Yesterday I took a trip to the Dr's then next door to Northwestern hospital is The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. My 2nd home in 07. Visiting was real nice. I though I would be emotional, but I loved visiting. The RIC has some cool people working on the 10th floor. I guess when it was tumor awareness week. One of my speech therapist posted the TUMORS SUCK! pictures. and I guess some former patients wrote me a letter I'm yet to see. When I heard that, I was so happy as someone who knows just how they feel.
Back to the appointment. I saw a plastic surgeon for something called facial reanimation. Go ahead laugh. No John with a different face here, just trying to get back what I lost to the damn tumor. The surgery is not 100% successful.but it will give me movement. How much who knows. I will do whatever so my eye doesn't continuously water, I don't have to drink from a straw,spit up when I speak,scratch my eye if I don't stretch the crap out 0f collars when putting shirts on/off...the list goes on and on. The Dr was talking about 2 methods. 1) taking a nerve from the calve and making an incision by the sideburn down to my neck...grafting the nerve around the bottom and top of my lip,waiting 6 months and seeing if they take...if so he will put a muscle from my inner thigh and use as my cheek. 2) He would make the incision from my side burn to under my jaw and a bit past my chin.The Dr would also use a nerve from by my near my jaw and connect it to the non functioning one and use the inner thigh for cheek again. It is the first on 2 or 3 opinions. I like to laugh and SMILE. I would love to do so again.
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