The good news: I can eat again.
Hooray!
The bad news: I can’t eat.
Huh?!
Alright, I will back up. In early December I tripped, fell and broke my jaw. The next few weeks consisted of liquids, pureed and soft food. Fortunately my jaw never had to be wired shut and healed more quickly than expected. I have been eating normally for close to 2 ½ months.
Instead of saying “I can’t eat” it would be more accurate to say “I am having difficulty feeding myself.”
There are so many different muscles used each time you reach and grab a spoon, scoop up food and lift the utensil to your mouth. Muscles in your fingers, hand, arm, shoulder and back all cooperate for a simple task that is repeated over and over throughout the course of a meal.
As this task takes considerable effort I have been experimenting with different adaptive devices. Adaptive utensils and an item called “The Arm Thing” (what a lame name) haven’t been noticeably helpful. For now I have figured out method that works out well enough. But I skip on cold cereal and soups as they both dribble off the spoon before it gets to my mouth.
Do I want to be spoon fed?
No.
I will keep trying to do it on my own as long as I can. The exception would be, accepting help from Jeff. This morning I was craving a bowl of Coco Roo’s and Jeff helped me.
I have become a fan of smoothies as they are an easy and quick way to get a nutrient dense food. We do the standard fruit/milk combo but have also used ideas from “The Green Smoothie Diet.” This week I had a smoothie with beet/spinach/apple/banana/pineapple/nutmeg. And also: kale, spinach, blueberries, quarter of a whole lemon (including peel), celery, and banana. Those are not the recipes straight from the book. We modify the recipes and use stuff we have on hand.
But then again sometimes a large strawberry shake (With whip cream and a cherry, of course.) from Chick fil-A is what I want.
Mmmm… 770 calories of happiness.
And my taste-buds always say, “Thank you.”
Hooray!
The bad news: I can’t eat.
Huh?!
Alright, I will back up. In early December I tripped, fell and broke my jaw. The next few weeks consisted of liquids, pureed and soft food. Fortunately my jaw never had to be wired shut and healed more quickly than expected. I have been eating normally for close to 2 ½ months.
Instead of saying “I can’t eat” it would be more accurate to say “I am having difficulty feeding myself.”
There are so many different muscles used each time you reach and grab a spoon, scoop up food and lift the utensil to your mouth. Muscles in your fingers, hand, arm, shoulder and back all cooperate for a simple task that is repeated over and over throughout the course of a meal.
As this task takes considerable effort I have been experimenting with different adaptive devices. Adaptive utensils and an item called “The Arm Thing” (what a lame name) haven’t been noticeably helpful. For now I have figured out method that works out well enough. But I skip on cold cereal and soups as they both dribble off the spoon before it gets to my mouth.
Do I want to be spoon fed?
No.
I will keep trying to do it on my own as long as I can. The exception would be, accepting help from Jeff. This morning I was craving a bowl of Coco Roo’s and Jeff helped me.
I have become a fan of smoothies as they are an easy and quick way to get a nutrient dense food. We do the standard fruit/milk combo but have also used ideas from “The Green Smoothie Diet.” This week I had a smoothie with beet/spinach/apple/banana/pineapple/nutmeg. And also: kale, spinach, blueberries, quarter of a whole lemon (including peel), celery, and banana. Those are not the recipes straight from the book. We modify the recipes and use stuff we have on hand.
But then again sometimes a large strawberry shake (With whip cream and a cherry, of course.) from Chick fil-A is what I want.
Mmmm… 770 calories of happiness.
And my taste-buds always say, “Thank you.”
