I spoke with Marieka's mother yesterday, who reports that Marieka is doing remarkably well...that her lips, while injured in the long procedure, are recovering and becoming less numb, and that her smile is not crooked, as she had feared it might be. She is eating some soft food and talking with her surgical obturator. That plate will come out soon, and it will be replaced by an intermediate one. The adjustments required in this process are difficult, especially with the amount of tissue she had removed, but I feel that, with her attitude, she will work through it ok.

I'll let Marieka fill you in on whatever specifics she chooses to share, but her mother expressed appreciation for the support of her friends here. Please keep her in your prayers. There are challenges ahead, but at least she will not have to have chemo or radiation. Her tumor was an ameloblastoma.....not a good thing to have and very destructive, but not malignant. I have no idea whether radiation is even used with these or not.

I'll keep you posted.

XO--Colleen