Face

I have been told that my face is making progress. It is hard for me to see because I see it every day and am my own worst critic. I want to mark my progress and remember the process so here goes...
In the summer of 2010my good friend,  Jodi Brown, went to California to have a spring put in her eyelid so she could blink. As I followed her progress it got me thinking, "Maybe there is a doctor who can help me." So I did what should be done with all big questions, I googled it. I did a bit of research and came across the name Michael Klebuc. I did some more research and his name kept coming up. It felt a bit like Internet dating but I read all I could about his procedures. Because he is in Texas, I called my insurance to see if they would cover ANYTHING. Surprise! He was in my network and since I had reached my out of pocket max (big shocker) it was 100% covered!!!
I had researched it, thought about it, and come to a conclusion and it was time to pray about it. I immediately got my answer that he was the right doc for me.
I sent pictures and after he saw them, he needed to see for himself, so I flew to Houston in  September. I was in awe of the place. Our cab drove for miles through the medical district and in every direction there were different types of hospitals, trains, cabs and people galore! Upon arriving at our hotel we asked about transportation to his office. Another surprise, we were right next door with walkways between the two buildings!
Upon examining me, Dr. Klebuc was confident that I was a good candidate, so after a few tests done here in Utah, I was off to Houston once again in December. We still owe my mom for the travel expenses.
The surgery took 12 hours. He harvested the nerves from the back of both legs (I'm forever numb back there) and hooked them to left side of my face, by the ear, and strung them across, under the lip, and connected them by the right ear, In theory, what the left side does, so will the right. He also took a muscle by my right jaw and turned it upside down. Then he took some muscle out of my lower left lip that was over working.  He said they pretty much had to take off my face to do it all. But you can't even see the scars.
I slept through it all but he and his team were exhausted!!
I was in ICU for all of Saturday and then was moved to intermediate care on Sunday. The big concern was pain control but in all honesty, there was very little pain. The worst thing was the "pain" in my in my legs. The nerves were gone so I couldn't feel pain but my brain didn't get the memo. It continued to think I was in pain and meds wouldn't help at all. It was more uncomfortable and annoying than anything but I could handle it and it eventually went away.
While in IMCU, I got bored and restless so Robert would put me in a wheelchair and we would explore. The nurses were a little uncomfortable with that because they were not used to patients even leaving their rooms. But Robert and I had spent too much time in hospital rooms and taking walks was totally normal to us.
I was released from the hospital on Tuesday, and flew home on Thursday. Exactly one week.
When I got home I stayed with my mom again for a few days to get some much needed rest. Then I got to go home!!
He said it would take a year for the nerves to start working and progress would take place over the next few years.
After a few months I started to get twitches and when I touched my left cheek I could feel it on my right. Weird! That eventually stopped only to be replaced with another weird effect. Whenever I hear a loud noise or someone close by me yells, my muscles spasm. This makes soccer games quite fun. My muscles have also been known to get stuck in strange positions. Think Elvis's snarl.
I have hopes that my eye muscles will kick in, and there has been huge progress. But my eye was surgically made smaller and a weight put in my eyelid. I have to be sure my eye muscles are good and ready before reversing any procedures.
I have high hopes for continued progress and I can look less and less like Harvey Two Face:)

Notice the smaller eye.



Eek! But my left side is more in control and you can actually see some teeth on my right side!!