Has anyone had this procedure done?

[Stuart]

Having a huge operation coming up soon. This coming Monday on April 16 I will be having this operation done at Mont Sinai hospital in New York City. The operation will be performed by Dr. Elliott Rose. He has been involved in the past with a number off high profile cases. I will try to explain the surgery that I'm having in layman terms as best I can. With having a double cleft lip and cleft palette plus an elongated jaw caused my being pushed up against my twin brother ( Crooked Jaw) I have had around thirty five operations give or take a few. It appears that with all the trauma that was done to my jaw the muscle had weaken and lost it's strength and so my lower lip collapse and I can not control the drooling or my bad eating habits. So the doctor will take a strand like string from my thigh and drill it behind my ear though the skin to the other side of my ear to make a sling that will be pulled up my lip where it should be. The next procedure will be another sling to the left side of my lip, this is being done because the left side of the lip was frozen up and paralyzed by an infection in my cheek caused by an implant put in years ago to build up my facial features. Next the doctor will do a bone graft from my skull along with skin tissue to fill in the holes left by the implant being taken out from a previous surgery. The doctor says this surgery will take up to almost eight hours to do. Well I'm not looking forward to this by any means, but at 43 years old I've gotten to be a pro at this. Plus I think of the benefits like eating better not drooling and having a better looking cheek out weighs the hardship. Plus I'm hoping it's not as bad as the operation that I had in San Diego back in 1986 where my whole lower jaw was moved over an inch. That was like a nightmare and felt like I was in a major accident. I still think things in life can be worst and so I thank God I can walk talk and breath and think with my mind intact. I have a beautiful Filipino fiancée I'm marrying this summer so I have a lot to look forward too in life. From Stuart PS if anyone out there has had this kind of surgery before I would love to butt heads with you on this. Stuartzim@monmouth.com