7-12 surgery

[satman]

new to  forum.
i had 17and a half hr surgery to remove a lemon/handball size tumor.
dealing with walker and learning to walk,talk all over again.
can anybody explain the 7th nerve surgery to me and is there any additionlal down time associated
with it.i had emg test and 2 of 3 nerves are firing so they are talking about another surgery which has to do with the 7th nerve.and god knows i dont want any additional rehab or balance problems..

[nancyann]

Hi Satman, nice to meet you.  Wow, you had a humdinger of a tumor there !   I don't understand, if 2 out of 3 of your nerves are firing (only 1 out of 3 of mine is), aren't the docs going to wait 1 year to observe for further nerve regeneration before doing the 12/7 jump?  That's what's going on with me - I've had 3 EMGs (the latest showed very little improvement & the nerve by the chin is the only one firing).    The 12/7 jump (hypoglossal anastamosis) is when they take part of the tongue(12th cranial nerve) nerve & attach it to the facial nerve (7th cranial nerve) using another nerve to attach the two.  I'm told down time should only be about a week, there is swelling of the neck & tongue(but almost any surgery is easier than the AN surgery !).  After about a year you hope to see signs of nerve generation: twitching, a little movement, which means it took.   Most people, unfortunately end up with synkenesis: involuntary muscle movement:  say you go to smile, then your eye blinks at the same time.  The synkenesis can get bad, if you have it done you'll need to go for facial training once movement begins. Also, you have to move your tongue a certain way to get the movement, sounds hard but people say it isn't.   I may need the 12/7 jump also.  But I'm thinking about looking into facial reanimation with reconstructive surgery: muscle flap, etc.  I haven't decided, but I know I have to decide fast since I'm almost a year out, & the sooner you do the 12/7 jump the better the chances are that it will take.  Well, wishing you all the best,  Nancy

[chrissmom]

Hi, satman...

Nice to meet you.  My son Chris was 21 last year when he was diagnosed with a 5.3CM tumor.  He was left as you, learning to walk again and had facial paralysis.  He's been thru alot.  He had the 12/7 jump graft at Halloween.  We started to see the slightest movement in March.  When his Dr. did the jump graft, he used only the smallest piece of the Hypoglossal Nerve so as to avoid possible problems.  Chris is currently visiting the Facial Nerve Center every 3 weeks.  He does daily exercises.  We have alot of hope for a good recovery.

[Kathleen_Mc]

Satman: I had a long surgery just as you did, I was 23 at the time. My 7-12 was done 3 months later. The neurosergoen did this surgery and it was my first of repairs. The surgery was relatively easy to recover from, your standard 6 week off work, and it took a good 6 months to see the full benefit from it. When I went to see a plastic's guy a few years later he was pleased this had been done as it helped his repairing. I did not have any testing to see what was firing before hand, the doctor knew he had cut 7,8,9,10the nerves to get the tumor out, you surgeon will likely know what nerves were cut....if they were just traumatised then you may have to wait before the 7-12 to give them a chance to "repair" if they're going to.
Kathleen

[satman]

thanks for the replies,nice to have you guys around.you really help me make it through as this is far from over even afer the surgery.kathleen,did you mean that the 7-12 surgery put you out of work an additional 6 weeks?man i'm gonna go crazy and my wife will run out of xanax! 




                       thanks,
                                      john.... 

[Kathleen_Mc]

satman: the standard time off work in my profession for surgery is 6 weeks, also given where the incision was and internal stiches I could risk a work injury until then.....I work in the department of psychiatry and getting hit is always a possiblilty. Depending on your job the 6 weeks may not be necessary
Kathleen

[chrissmom]

Satman, Chris did not experience much down time at all.  He had the surgery and was released the next morning.  The doctor was originally going to do it as an outpatient procedure but he was late getting the operating room so Chris was admitted for the night.  He was up and about the next morning and the only problem was waiting for the incision to heal.

[amaguarda]

what kind of doctor does a 7-12 surgery?

[satman]

my nuero-surgeon will be doing mine

[nancyann]

John:  I'm curious if you know yet whcih nerve they'll use to 'jump' the 7th & 12th nerve - did your surgeon say he/she will use a nerve from your neck?  When I went for consult re: the jump, the surgeon said he'd use a nerve from my neck to connect the facial & hypoglossal nerve, but I've read where some others here who've had the jump had a nerve used from other areas, like the leg.    thanks for the info,  Nancy