Train track hell

As I left the hospital with my boyfriend I thought to myself, these aren't too bad! little did I know that was just the beginning!!

I went straight to boots and stocked up on orthodontic toothpaste, mouthwash, interdental brushes. Basically anything I could get my hands on and then off i went home. The first hurdle was trying to eat something at lunch. I'd never found a time when it hurt to eat soup? But I powered through, it was uncomfortable but it didn't hurt that bad!

It was the next day when I really noticed. The dull pain had kept me awake a bit but I just took some pain killers and got on with it. The next day I was in work and was anxious for everyone to see my new braces. I'm 23 and work in management so obviously I did feel self conscious. The first person I saw was my old boss who could be bitchy at the best of times. hmmmm what have you done to your teeth? he said.... They're not *that* bad I suppose! But you can really see them can't you!? .... What a great start to the day and I hadn't even got into the office yet!

Everyone else was so supportive of them, they were great. I really struggled with talking for the first day just because of the pain. I was lucky because the brace didn't actually caused a lisp or anything. That day I was going out for a leavinglunch as I'd just left one team and moved into another department. We went to an italian and I ordered a sloppy lasagne - I think I managed about 1/5 of it and it was a rather small piece!

For the next week I did sturggle to eat. I mainly lived off rice pudding, porridge, rice and mashed potato. In total I lost 7lbs in about 9 days. Result I thought! That half a stone I've been wanting to shift has just falling off me .... needless to say it found its way back to me quick enough! :)

After that first week things got much better - i couldn't eat everything i once could and of course things took a lot longer for me to chew but I was in no where near the pain I was at the beginning! I was finally starting to see that the braces would be worth it!