Bell's Palsy: Day 6 - Let's Eat!

Let's talk about food...one of my favorite subjects! Unfortunately, since I have almost constant jaw pain on the paralyzed (left) side of my face and a tongue that refuses to behave as it should, I won't be doing much talking...so let me get this down in text, ok?

Here's what I desperately want to eat. It's a picture of the bountiful harvest from our High Point garden that Mr. T brought with him. Beans, potatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, cukes, squash, and the first tomatoes of the season. Isn't it beautiful?

Yes, all those lovely veggies are tempting...and treacherous. For the past two days, I have struggled with eating. Even cutting things into teensy bites hasn't helped. I almost choked on a piece of a chicken nugget last night. Not the whole nugget, mind you...a baby bite of one. And, when we were blanching the green beans, I couldn't swallow the "test" bean that I popped in my mouth without thinking. Wouldn't go down...felt like I was trying to swallow a mouthful of seaweed. 

Not good. Not good at all. As if anything about Bell's Palsy has been "good" so far, right?

Well, after trying to alleviate the jaw pain with aspirin and with an NSAID gel that I've used for back pain, I was beginning to despair when Missy M suggested that I take one of her Advil 800 tablets that her foot doctor has prescribed.  At that point, I could have shouted, "YES!" Except of course, I can't open my mouth wide enough to shout...and I'm trying to avoid loud noises anyway...:~\

Now, I have taken Advil 800's in the past...when I had a root canal...so, I knew I could tolerate them. They work much better than taking 4 Advil 200s probably because your stomach doesn't have to process all of the extra outer coatings that four capsules have. I took one before bedtime last night and slept all night without waking for the jaw pain. Hooray!

Unfortunately, the pain returned this morning, making me ask for another Boost for breakfast...and a straw for my coffee. Sigh. For lunch I managed cottage cheese without choking, but it was a struggle. 

Still I am determined to have a bowl of beef-vegetable soup today...even if I have to run it through a blender and sip it through a straw! As I said in my Facebook post, determination counts, right?

Wish me luck!

==================UPDATE======>

Ok. I managed 1/2 bowl of lukecool soup...with a spoon and not a straw, thank heavens! I had to wait for it to cool under the ceiling fan as I have little ability to distinguish whether a food is too hot until it is too late. Plus, I just learned that if you can't pucker your lips, you can't blow on hot foods! Who knew? I saved enough strength for a small bowl of teensy watermelon chunks. That wore my jaw out...but, oh was it ever good!

Yeah. It's way too hot (102 at 6:00, with a heat index of 105!) for soup, as Missy M reminded me...and even quoting Nana's "hot liquids make you feel cooler" didn't convince (nah, I never believed it either...:~\). But have you ever just craved something...and nothing else will do? Of course, the ice cold watermelon was the perfect Summer's-day ending!

No worries. I'll figure this out. One day at a time, as they say. And as we all know, "they" are always right.