Oct 2017- Implant Implanted

It looks like the tissue expansion worked after all!  After a year of expansion and 1 1/2 year with a hole in my head I finally have a complete skull again now that the implant was implanted. Damn lucky I didn't jab something in the head hole as I continued to live my life as (almost) normal.  Today we removed the drains.  I was a little concerned since pulling a drain last spring is what caused all this BS in the first place.  Now all there is to do is heal and watch for an infection.
In the photos below you can see I still have some deformities, but they should relax in time.  For now I have a super cool antenni.

Moment of true happiness touching the implant

May 9th 2017 - Implant attempt

Today we attempted to remove the expanders/graft and install the PEEK implant, however I didn't get that lucky.  There was not enough tissue and what was up there did not move the way we needed it to to remove the graft.  Instead it was decided the best move was to install a third expander in my forehead to help get tissue where we need it.  Not exactly sure what the timeline is now, but I am preparing for at least 2 more expantion sessions. The first one was 6 months.....

After surgery today

The good news is we are taking steps forward

March 23, 2017 - Deflate-gate

A few days ago one of the expanders ruptured dumping about 250 cc (8oz) of fluid in my head cavity.  It was not painful, but certainly uncomfortable.  The fluid is being absorbed by my body, but we have to go in and remove the compromised expander tomorrow.  This will set back our attempt to install the cranial implant by 6 or so weeks.  However the good news is we are inserting a larger expander that will give us a little more tissue and a greater chance of success when inserting the implant.

Today

Day after leak

1 week ago

Jan 19, 2017 -91 days in

I have had a couple fill ups since my last post- lost track of how many cc but we almost have the expanders at max volume.  Most likely only 2 more fills (4 weeks) and that will be it for phase 1.  At that point we will most likely still not have enough tissue to install the implant.  We will remove the expanders currently in place and cut out as much of the 'bad' skin (grafts and shark cartilage)as possible. Also at during that surgery 2 new expanders will be put in place for another round get some more healthy tissue.  Nothing for sure yet , but I am now hoping to be done early summer. A couple update photos taken today below;

Dec 14- 45 days

Just some update photos

Dec 8 - 38 Days in

Third fill up was not as easy as the others.  Everything went well, but I think we may have pumped in a little too much juice.  For about 6 hours I was in some pretty intense pain- even the Percocet had a tough time knocking it down. Make sure you always have a few of those on hand.

Dec 1, 2016- 31 days into expansion

Fill up number 2. Put about 25cc in each side.

Nov 17, 2016 - 20 days in - First fill up

20 days in and got my first fill up today.  We put 20cc in each expander.  One side is visibly much bigger because when inserted they were able in put in about 10cc of fluid to start.  The process of filling was not really painful, but it certainly felt wild.  There is a lot of pressure that made it difficult for me to concentrate and really wore me down.  We are on the way now...

Nov 9, 2016 - 2 weeks into expansion

Two weeks in and I am getting used to having the expanders up in my head.  No longer taking much pain meds other than some ibuprofen during the day and maybe a percocet at night, sleeping is still a PIA. One of the expanders did migrate, but we were able to coax it back in place and get the port to an accessible location. Swelling has finally subsided and tissue is starting to reattach to the bone allowing us to start filling the expanders.  Next week we will slowly start injecting fluid to get the party started up there.

5 days in

10 Days in 

10 Days

Note the bruising on my chest from all the fluid running out of my face

October 26, 2016 Tissue expansion Begins

Tissue expansion has begun.  This is creepier than I had anticipated - It is really wild to see the transformation from yourself to Payton Manning to Sloth. And that is just in the first 24 hours.

5 hours post op

6 hours post op

During the 2 hour procedure Plastics was able to install 2 tissue expanders between my scalp and skull. Over the next several months I will have periodical injections into the expanders to grow the tissue until we have enough skin to reinstall a PEEK implant where the bone was removed as well as take out any other skin 'fixes' (Grafts- Integra)we have done along the way . This will leave one nice seam of scalp to flap.

The part that surprised and concerned us the most was the amount of swelling that is happening. It is intense but I have been reassured it is to be expected from the medical team. If you are having this procedure done I would suggest getting a realistic expectation of swelling from your Doctor before hand.

10 hours post op