Carter,

My husband had jaw reconstruction surgery with a fibular flap last November. In his original cancer surgery, they removed a portion of his jaw that eventually collapsed after radiation. That deterioration (osteoradionecrosis) made it impossible for him to chew and eat normally. The procedure is complex but very effective.

The fibula is a non weight bearing bone in the lower leg. In the surgery, an Oral/Max removed the necrotic jaw bone, realigned the jaw and placed a titanium bar to hold it together. Meanwhile, the Plastic notched out pieces of bone from the fibula. Along with the notched bone, he also removed the skin, tissue and blood vessels. It is a complete package that will be grafted into the area where the jaw has been removed. The blood vessels are grafted to an artery and vein, usually in the neck.

The donor site on the leg, will get a skin graft from either the thigh or some other area to cover the wound. Clark did have pain in his leg which made the first two weeks difficult to get around. He used a walker and had plenty of pain meds. It is a long procedure from 6 to 10 hours.

There wasn't much bulk to the skin and tissue on his lower leg, and while the surgery was successful in alignment and placement of the bone, the flap of skin had to be replaced. He had an additional surgery on April 5th to re-contour the area on his face with a larger island of skin from his torso.

We are so pleased with the results of the surgeries. He can eat and chew normally and he looks like himself again. He has very little discomfort and it has only been 2 weeks since the last surgery. It was a lot to go through but seeing him with his new jaw and "old" face, it was worth it.

The Plastic Surgeon was really good at explaining everything to us. He even drew pictures that helped us understand what he would be doing.

Clark did not have a trach for either surgery which was great. Keep asking questions. The more you know, the better prepared you will feel. All my best to you and your Mom. And let us know how she is doing. This is a wonderful group of people who can offer lots of information.

Anita