...and the shin bone's connected to the...jaw bone?

About two weeks ago the oral surgeon told me that jaw replacement surgery (Mandibular resecting) is now inevitable.  His first thought was that it would need to happen sooner, not later.  But after he did a more thorough examination and reviewed the CT scan I had done in April, he is now predicting that I have 6 months to 2 years before this will become necessary.

The ORN is still progressing, and the scan showed more dead bone tissue in that area--so I'll have more events like the most recent one at the beach.  Right now the daily pain level is manageable without regular meds, but every once in a while I need something for breakthrough pain.  The bigger concern is a growing area of numbness that means the nerve on that side has become involved--that's what's making the resecting inevitable.

You can Google 'mandibular resecting' to see what this will entail.  There are two options--but both start with taking out about four inches of my left jaw.  Option one is to replace it with a titanium plate.  Option two is to take out a piece of my shin bone, sculpt it to the shape of the removed bone, and then graft that in as my new jaw.  This option is more desirable because the new jaw will have its own blood supply...and I won't set off alerts at the airport when I go through TSA security.  So, unless things change, my shin bone WILL be connected to my jaw bone sometime in the future.

I'll spare you the rest of the details on this procedure until "inevitable" becomes "imminent."  Now knowing that it will happen, we have our fingers crossed that it can wait until we come back from New Zealand in April.  We will be living there for 10 weeks while I am a visiting professor at the University of Canterbury.  In the meantime I am monitoring my symptoms closely and being careful not to have an accident that could fracture my deteriorated left jaw.  If that were to happen, "inevitable" would become "immediate."

We'll keep you posted.

Mike

I had a hard run...

For all of you who know the tune, sing along:

I had a hard run

Runnin' the Peachtree

All day pouring

But not a drop on me

The Peachtree 10K Road Race is very close to the top of my Cancer Revenge List.  I have lived in ATL for 18 runnings of the Peachtree and have only missed it three times--once in 2009, as I was recovering from my chemo + radiation treatments.  So, as soon as the weather gets good enough to run outside, I re-dedicate myself to getting in the training I need to do this run (it is definitely not a race for me).  This year was extra difficult as I struggled with lower back pain and got in only minimal training.  My running partner Jeff (in the picture above) also had very little training.  He is Winnie's son-in-law, and has spent a lot of time lately with Winnie and her family in the hospital.  More on Winnie below.

We caught a big break with some cool, overcast weather on the 4th.  The forecast was for heavy rain all day, but after pouring the entire night before, it didn't rain at all while we were at the starting line or during our run.  It did start again about two hours after we finished and has been raining almost constantly since then.

We managed to run the entire 10K distance, except for the top of three very big hills.  The only people who were more amazed than us by that was Jeff's wife, Deb, and my wife Terry.  They were convinced that if we did manage to finish the race at all, it would be by walking most of it, and with the EMTs close behind us, ready to catch us when we collapsed.

After slogging through a muddy Piedmont park to collect our race t-shirts (which were pretty good this year, for a change), we found our way to the car and enjoyed the "Coldest beers ever" and wondered out loud how in the hell we pulled off running 95% of the course.

After the traditional post-race orange rolls we went over to Winnie and George's for a great barbeque meal.  Winnie was looking good, and very happy to be back home.  She did get tired fast, but was in great spirits.  The reality is that her cancer is not curable, and no further treatments are planned.  Because her cancer is so rare, they don't know how fast it might spread--but they are sure it has.  From there Terry and I went to Jeff and Deb's mountain home and enjoyed the great scenery when we could get out between rain showers.

The purpose of my Cancer Revenge List is to get things back into my life that this disease took away from me for a while--and could have taken from me forever.  So, like it has for 14 or so other years in the past, the 4th of July and the Peachtree Road Race came and went without incident, and my "new normal" as a cancer survivor keeps plugging along quietly.

And, on days like this 4th of July, when I am sweaty and tired, sipping that post-race beer with Jeff,  I am reminded to thank all of you on Team Mike who helped make this new-normal possible.

Mike