A Broken Jaw and No Fun Story to Go With It

Mid July, Tony woke up to a toothache and swelling along his left jawbone.

Dr. Monroe's office (the surgeon who removed his tongue in 2017) at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, referred him to the University of Utah Greenwood Health Center. We saw Dr. Aleya Steckel on the 28th of July and after consulting with doctors up at the hospital, they decided that Tony required a surgical debridement procedure in the hospital, so she prescribed an antibiotic and sent him back home to wait for a consultation appointment at the University of Utah Hospital.

The antibiotics helped temporarily. The swelling reduced, and the pain wasn't as intense. After the ten day round of antibiotics, the swelling and pain returned. He finally got a call back and an appointment was scheduled.

Saturday morning, as Tony was preparing to go to the Bob & Helen family reunion, he made a breakfast shake and some of it went down the wrong tube. (This happens often after everything he's been through.) As he coughed to clear the airway, he felt a "pop" followed by excruciating pain. He took some pain meds and off we went to Utah anyway. He enjoyed seeing his siblings and he tried so hard to have fun. He got in the pool with the grandkids for a few minutes, but he was miserable and had to eat something so he could take more pain meds. When we got home, he took a hydro so he could sleep.

He would have skipped church on Sunday, but Tony had accepted an invitation to give the closing prayer, so he went to Sacrament Meeting. He rested up, and went to work on Monday.

Today we traveled to the University of Utah Hospital and met with Dr. David A. Adams DDS, who confirmed that Mr. Charming's mandible is broken. Dr. Monroe was out at a conference, so Dr. Adams prescribed more antibiotics, a mouth rinse, and some pain medication, and sent us home to wait for further instructions from Dr. Monroe's office.

As the radiation necrosis progressed over the years, Dr. Monroe tried to prepare us for the possibility of a broken mandible. We hoped Tony would escape this situation, or at least, not have to face it for many years.

Pray for us. Based on what Dr. Monroe has said previously, Tony has major reconstructive surgery ahead.