Monday, November 18, 2013

One month from today....

This time next month Jordan will be have the first surgery of the Cross Facial Nerve graft surgery with Dr. Tessa Hadlock in Boston!  Jordan is very excited and is looking forward to the final result, even it that final result will be 12-15 months from now!  I am so thrilled for her to get this started but yet very nervous/anxious for her! This will be her 3rd surgery this year and I can't help but worry!  Everyone has had lots of questions and I am going to try and explain it the best that I can.

The surgery next month will require moving a sensory nerve from the back of her calf and moving it to the RIGHT(good) side of  her face. When this is done the nerve will then be spliced into the base of the facial nerve on the right side. Once that is done it will then be pulled over her lip to the LEFT side of her face. The picture below demonstrates this process. They will then close her up and let the nerve heal and regenerate until summer. Then the 2nd surgery will occur( more on that later).  This surgery will be about 4 hours and will require an overnight stay. The goal after this surgery is during the healing/regeneration period she will begin to have some feeling in the LEFT side of the face. So once again while she is on break from school, she will be recovery from another surgery.



As you can all imagine this is a very exciting time for Jordan & all of us! The blog will be updated daily while we are in Boston and following surgery!  Please keep Jordan & our family in your thoughts & prayers during the weeks ahead!