I miss my smile

[tugnutt]

Vickieastwood,

I am so thrilled for you! Please update us on your progress.  Hopefully you have good movement with the gracilis flap transfer, and the scleral lens continues to help too.

Tugnutt

[heatheresanchez]

Hello,
I'm one week away from facial reanimation surgery (static sling, CFNG, 12-7, and 5-7).
I'm reading through posts and very curious how you're doing 5+ years later!

Thank you kindly in advance!

Surgery to remove my 4.2 cm AN was on March 31st 2015. The surgeon said it was very complicated because it was embedded in my brain stem. I was in intensive care, the hospital, then a rehab hospital for two more weeks. There I had to relearn how to walk and talk and I could only have soft foods. I've come a long way since then and have been able to overcome all of that and returned to a normal life. I am grateful for this, I feel so fortunate to be here and have felt such love and support from my family and friends. In January I discovered this ANA forum. It has been eye-opening to discover there are others like me. Because of you, I have decided that this year I want to work on improving my quality of life. Last week I got cross hearing aids. I wear a "microphone " in my deaf ear that sends the sound to my good ear. I didn't realize all I wasn't hearing! I have an appointment this month to find out about scleral lenses. I'm hoping they will work for me. I've had to use eye gel constantly and have blurred vision because of it. And next week I am flying to Johns Hopkins to meet Dr. Byrne to look into facial reanimation. Thank you for helping to give me the courage to take these steps! Hopefully someday I'll be able to share that my smile is back.