Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Implant In...6 months later, Implant Out

Well, it's been awhile, so i'll briefly just touch on what has landed us in Albuquerque. A few weeks ago, Taylor began to have pain in his left cheek area (more than usual) where his implant was put 6 months ago. On the outside of the skin there was a blister.
Pictures were emailed to his Dr in Dallas 1/5/10, and he felt that Taylor was okay, but to err on the side of caution, he prescribed an antibiotic for a few days. Jump ahead a few days and Taylor began to feel better...a few more days go by and the pain is back, it's intense and the blister is not really a blister but a large red area with some bruising.
We made a trip to Albuquerque 1/15 where we saw Dr. Ronald Escudero who agreed that there was an infection raging in the cheek area and even went so far to use large needle/syringe to pull out some of the liquid infection. A scalpel was then used to create a drainage hole so the area could breathe while Taylor was again put on antibiotics, a much stronger dosage that would hopefully kill the infection. While in the office, the Dr discussed with Taylor about how he should be sleeping (not on the Left Cheek Implant) it came to light that due to a 90% blockage in the right nostril, Taylor couldn't lie on his right side and breathe comfortably. So, Taylor was told that someday, further down the road he really needed to get that fixed.
No such luck on clearing up the infection and the implant, in it's state of rejection, it actually started to work it's way out and 2 days before surgery began poking out of the skin right beneath the eye---so poor guy, now he has 2 open holes under his left eye.
This all leads us to today where we are currently in Homewood Suites in Albuquerque where Taylor is post-op from having the implant removed (through the mouth), having a septoplasty where the cartlidge was straighted and the turbinate surgery as well (http://www.ent-consult.com/turbinatesurgery.html). It was rough getting through recovery post-op (3 hours) but we finally got him back to the hotel. We will see the Dr tomorrow afternoon for a post-op visit and then hopefully be on our way home by mid-afternoon.
Taylor will stay home for the rest of the week and our hope is that he will be able to go back to Lubbock the beginning of next week so he can resume his classes in Criminal Justice. I'm sure his professors are missing his quick wit and winning attitude in his classes.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great post Laura. I wasn't sure the specifics of what exactly was going on to be honest, and so I found this very helpful. Taylor, I'm praying for you brother. I'm sorry you're having to go through all of this. Hang in there.

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  2. Poor thing. :( I hope this is the end of it!

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