BRINGING A SMILE TO LIFE : SURGERY AIMS TO GIVE TEEN NERVE TO GRIN.Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer At home in Newbury Park on Tuesday night, Erin Degenhardt gave a teen-aged shrug and said it was ``no big deal. ``I haven't really thought about the results that much. I've adjusted to it over the years, and I've never felt like I was missing anything. I just feel like I've still got a lot to do before I go to the hospital,'' she said. Wednesday morning, she was at that hospital - Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County/USC Medical Center - undergoing almost six hours of surgery to replace a missing facial nerve facial nerve n. Either of a pair of nerves that originate in the pons, traverse the facial canal of the temporal bone, and pass through the parotid gland, reach the facial muscles through various branches, control facial muscles, and relay sensation that has caused the left side of her face to be paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. since birth. A second surgery and physical therapy will eventually allow the 18-year-old to smile for the first time in her life. No big deal? Tuesday night, she listed chores she had to complete before the pre-dawn ride to the hospital: packing, laundry, cleaning her room. But as she spoke, her hand moved up to cover the left, drooping droop v. drooped, droop·ing, droops v.intr. 1. To bend or hang downward: "His mouth drooped sadly, pulled down, no doubt, by the plump weight of his jowls" side of her mouth - a reflexive (theory) reflexive - A relation R is reflexive if, for all x, x R x. Equivalence relations, pre-orders, partial orders and total orders are all reflexive. action. And every 10 minutes she looked at her beeping Beeping is a cellphone communications tactic where a cash-strapped cellphone caller gets the person he/she is "beeping" to call him/her back. [1] Method metallic blue pager, lowering carefully mascaraed eyes to check which well-wisher called. ``Aren't you even a little bit nervous?'' asks Erin's mother, Susan Degenhardt. She leaned close to her daughter, practiced at reading her split face. Because only one side of her face is affected, Erin looks much like someone who has suffered a stroke. ``People would look at me and wonder what was wrong,'' Erin said. ``If they had the nerve they would ask me if I'd just been to the dentist or had a stroke. You get used to the questions.'' Unlike children and adults who suffer from full-fledged Moebius Syndrome, Erin's missing nerve only affects the left side of her face. Doctors estimate that, nationwide, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 people suffer from Moebius Syndrome and related ailments. Erin has none of the other symptoms common to the syndrome; she can move her eyes left to right, she has no trouble swallowing, nor does she have any speech problems. ``Erin has normal functioning on one side, so she has an even better prognosis prognosis /prog·no·sis/ (prog-no´sis) a forecast of the probable course and outcome of a disorder.prognos´tic prog·no·sis n. pl. prog·no·ses 1. than kids with Moebius Syndrome,'' Dr. Randy Sherman, a surgeon on Erin's team and Chief of USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. University Hospital Plastic Surgery Department, said Wednesday. ``In Erin's case we can graft graft, in surgery: see transplantation, medical. graft In horticulture, the act of placing a portion of one plant (called a bud or scion) into or on a stem, root, or branch of another (called the stock) in such a way that a union forms and the a nerve from her lower leg and attach it to a normally functioning nerve on the right side. Because she has normal function on that side, it should improve function on the left side,'' he said. Erin and her family will have to wait another year after Wednesday's surgery for the second surgery, a muscle graft. After the muscle graft, Erin will go through weeks of practice before she'll see results, Sherman said. ``Patients have to learn to stimulate the muscle by biting down, they have to practice to get the desired effect,'' he said. The result hopefully will be the first full-fledged, ear-to-ear grin in Erin Degenhardt's life. ``I haven't really thought about what it will be like,'' Erin said Tuesday night. ``It's still a year way.'' Her mother pressed her. ``Haven't you looked in the mirror and wondered? Haven't you pulled up your lip and wondered?'' Erin shook her head no. Mother and daughter talked back and forth, and finally agreed that after a certain age, Erin adapted to her disability. ``I just got used to it,'' Erin said. ``And after about 10th grade the teasing teasing the act of parading a male before a female to see if she displays estrus, and is therefore in a state where mating is likely to be fertile. wasn't so bad anymore.'' ``And we never treated her like she was any different,'' her mother adds. ``She went through public school and graduated from high school with honors, she's been out in the job market and done well - she's adjusted and been successful despite it.'' Erin held jobs at Thrifty thrifty said of livestock that put on body weight or produce in other ways with a minimum of feed. The opposite of illthrift. , MacDonald's and the Newbury Park High School cafeteria cafeteria: see restaurant. before settling into her current job as a letter carrier working out of the Newbury Park Post Office branch. But while mother and daughter agreed that Erin did adapt, as Susan paced the hospital's halls Wednesday she noted that Erin has adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward the impending im·pend intr.v. im·pend·ed, im·pend·ing, im·pends 1. To be about to occur: Her retirement is impending. 2. change. ``I think after all this time she's afraid to be excited,'' she said. ``But this morning she was in the best mood. I think she's starting to let herself feel it.'' ``And she might be worried about disappointment,'' said Bob Degenhardt, Erin's father. ``She had one earlier minor surgery and I know it wasn't much of a change: it wasn't what we expected.'' A tuck had been made at the left corner of Erin's lip to correct the drooping, but the change was minimal, her father said. ``I think we'll start to see the excitement a year from now,'' he said. ``When we'll really see the smile...'' ``She'll be the same person inside,'' Susan finishes the thought for him, ``but it won't be the same face.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--Ran in Conejo and Simi--color) Erin Degenhardt, right, is undergoing treatment to repair nerves on the left side of her face, so she can smile along with mother Susan, left. Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News (2--Ran in Conejo only) Newbury Park's Bob and Susan Degenhardt wait Wednesday for daughter Erin to get out of surgery nerve at County/USC Medical Center. Terri Thuente/Daily News |
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