Oh, the joys of painful dental work. I have nothing against dentists, but recovering from oral surgery has its challenges. The first week's experience was liquid diet, a puffy chipmunk cheek, trippy painkillers, 14 hours of sleep a day, strange Daffy-Duck-meets-Elmer-Fudd noises when I tried to talk, and the inability to laugh without quickly resorting to crying about 10 seconds later (it hurts).
To make the situation even more awkward, my girlfriend and I were coincidentally diagnosed with the same issue and procedure... and more for practicality than any kind of quirky romantic reasons, we decided to have the same surgeries a week apart from each other. Complications aside, this should allow us to be able to chew turkey together, just in time for the holidays.
Outside of the physical discomfort, the hardest part for me personally has been having to attend a job interview while recovering. Having to apologize to a group of strangers for any unintentional grimaces, lisps, or drooling was a humbling experience.
On my girlfriend's side, however, the hardest part has been my unintended habit of making her laugh. I consider it one of my life's missions to make her happy, and since recovering the ability to speak, I find myself exercising the right joke regularly. It always happens before I realize I've done it, just saying a little something to make her smile... I look up when I hear her muffled chuckle, and am reminded of the surgery at the sight of her puffy, scrunched up, I'm-laughing-and-crying-I-love-you-I-hate-you face, usually followed by a series of light slaps to make me stop. I didn't mean it!
I'm sure glad she loves me.
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