Sorry to be slow in posting again; still trying to get my head wrapped around everything.
I did speak with one of my surgeons re: cadaver bone as an option. It isn't for a variety of reasons, one of the biggest is that of medical ethics. That was an immediate "hot button" but after discussing it in depth, what he had to say does make perfect sense, and I agree with the position the medical community has in that regard.
That notwithstanding, the skull is much more "multi-dimensional" than virtually any other bone in the body. The measurement top to bottom/side-to-side is only one part of the equation; there are a lot of complex curves, material of varying thickness and density, etc. all of which can have an effect on intra-cranial pressures among other things.
He likened it to trying to reconstruct a fingerprint while it was still on a fingertip, without any scar tissue. It's simply not technically possible at this point.
We talked some more about the whole appliance issue as well. The area of necrotic bone is quite large...nearly 20% of the total surface area. Adding to that, the area of "corrupt" bone ( of questional integrity due to radiotherapy) adds as much as 10% more surface area. That, and the location... the top of my ear is almost the "epicenter" of the necrosis, is what makes it so challenging.
The jaw muscles exert a huge amount of tension on that part of the skull regardless of whether the jaw is active or not. Anchoring an appliance and keeping it in place when it is as large as this would need to be, and keeping it anchored for as long as it would take to heal properly is just...impossible.
Long and short...the technology just isn't there yet. He outlined the process they went through as a team to evaluate the feasability of moving forward with the surgery. As much as I'd like it to be otherwise, they were exhaustive in their attempts to come up with a viable plan that was safe enough.
He made an interesting comment today; he said that he did not doubt for a second that if I looked long enough, I would find a surgeon who would agree to do it. He encouraged me vigorously to seek additional opinions as well. He also suggested that if I did find a surgeon who agreed to do it, I should take a long, hard look at the motivations.
This is coming from a surgeon with absolutely nothing to prove. He is at the top of his game, and the top of his profession. His concern is that someone willing to do this surgery would be doing it for reasons that were not necessarily in MY best interests.
Anyway...it is what it is. I haven't thrown my hands in the air and said "I give up"...rather, I'm sort of at the point of saying "this is as good as it gets". Accommodation may be the only realistic option open to me at this point. That's not to say something might change, either in the condition my head is in, or the technology available to deal with it. I haven't made it through the last six years sitting on my hands waiting for someone to deliver good news, and I likely won't start now. Sometimes you have to make your own luck, and this is one of those times
