved as hoped, I may move onto a different configuration of elastics. Maxfax cancelled the appointment I have in Wolverhampton with his clinic in April, which is a bonus.

I'm typing this post from the train.

I'm on my way back to London for a couple of days. The adverts were too much to take.

The mother tried to send me back with a cupboard full of soup, and enough drinks to survive a trek across the Sahara. I'm coming back in two days...

After the formatting debacle with yesterday's food photos, I'm going back to basics:

Today's menu was chopped pear for breakfast, sausage sandwich for lunch, and burger and mash for tea. For supper, I had a banana on the train. Which I managed to eat without chopping. And I kept the elastics in. Impressive.

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1. I have no idea how this cover got to Christmas Number 1.

2. I have not been blessed on the mouth front. As well as the deformed jaws, my teeth are also deformed with enamel hypoplasia. This means that there is very little enamel on my teeth, causing them to have a mottled appearance, need to be filled frequently, and break a lot. The front teeth are almost entirely filling. The next big project will be veneers.