Surgery

Jason's surgery is over.  What an ordeal!  His initial surgery lasted 11 hours.  I don't have all the details of it but the doctors removed the fibula bone from his right leg, along with some tissue and blood vessels.  The bone was cut and fitted into his jaw and the blood vessels attached.  After a few hours they discovered that they got clogged up so he was taken back in back for another couple of hours.  

   The next morning, more clogging (clotting) so in the afternoon, he was in the O.R. for 5 more hours.  The doctors determined that the "flap" procedure they were trying was not going to work so they reverted to the bone graft procedure that normally uses a piece of the hip bone.  The doctors cleaned up the jaw of any new tissue (to prevent infection) and put some "bone paste" on the area,  Hopefully that will work out.  The good news is that he did not get a tracheotomy or his jaw did not need to be wired.

  All of this started on a Monday.  I am writing this a week later and he is in a private room and has been walking a bit.  How will his leg be without a fibula?  He will be wearing a special boot so some time while his leg gets used to only one bone, but the doctor says he will be fine.  It sounds incredible to me.  

   What work the jaw will need in the future, I have no idea, but no doubt, the journey is not over yet.