Thanks everyone. I've had a long think about this today and have decided that I need ocf as much as it needs me so I'm staying. All these messages have shown me that our story is helping people. I can't offer much in advise on things other than from the viewpoint of a carer but I can tell Steve's story to show that people can get through this ordeal. I think it was just bad timing with his surgery. I don't need to tell you all of the stress prior and on the day. It seems to make things appear so much worse than they are sometimes. I do realise this person's unhappiness and negativity is not our issue and we have a right to be happy. We still face the daily battles that everyone does after OC. Steve also has been going to HBO every day for 6 weeks. He's in pain after his surgery and his face is swollen and he has another 2 weeks of hbo to go. So OC life continues for us even though we are back to work and living a "normalish" life. We just chose to focus on the good things in life and not dwell on the things we have to deal with daily. Anyway I just wanted to say thankyou to all of you. It's been an incredibly tough 2 and a half years but we are focussing on the happiness. I refuse to let anyone take that away anymore

@Karen, so glad that "my Steve" has helped Alex. If Steve's story helps just one person then we are both happy.

Hi Wendy,

I'm so happy you decided to stay! Please don't let negative people influence you, they don't deserve to have that kind of power. I love reading happy/success posts such as yours...it gives me hope!

Hugs,

Shelley

I agree with Shelley, and very happy you have decided to stick around. Your insight and experience as a caregiver is valuable to other caregivers and to other patients as well. It is so good for the spirit to read about one's successes. I don't post much but I still follow the threads and when I read your good news, I find myself smiling. Thank you for that!

Hi Wendy,

I am also pleased you will be staying around and not allowing individuals to drain energy that can be better used else where. Time is too precious to waste on people who continually blame others for their setbacks, or those not prepared to make a go of improving difficult situations, no matter how much ongoing support they get from others.

I don�t check in a lot, but I do think of everyone often. Knowing how difficult mandible surgeries can be, I was incredibly relieved to hear Steve�s surgery wasn�t as involved as first thought. After reading your message, I sat back feeling particularly thankful Steve�s recovery shouldn�t be a complex drawn out process.

Being in regular contact with other patients having similar surgeries, I�m interested to get more information as to why Steve doesn�t have a titanium plate. If his mandible was fractured due to ORN, and they removed the dead bone, how is his jaw bone staying together without falling apart? Does that mean the dead bone was scraped from Steve's jaw, and not deteriorated to the point it was broken? In most cases, the bone is joined back together with one long, or several small titanium plates and screws.

So soon after surgery, I understand you might not know the technical details yet.

Best wishes to you and Steve.

Karen

Thanks again everyone, for your support. Knowing what I write does make a difference and give people hope certainly makes me feel better.

Karen, we have an appt next week with the ENT. Not sure what day yet, waiting to hear. But it will be interesting to hear what they say. They suspected a cracked jawbone and when Steve had the OPG the radiologist confirmed it also. I could also see what looked like a line running down his jaw where the crack was too. The ENT was saying something about the HBO causing the bone to calcify where the crack was. Not sure if maybe this had something to do with it? I really believe the HBO had a lot to do with how things went. Steve's still had a fair bit of bone taken out and on the right side there is a definite gap in the bone, where he has nothing to support it but it's not right through. He's had alot of swelling and pain today but the HBO staff assured us he didn't look like he'd been beaten up by a gorilla like most people do after that surgery. So that was reasuring although don't know about the gorilla bit lol.

I suspect the HBO has played a major part in Steve's recovery. His HBO doctor was very intrigued to see how steve went with surgery. He said Steve's jaw was very badly damaged from the radiation so I think Steve's a bit of a test case for HBO in Townsville. Looks like it's been extremely successful or at least we hope it has been. Anyway 9 more dives to go I'll let you know what the ENT's say when we see them.