Happy Saturday, friends and family! I'm sure you've had enough time to digest the ear-portion of Z-Day so I thought it would be good to share the more intense portion of the surgery!
The jaw surgery will actually be completely different than the original plan that included a rib graft. The surgeon is basing this decision on function over appearance. Even though there's been no growth on that lower right side, it somehow still seems to be functioning well. So this will allow for the less-invasive option. While it's obviously fantastic to be avoiding the rib graft, I'll admit it was pretty overwhelming to process the new plan for this 3-4 hour surgery.
Here it is...in Eva-lingo...
They will be cutting his jaw in half and will screw a titanium plate on the bone. There will be a crank that COMES OUT THE SIDE OF HIS FACE that we will have to crank twice a day. Without hesitation, I literally laughed out loud. Are you kidding me right now?!? And how exactly are we supposed to keep Zane from messing with it? Surgeon's answer: "With kids, it's just out of sight, out of mind! He'll just leave it alone!" More laughing out loud. I think they finally started believing me when I asked if there was any possible way for Zane to pull out the plate or mess it up in any way...because I ASSURE you, if it's possible in ANY way, Zane will do it. Regardless...still no answer to that one, won't be putting a giant bandage on it or anything, and won't even be wiring the jaw shut, for good measure.
Yea.
Back to the plan...we will crank it twice a day for 2 weeks or so. This will create a separation in the jaw where new bone will hopefully grow to fill the gap. This would most likely happen in "normal" kiddos, we are just praying it will also happen with our little man. (If this doesn't occur, we will have to revisit the rib graft idea.) The new bone will lengthen the jaw bone as it fills in the space created with the cranking system.
If all goes as planned, an added bonus would be that this new growth will be a jump-start for the jaw, and it would continue to grow on its own. (If that doesn't occur, we will have to repeat this surgery in 4-5 years.)
In 3-4 months, we will have to do a simple surgery to remove the plate/screws. Full recovery time will be 6-9 months.
Some additional thoughts about the surgery:
The biggest risk of the surgery will be permanent nerve damage. You may remember that Zane already has permanent nerve damage from his first surgery because the nerve did not regenerate after they had to weave the nerve into the sutures on his cheek when they closed up the "side cleft." This is why his smile isn't as wide on the right side now. The surgeon explained that people typically have 5 nerves that run down our face, and they are typically in predictable locations. With Golden Har kiddos, like Zane, there may be 3 nerves, there may be 9. They may be as thick as spaghetti noodles; they may be as thin as a single hair. They will also not be in any predictable location. In his words, "My Golden Har kids are just really screwed up inside." :/ There are just a lot of wait and see issues with this one.
We also just found out that we have to stay overnight, one night...maybe two. They said we'd have to stay until we can handle the crank system correctly...and Zane is good to leave it alone. Super dooper.
What to pray for in this part of the surgery? Please pray for big, fat nerves in obvious places! Please pray that we can find some miraculous way for big Z to ignore these crank sticking out of his face. Please pray for bone growth!
Post-surgical details are extensive and will be upcoming in Z-Day...Part 3!
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