All the Gory Details

Okay, this post is for all you technical types that wonder what the surgery is. Here we go. First, the plastic surgeon will cut from ear to ear over the top of S3's head. Then the ps peels his face about half way off. Then the neurosurgeons (ns) cut through his skull, basically cutting his forehead off (over the top round part and across the front above the brows.) The ns then separates the forehead piece from the dura (the leathery covering of the brain). He does this because there is an artery that runs right underneath the bone and sometimes taking the bone off results in a bleeder so he is there to control it. Then the ns hands S3's forehead over to the ps for reconstruction.

Next the ps "resets" S3's eye sockets. I haven't asked yet, because I'm not sure I want to know, what resetting the eye sockets entails. He also does something with the brow so that it all lines up with the reconfigured forehead piece. Then the ps reattaches S3's forehead using plates and screws and such that will dissolve within a year. By that time his bone should have grown back, otherwise they have to go back in and use bone cement to glue the two pieces together since it's really not a good idea to have a floating forehead. Last, and maybe least, the ps folds his face back up over his new forehead and sews him all up. Then off to the PICU.

S3's eyes will swell shut from all the trauma for about two days and he will look like someone beat him up. The external swelling can take two to three months to go down but the internal swelling can take up to six months to all go away. My MIL will be coming to help out while S3 is in the hospital and then my mom will be out to help when S3 first comes home and a couple of weeks as long as I need her. So, there are all the gory details. Feel free to email me if you have questions.