Questions and more questions

For the first time on Wednesday, I heard the truth from an oral surgeon, an expert in his field: "your injuries are severe".  This vindicated what I've been feeling all along, and echoed what Dr. T has been telling me. I've mentioned in previous posts that it's been a road to acceptance of what's happened to me, and the extent of it wasn't revealed to me all at once. Obviously some of that came from me. Feeling the pain, where my mouth and teeth were, all that, also told me a bit about what's going on and made me feel like I knew it all along - this situation isn't good. 

So now hearing that I need to have the most serious of all jaw surgeries is also something I need to come to accept. That, or get some more information about how or if this beast can be avoided. You never expect to hear that the best solution for you is the most extreme one in the arsenal. 

To give you an idea, the process involves creating a custom set of prosthetic joints for my face. The surgeon sends my CT scans to the company who manufactures them, where they use computer assisted design to create a model of my head, which then gets sent to my surgeon. He will remove the bone from the model where he wants it removed and sends it back to the prosthetic company. They will create the joints based on the model and then they are ready for implantation. 

As far as the surgery goes, they will make an incision in front of my ears, up into my hairline and down along my ear. Another will be done under my chin.  Then they will dissect the muscles from my joint and cut out the bone. It will take 8 hours. The recovery is difficult and painful. The primary purpose of the surgery is not to relieve pain..it is to regain joint function. There is a risk of facial numbness and/or paralysis that might be temporary or permanent. I may lose function of my eyebrows (like free Botox!!) or not be able to close my eyes. These are big risks!

The joints themselves are made similarly to those for knees and hips, but hasn't been done for near as long. The idea is that they will not last my lifetime - and will need replacement at least once. 

An alternative to prosthetic joints is to use bone from your rib. I don't know the details of this option, only that Dr P didn't think it was the best way to go. 

So contemplating this surgery is scary. It was presented to me by Dr P, and I was given some websites to read and learn about it. Now I feel very conflicted. Is this worth it? 

I'm told if I don't have it now, my joints will continue to degenerate and my jaw will sink further into my face. Eventually I won't be able to close properly, and eating will be difficult or near impossible.  But how long will that take? Can they recreate my condyles but save my TMJs? But he mentioned that in the meantime, if my pain goes down or something miraculous happens, we could discuss other options. What has to change for that to happen? 

These, plus a zillion more, are the questions I have for Dr P.