T minus two (and a half) weeks until bone graft surgery. I feel better now that I’ve discussed things with the surgeon. Joe’s alveolar ridge is in perfect position without palate expansion to move forward with the bone graft. In layman’s terms the two sides of his gum line meet nicely; The ps and orthodontist feel that by doing the bone graft now, they will be able to potentially save some of the permanent teeth.
The surgery will take about two hours. They will harvest bone marrow from his hip and insert it into the alveolar ridge. Most of his pain will be from his hip. Although, he has always been a trooper and has such a high tolerance for pain, I worry that this is the one that’s going to get him. He will have lots of facial swelling; probably similar to when he had lip/nose revision and turbinate reduction.
We’ll be at the hospital (Santa Rosa’s Children’s) at least one night. I actually like that. That way, if his temp goes up, he vomits, etc, the experts will be there. The good news is this gives us our six week restricted diet and activity at home, and we don’t have to worry about what will happen at school.
We go to the orthodontist Monday; I know I’ll know even more then. We will go back to the surgeon two weeks post op, six weeks post op then, back to the ortho for x-rays to make sure the graft took. Monday, I’ll know more about the orthodontists big picture as far as extractions, expansion, orthodontics go. But, one step at a time…
Thanks for your kind words and good thoughts!
Xoxoxoxo k an co
Autism In Our House 