Future Plans

Here's what he proposes:

1. For my forehead, he recommends using a substance called "hydroxyapatite" (also known as HA). It is a ceramic material, applied sort of like plaster, then smoothed down.

   

   To apply it, he would split the top of my scalp from ear to ear, roll my forehead down, and apply the HA, molding it to match the "normal" side, then would roll the forehead back up and stitch my scalp together again. Since the doctor assures me it wouldn't be necessary to shave any of my hair off, I suspect he is planning to use those cunning clips that look like bulldog clips along the edges of the incision.

   The drawback with the hydroxyapatite is that it melds very well with the bone, which is likely to form around it. I am concerned that the Rombergs will receive and begin shrinking the HA just as if it were bone. The last surgeon I visited suggested hard silicone implants, and I think I still prefer this option.

2. For my cheek, there are two possible substances that he suggests having implanted: Goretex(TM) mesh or AlloDerm(TM). The doctor is leaning towards the AlloDerm, because he says the mesh may not have the kind of flexibility he'd like to see for the face. (And yes, as Stephen McKenzie pointed out, this Goretex is the same fabric, except in mesh form, as George Constanza's puffy coat in "The Dinner Party" episode of Seinfeld...the one he's wearing when he and Kramer are trapped at the liquor store because someone double-parked.)

   The AlloDerm is "an acellular, immunologically inert dermal transplant." Translation: dermis (the inside, connective tissue layer of the skin) that is harvested from corpses and somehow sanitized and genericized for use in another body (or bodies). They'd make an incision along my ear, similar to the type they make for a facelift, and slide either the Goretex or AlloDerm in place, then stitch it up again afterwards.

   I don't think I like either of these options: I don't want the Goretex if it's going to look unnatural, and with the AlloDerm, since it is an organic material, I am afraid it will be assimilated by the Rombergs.

   The only definite decision that I've made about surgery is that I am going to think a while before making any decisions on whether to have any done.

I am due to have another 3D C-T scan in the near future, which will help determine whether the Rombergs is still in an active progressive phase, or if it has burned itself out.

I am still hopeful that one of these days my neurologist will discover the magic combination that will keep the migraines away.

I will continue to have BoTox treatments as required.