{Karlton Bontrager}

As I write this, Karlton is in surgery. The maxillo-facial people had told us that they had a 2-week window of opportunity to work with him, and today marks the 2nd week since Karlton’s accident. Specialists from the dental school will be reconstructing Karlton’s right cheek. Then the ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist will remove a bit of muscle from his thigh and use it to form a barrier between the nasal sinus and the brain cavity. Last of all, they will replace the trach. We expect the operation to take about 2 hours.

The ENT specialist spent a long time talking to us yesterday afternoon, explaining the procedure and its risks as well as answering our questions. He likened Karlton’s bones in the area around the eye socket to a broken bag of biscuits (cookies). He stated that the cheek reconstruction was fairly straightforward. The maxillo-facial people will insert a titanium bar behind the bones to reinforce them.

The second procedure is more complicated. First, they’ll need to locate just where the drip is occurring. Working with small cameras (endoscopes), they will have a look around. But each time the camera lens gets dripped on, it will have to be removed, cleaned, and reinserted. ENT specialist told us that he feels confident that he can do what he needs to do without causing further damage to the right eye.

Karlton can open his left eye quite wide now, and he has an unblinking, unnerving stare. He didn’t respond when we explained to him that he’d be going back into surgery again. He just closed his eyes as if being terribly resigned. The ENT specialist thought that the entire operation wouldn’t be particularly painful for him. What is likely to bother him the most will be the donor site from his thigh.

Earlier in the day the PTs got Karlton to stand again. He stood straighter than ever before, holding his head well. The schedule for the therapists seemed to be effective, yet he was exhausted by the end of the day again.

Yesterday I failed to mention that Karlton has developed a white coating on his tongue. The medical staff assured us that such a thrush is common when people are not eating, and it is easy to regulate with antibiotics. But it has a terrible odor. We’d been tried so hard to hear what he had to say to us, but his breath was overwhelming.

Thanks again for the many cards and messages of support. They do keep us going!