Day 8 – Mastication, Mastication, Mastication

First of all, apologies for the delay. When I logged into my work computer to check my sick note had gone through fine, I saw there were some urgent emails. Oh the irony...

Also, James refused to let me move for much of the day.

So, I'm writing this on the morning of Day 9, but let's imagine it is Day 8 for now¹. I would have waited until the end of Day 9 and done a double post, but Day 8 was so monumental it deserved its own post.

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On Day 7, I said how I was able to eat without a mirror, and whistle for the first time in my life. You may have noticed from the photo of the chicken casserole that the meal wasn't very liquidised. Today I went a step further.

I chewed.

The main problem that the orthodontics and maxfax were meant to solve was my inability to chew. For my whole life, the only biting surfaces I have had in my entire mouth have been at the very back on the left. This has now changed. It is an awesome feeling to be able to do something so simple, so essential for daily life, and which most people have never given a second thought about. Obviously, it's nowhere near as terrific as I imagine restoration of sight or reversal of paralysis would be. But the magical moment isn't too different from the sudden ray of light that appears when a depression first begins to lift.

I cannot believe that at only Day 8, I am able to do these things. One of the soundtracks to my life is The Streets – It Was Supposed To Be So Easy, because anything involving me normally involves some kind of disaster.

This Jaw-Breaking has so far been the opposite².

Today's menu was forked pear for breakfast3, carrot and cumin soup that my aunt brought round and the rest of Day 7's chicken casserole.

Hopefully the mother will start making this too. It tastes beautiful, and she needs to get some use out of the blender.

Yes, this is an enormous portion. The mother still hasn't adjusted to the fact that her 6'2" and 6'5" sons left home nearly two decades ago. I said I wouldn't be able to eat it and was planning on leaving at least half. But found chewing to be so enjoyable that I somehow managed to finish the lot. Plus, I don't like waste.

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1. So when I say "today", I mean Tuesday 15th March 2016. Which is actually yesterday as I type.

2. Touch wood.

3. But you knew that already.