The main wires holding my jaw closed were finally removed the day before yesterday, six weeks after they installed. The surgeon wasn’t terribly reassuring — flatly stating ‘I’m not in love with your x-ray’ — but I suspect it’s never guaranteed how a union will hold up without conducting a little experiment. He cautioned me to really baby it — only the softest of foods, scarcely more solid than the liquids I’ve been consuming for the last month and a half — and to rush right back to him if anything hurts or feels weird.
It does feel weird actually! But not in an alarming way, I hope. I think my whole mouth is just out of practice! Immobile for weeks, those joints are dreadfully rusty, and both sides hurt when I try to open my mouth, which I can only partially do. The muscles are weak as well — chewing even a scrambled egg is taxing. My mouth still contains a lot of hardware (in case it needs re-wiring), which catches every shred of food that I eat, disgustingly. But after drinking my every ‘bite’ for weeks, what a joy it is to place a tiny sliver of food on a fork and conduct it into my mouth, between upper and lower teeth which actually separate! (though not fully yet.)
Being unable to eat really cramped my style socially. I did go out to eat with friends a bit, and hung around for family meals, but since our species mostly socializes around food, I have not enjoyed my usual quota of human interaction during this period. Naturally, I have longed to prepare and enjoy meals with friends and family again.
But suddenly, that isn’t possible: the authorities advise us to observe ‘social distancing’ to slow the spread of Covid-19. What a disappointment! But this situation, a slight grief for me, inflicts utter catastrophe on many others. Practically every hour, we hear of another industry forced to close down, another profession unable to earn money during the crisis.
Yes I’m forlorn that it’s now hard to reconnect socially, as I have yearned to do. But these pangs are so minor compared to the threat faced in this crisis by our most disadvantaged, vulnerable fellow humans, I don’t know how I even have the nerve to mention them. I hereby pledge to stop feeling sorry for myself, and to try to find ways to help those most injured by the repercussions of this emergency. If you are among the fortunate ones who probably won’t suffer too much, I hope you’ll join me!
Linnetontheleaf 
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