Nay,

My husband's doctors never talked about percentages, so I can't comment on that. I am glad to hear that your Mom is at a major hospital. But having said that, I might still consider a second opinion by a surgeon who has done hundreds to thousands of this type of surgery. It is not unusual to ask a surgeon how many procedures of this type has he/she done. Your current surgeon should not have any issue with you requesting a second opinion if you decide to pursue it. It is very common and done all the time.

In his initial surgery, my husband had three teeth and a large chunk of his jaw removed. The remaining jaw deteriorated from radiation induced necrosis 21 months later. My husband had a mandibulectomy with a fibular graft. Three pieces of bone are notched out of the fibula (non weight bearing bone in your lower leg) along with blood vessels and some soft tissue.

A Plastic Surgeon and an Oralmaxillofacial Surgeon work as a team rebuilding the jaw. A titanium plate is attached to the mandible to stabilize the jaw while it heals. Before the surgery, my husband's jaw was disfigured and his bite was completely off center making it impossible for him to chew food. At that time, he was also on a PEG tube for nutrition. He had that placed before radiation. And while he wanted to get rid of the PEG, we were so glad he still had it as it helped his recovery from the mandibulectomy.

He seemed to have a more difficult time with the pain in his leg than with the jaw. He had to use a walker for a while to get around. The wound took weeks to heal. I hope I am not scaring you. It is a big procedure but you must know that today my husband is on the treadmill a few times a week, and plays golf when the weather is warm.

He had several more plastic surgeries to fix a defect on his face from repeated infections. All of that has healed nicely and he eats almost as he did before cancer. The only things he does not handle well are meats like steak and other foods that require a lot of chewing, He just gets tired of chewing and he lost his taste for foods that require that much work.

A lot of my cooking today is focused on providing tasty meals that are more soft. Every morning he has crispy bacon, and english muffin with lots of spread, a banana, and skim milk.

For a long time, my husband did not have much of an appetite and the PEG helped him get what he needed to heal and survive. He still has a large skin graft that is visible to all but he gets out there and is living life.

My best to you-
Anita