Day 17 - rubberbands again

I went to work today for the first time since my surgery.  I was only there a few hours...but it was good to be back.  Even though my shift was really short and kinda wimpy... i was tired when i got home and had to take a nap.  blahhh  Also i didnt take any painkillers since i wanted my mind to be all there, so my mouth got a little sore.... I really like my job and my coworkers so it was nice seeing them again though.  I didn't really get to do my regular job though.  Generally, I talk on the phone to customers my entire shift, however, considering the current condition of my mouth, I instead worked on some "projects".  Projects are very exciting things. I'm not even going to go into how exciting they are on this blog because then you would lose interest in everything else.  haha. not. Anyway.  Even though projects aren't that fun are super fun, I am really looking forward to getting back on the phone.  I have an orthodontist appointment on Monday at which I'm hoping to get some new rubberbands that are looser... or at least attached differently so I can talk better.  We talked to my surgeon today on the phone and asked how long I'd have to wear the rubberbands.... He said until the  6 week point at least, maybe a little longer but I'd know that for sure when i go for my 6 week appointment with him.  He said my orthodontist may choose to give me different rubberbands to adjust the position of my jaw depending on how things were going.... They may be more loose...But its all up to them and their judgement.  However, even if they do choose to have me wear different rubberbands, Dr. Riek wants me to continue using the tight ones he sent me home with at night.  fun fun.  So tonight I finally gained enough courage to take off the rubberbands again for hygienic purposes.  If you happened to have read my last post about rubberbands, you'll know what a terrifying experience this is.  It wasn't as bad this time because I knew what to expect, but I certainly did not enjoy it. Even with the rubberbands off, I still can't open very wide.  Currently, I'm using a little tiny toddler toothbrush because a regular sized one doesn't really work....and even as tiny and pathetic as it is, i still have a really hard time getting it in my mouth to brush the insides of my teeth.  My jaw is just stuck.... I have to really force it to get that toothbrush in....and thats when things get uncomfortable and scary.  Since when is brushing your teeth a scary thing anyway?   Anyway, when i took out the rubberbands, I noticed that they had stretched out a little and were considerably larger than the un-used bands.  So, for the sake of my jaw, I sacrificed what little improvements I'd made in my speech and switched to the tiny ones.  Definitely more restricting than I've been used to the last few days.  I really hope that wearing the stretchier rubberbands wasn't detrimental to my mouth... hmmm I think i'm probably okay...I wish people could recover from jaw surgery faster.  This is just taking too long.