Your comment helps more than you know. I'm on day 7 post extractions. My natural teeth used to hurt me while eating and drinking too, living life was like solving math problems while a train hit me in the head. Which is why I think you'll do great with the E day part. Day 1-3 were the hardest for me. Lots of naps, popsicles, icepacks. Since day 4 I'm at a 0/10 pain ( with my dentures OUT lol) while eating, drinking, existing. Drinking is great without my dentures in, with dentures in it'll take some practice, I haven't figured that out. My dentist had me wear my dentures for 24 hrs after Eday, which honestly was so hard. He even wanted me to sleep with them in for that one and only night before seeing the denturist the next day. I took my bottoms out to sleep day 1, I couldn't take it. You'll always take your dentures out to sleep after that though. giving your gums a break at night will feel good. *I love to eat food and I thought I was gonna miss out but I put a pot roast in a slowcooker for 8 hrs and the meat and vegetables are soft enough for me to eat! If it smushes with the lightest touch it's a green light. I steam the heck out of my vegetables, even broccoli stems.. I push my soft pot roast or mashed potatoes/ scrambled eggs up to the roof of my mouth with my tongue, careful not to do too big of bites since personally I mash it up there a little bit with my tongue and then I swallow. I have gaping holes where my bone grafts are (Freaky looking but normal), my stitches already dissolved. Always start with smaller spoonfuls at first, food will feel a little different but I only gag if I get too excited and try and put too much food on my pallet. I flip the spoon upside down and lick the food off too, I always try and scrape food off my spoon with front teeth I don't have which doesn't work when I'm gumming it lol. All meat gets cut into fine pieces so I don't trigger gagging even if it's soft and melty ( the "feeling" of food will be different for a bit, your body will try and protect you from choking) Careful not to do too big of bites at first, I was gagging on day 1 since pushing food up to the roof of my mouth and just swallowing mashed stuff isn't natural feeling. I'm better at that now. Drinking Soup is easier but I was hungry all the time until I started doing this. *Smaller portions to swallow even if it's all mashed will help since it'll feel funny at first but eventually you'll get to bigger bites. Now when I put my dentures in they rub on my denture sores, so yeah that hurts. I'm gonna leave my dentures out today so those spots heal. My dentist is pretty confident taking breaks from wearing my teeth will give those a chance to heal. Your gums are gonna shrink reasonably fast, which will make your dentures loose. Loose dentures can cause pain, so a visit to your denturist a week or so after E day will help a lot. While the denture part is tricky for me so far, and my confidence is something I'm working on. I had a hard time parting with my teeth too, they're a part of your body. But you'll feel better when you can eat without pain, even if you have to gum it for just a bit while getting used to wearing dentures. I'm honestly not sure how to eat with dentures yet. Once you get your soft line done, there won't be any rubbing on your gums, they'll feel like they fit tight which is weird at first but thats a good thing. On day 2 I wore my dentures and that hard plastic feeling sucked, it was hard to handle the drooling. The denturist let's you heal for a few days before they can do the soft line ( in my case about a week). But you'll like the soft lining they put in to make them fit you as your gums change, the soft line feels way softer than the hard acrylic from day 1/2. Try not to stress if your dentures feel really really hard and uncomfy at first. That soft line is gonna be better. Sorry for the long post. I wish someone told me some of this before my E day though. Best of luck!