Hi everyone,
Taylor is now a one year postie as of Feb 3rd. She had another MRI on Feb 1st that showed no change since surgery. She still has an empty space where her tumor used to be and a very small white spot which is probably scar tissue but could be a tiny piece he missed. Of course that means regular MRI's to monitor it.
Unfortunately, she did not regain any movement at all in her cheek. She can blink, although that lid lags behind the other one sometimes, I think mostly when she's tired. The eye itself is numb, but she gets tingles in and around it sometimes... The eye muscle surgery she had last summer corrected the alignment problem but she still gets double vision sometimes. Her handwriting is still slowly improving but is not near as fast as she wants it to be. Same with balance. She can walk perfectly normal if she concentrates on it every second. She still has the pins and needles tingly feeling in her entire left side (tumor was on right side) from her neck to her toes that REALLY bugs her. It gets worse if she walks too far or stands up too long. She is taking 2100 mg of Neurontin a day for this with no real relief. They are going to switch her to a different med very soon.
The real news is she has decided to go for reanimation surgery and it is scheduled for Valentines Day, Wednesday the 14th. She is nervous and scared it will not work or that she will look worse. She is having it done at the Barnes-Childrens Hospital complex in St Louis. Her doctor is Gregory Borschel. He had training in this procedure from Dr's Manktelow and Zuker in Toronto, Canada at Toronto General and Hospital for Sick Children. This is the cross-facial nerve graft followed by the muscle transplant 6-9 months later. From my research, I feel this is the way to go. The best chance for the best outcome. Anyone have any experience with these Dr's. Anyone interested can go to
http://www.sickkids.ca/smile-surgery for details on these Dr's and this procedure. I'll keep you all updated. I know you'll all be pulling for her. Many thanks to you all for your encouragement and support. Kathy
