By Lisa Ansay —
Back on April 3rd (Flagstaff ICU) Taylor had plastic surgery to repair and stabilize fractures.
When inflammation subsided, the devices used to secure his jaw became loose and Taylor was able to move his jaw a bit. Taylor arrived at St. Joseph’s on April 13th, and within that first week in Phoenix it was obvious his jaw was no longer wired in a closed position. The muscles in the jaw are very strong, and he managed to break the hardware free including the wires that were intended to immobilize everything for 4 to 6 weeks. Plastic surgery was brought in to remove the broken hardware, and neither the surgeon who initially performed the surgery nor the plastic surgeon at St. Joe’s were at all concerned abut the possibility of this having compromised the efforts of the surgery. They insist those kinds of repairs heal in days, and the 4 to 6 weeks is rarely necessary with newer technologies and materials used in reconstructive work.
Follow-up with a plastic surgeon yesterday confirmed suspicions that Taylor’s jaw was in fact destabilized at some point and has begun to heal in that position. The cheekbones and others were shifted as well, and the misalignment is causing discomfort and difficulty in speech therapy. This is not considered a medical issue, so surgery to repair will take place once his condition is more stable. It is not uncommon for folks to leave the neuro rehab unit to be wheeled down to the main hospital for follow-up plastic surgery.
In the meantime, he will continue with his therapies.