I am having surgery on monday at Johns Hopkins and i received the paperwork from my surgeons office telling me where to go, what time, and a form for a pre-op examine for my local doctor here in frederick.

Here is what my surgeon is telling my doctor what he is performing. it's so long? can someone tell me what is says.

Composite right mandible resectionSTSG, FTSG, Vestibuloplasty, Mandible Reconstructiion. what?!?!

Thanks so much
Gina

Wow!!!!! I recognize the mandible reconstruction, its the jaw surgery. The STSG and FTSG, maybe the last 2 words abbreviated are skin graft.

hello christine,

yes i can understand mandible reconstruct and resection, but the rest of it is way over my head. i of course do know what they are going to do. Take the fibula and make a new jaw, but what he wrote threw me.

wednesday i need to get a PET scan and thursday i need an MRA for surgery on monday.

So saturday i decided to get my hair done,have to do something for me.

thanks for taking a stab at it.
Gina

Thats funny. I did the same thing last year. Ran around like crazy doing tests. Then took some time for myself and got my hair cut, had a huge party for my son and visited some friends. I kept very busy so I didnt have time to worry about the operation.

All those big medical terms are hard to understand. Glad you know the basics of what will be done. My doc used steel instead of my leg bone. Im glad he did, I had several graft sites that needed to heal.

Hope you are having a good day

Using the Google, I found that STSG is "Split Thickness Skin Grafts", viz.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/876290-overview

and FTSG is "Full Thickness Skin Graft", viz.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/876379-overview

This should give you a start anyway.

Best of luck with the procedure!

David El Dos

Christine,

can you tell me why your doctor used steel instead of your leg bone? I am just curious about the differences. I am trying not to think about the surgery too much. i get scared everytime i do.

Yeah, saturday morning i will telling my hair dresser to "blonde me up" for the summer. and i may get a manicure as well. why not!

I hope you having a great day as well.

Gina

oops i forgot...

thanks david for the definition. i took your lead and googled vestibuloplasty. here is what i found

Vestibuloplasty:
Includes any surgical procedures designed to develop alveolar ridge height by repositioning the muscles attached to the buccal, labial, and lingual aspects of the jaws. It may involve skin grafting techniques.

so i kinda understand.

thanks so much for your help. Have a great day!

gina

Since you are getting 'the works', how about going all out and getting a pedicure too.

It was actually pretty comical the reactions I got for having well manicured toes. I figured since I wouldnt be able to talk or do very much for a while, I might as well have pretty toes. So right before my surgery, I painted my toenails a pretty bright pink. Even with a 2 month extended stay, the toes still looked good when I left the hospital.

Stay busy, it will keep your mind off it

Wishing you all the very best for the surgery Gina.
Like what you are planning and what Christine mentioned I did a lot of those "girly" things before surgerys to make myself feel better etc. Hair, facial, leg wax !!, manicure and pedicure. The only thing is that they do not allow nail polish here at least at the CCC I went to in Sydney. Seem to remember being told that looking at the colour of the nails while under general gives an indication of possible problems??

This is a pretty common surgery in people who have no lower teeth. If you stick your finger in your mouth and put it in the space between your lower cheek and the ridge and teeth, it is is the mandibular vestibule. As people age and have worn dentures for protracted periods of time, the edentulous ridge itself actually gets smaller, this is over years pressure die-back from wearing dentures. As the ridge gets smaller the stability to lateral movement of the lower denture is compromised. By deepening the vestibule through this procedure, (very common) they can gain some additional stability. Of course this can't be done over and over as the mandible eventually becomes very thin (commonly referred to as a pencil thin mandible) and is prone to fractures.

Vestibuloplasty is sometimes also used to create a flap to cover the ridge in implant procedures. A thin layer of the mucous membrane is reflected backwards after a three sided rectangular cut in the vestibule, and then folded back over the top of the ridge. (split thickness skin graft). While this leaves an exposed area of uncovered subcutaneous tissue behind, it is usually OK, as it heals in by secondary intent, ie. on its own without any special procedure to cover it up.

Hi Gina, I just want to wish you the very best of luck on Monday with your surgery. I will be thinking of you & will not stop praying for you. You have already been through so much. I wish you a speedy recovery.

ok since i don't have dentures then the vestibuloplasty is for the implants i am getting. i lost two teeth in 2004 when i had my first surgery (my wisdom tooth and the tooth in front on it). and according to my surgeon i am losint two more with this surgery on monday. And since i am not getting radiation the reconstruction surgeon says he will give them to me.

I leave in a few hours for my PET scan. can't help but worry about what they will find. but whatever they find (if anything) i can handle it.

I must say the more i read on this site and the more i ask questions the better i feel. no one can make me any promises that this is the last surgery i will have or the cancer won't come back, but i feel stronger that i can handle whatever is thrown at me.

I want to thank everyone for reading my posts and responding. it makes me feel part of all of you.

Have a great day
Gina