Update...

Hooray!! My husband's surgery was moved up to Dec 20, because he had a bad infection flare up in the dead jawbone and only surgery would clear it up. Fortunately, they were able to fit him in on the next surgical day after I called them.

His surgery took 4 1/2 hours. They had to take a little more bone than originally thought. They took about 2/3 of the left side of his mandible starting from under his ear. His new titanium plate is longer than that and runs from just below his ear around to the other side of his chin. The added length gives more strength and stability to the plate. He has an incision on his neck from his chin to his ear. He had an advancement flap, and no grafting.

He looks great! His chin area is slightly swollen, but his face looks totally normal otherwise, with no bruising or cuts. Actually, it looks like he had a bit of a face lift in the process...an amusing, but totally unimportant, side benefit!

The pain from the osteoradionecrosis is gone, for the first time in years. He is sore from the surgery itself, but that will be over in another week or so.

So far, it looks like this is a successful surgery with a good outcome. A new, pain free jaw is a great Christmas present!!