Well, now I'm a little confused again. I had a pre-surgical visit with my ENT yesterday and he had talked to Dr. B--the oral surgeon--and said they weren't in agreement on whether or not I should have the coronoid proces removed as well as the scar tissue bands inside my mouth removed. He said even though the upper part of the muscle has atrophied, there can be a lot of scar tissue that has built up around that muscle in the lower jaw and that he is pretty sure removing the coronoid process will help. So as of now, it sounds like I will have that after all. He said he hasn't ever heard of ORN happening as a result of a coronoidectomy so despite what Dr. B. told me, he believes the risk is really low.

Sigh. I have had surgeries where complications that were really low risks happened in my case. At some point when things happen to you despite the odds enough times, you get less reassured by being told the "risks are really low".

He said there is a slightly bigger risk that I won't heal well because of the radiation--either way there is always HBO therapy if the worst case happens I guess. Although I know the odds don't work like this, I feel like I am really due for a surgery without complications for once!

He also wanted to stretch my esophagus while he has me under. So far, I have been going back to the hosp in Boston to have that done because I trust them and I know they can handle it if my esoph. is perforated. They are also cautious. Last time they didn't dilate me much (only to 12 mm) because I started to bleed and he didn't want to push it. I told my ENT I would be willing to do that IF he also goes slowly and stops if the esoph. starts to bleed. But I'm worried about how a perforated esoph. (which shouldn't happen if he's cautious) could be handled at the local hospital. I guess if it isn't a large perf, they just give lots of antibiotics and wait for it to heal. Again--low risk but it's already happened to me once.

Still, I do trust my ENT overall and there's a big part of me that wants to do as much in this surgery as will likely need to be done for a little while because I will already be going back for a D&C (which isn't a big deal) and would like to not have to go back for other surgery a few months after that!

Nelie