In the ongoing saga to work out the cause of the pain in my face and having completely stumped the dentist, yesterday I went to Guys Hospital to see the surgeon who had done the second wisdom tooth extraction (the one where it actually came out, rather than having to be poked back in and stitched over).

It meant I got to show him that photo.  I did warn him first that no, the cat hadn’t attacked me and no, I didn’t have a bad case of facial hair as two friends initially thought when they saw it.

Despite looking slightly concerned as I gave this explanation, it turns out it was useful  as he sketched it into my notes.  I knew someone somewhere would see the genius in it.  Next he stuck most of his hand in my mouth and ask me to indicate when he hurt me.  I thought that was either very brave or a bit daft.  Happily, I didn’t clamp down on his fingers, and just stuck to a bit of squealing instead.  He told me he knew the problem and although it’s linked to the wisdom tooth issue, he felt that I was quite a stressed person and that didn’t help.  I felt that was a little unfair as the first time he met me it involved drilling out part of my jaw while I stared at the ceiling and this time he’d been intent on hurting me, but I kind of had to agree he’d got his assessment right.

So the good news is that I have a diagnosis – the muscles in my jaw are in spasm – and it can be treated over a matter of 3-4 weeks.  The bad news is that until it’s better I’m meant to stick to a ‘soft’ diet.  ‘Pasta and yogurt’ was his suggestion.  I asked if toast could be classed as soft.  Apparently it can’t.  And as my diet mostly revolves around toast, I have a bit of a problem.

But I had a brainwave.  For the next month I shall mostly be living on…

Rice pudding :)

(If anyone has any better ideas that can be whipped up in a matter of minutes using no more than one pan, please feel free to share them with me.  I don’t know how long my rice pudding enthusiasm will last…)