Autobiography of a Face Timeline

By arlenesandra98

  • Birth Date

    Lucinda Margaret Grealy is born to Desmond and Trena Anne Grealy. Lucy and her family lived in Dublin, Ireland, her family later moved to the United States in April 1967. At age nine she was diagnosed with cancer.
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    Lucinda Greally

  • Dental Cyst

    Lucy gets hit in the face with a kickball during recess at school. She then develops an intense pain in the right side of her jaw. This pain was caused but a dental cyst which was removed immediately by operation.

  • Swolen Jaw

    Months after the cyst was removed, Lucy came home with the right side of her face hot and swollen. After the removal of the dental cyst, a bony knob appeared at the end of her jaw. She had an emergency surgery to drain the lump and was then sent to the Strang clinic where she met a face/ neck specialist. The specialist admitted her into the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where she had x-rays and blood test taken.

  • Malignancy

    After staying in the hospital for two weeks, Lucy is diagnosed with Malignancy. In the next few days Lucy has surgery on her jaw, which will attempt to remove the tumor. Once the surgery is done half of Lucy's jaw is gone, leaving a scar running down the side of her face.

  • Chemo Therapy

    For five days a week, every week, for two and a half years Lucy went for Chemo Therapy. The Chemo treatments caused Lucy to feel nauseous, weak and took over her life for a long period of time. Lucy missed most of 4th and 5th grade due to the Chemo therapy as well as part of 6th grade.

  • Hair Loss

    Early on in the treatment Lucy's hair began to fall out. She first noticed this when she reached up to sweep her hair back and a handful of hair was in her hand. It surprised her; she didn't think it would actually happen. As the weeks progressed more of her hair started to fall out. A decision was made to cut off the remaining hair, leaving Lucy bald.

  • Chemo Ends

    After two and a half years chemo therapy finally ends. Lucy is overwhelmed at the thought of it being her last appointment and can't stop herself from crying. Lucy's hair had begun to grow back, and shortly after her last chemo session she returned back to 7th grade.

  • Dental Work

    Because Lucy underwent so many radiation treatments, her teeth became damaged by the radiation. This resulted in another two years of dental surgery. Lucy went through many operations to fix her teeth and spent the majority of her 7th grade year in the hospital.

  • Fathers Death

    Right after Christmas Lucy's Father ended up in the hospital due to severe stomach pains. Her father was in the hospital for months. He had pancreatitis. Toward the end of March he was put on an oxygen tank and 2 months later Lucy's father passed away.

  • 1st Reconstructive Operation

    Lucy went to New York University Medical Care for her first reconstructive surgery. The surgery was supposed to fill out the right side of her jaw, by taking skin from her hip and attaching it to the side of her face. The results were disappointing due to the fact that the graft was reabsorbed and Lucy's appearance was the same as before the surgery.

  • 2nd Reconstructive Surgery

    Lucy had a second reconstructive surgery months later. It failed to work just like the previous one. The graft from her hip which was put on her face had been reabsorbed from her body.

  • College

    Senior year Lucy applied to and was accepted at Sarah Lawrence College with a scholar ship. She excelled in poetry and gained a reputation as one of the better poets on campus. Lucy made many friends throughout her college experience, she felt happy and accepted.

  • Bone Graft

    Information on Bone Grafting After numerous surgeries to try to fill in the right side of Lucy's face, she was scheduled for a bone graft operation. A lump of bone would be taken from her hip, ground up, and shaped into the rough shape of a jaw. The bone graft was supposed to stay and not dissolve but unfortunately like the skin graft it started to disappear.

  • Tissue Expander

    Information on Tissue ExpandersAn empty balloon was inserted under the skin on the right side of Lucy's face and was blown up by daily injections into a port beside her ear. This was meant to stretch out the skin so there would be enough skin to stretch down to cover the bone graft. Weeks later the tissue expander was removed and a bone in her hip was placed on her face.

  • Reconizing Herself

    After the tissue expander operation for the right side of her face was completed, the left side of Lucy's face began to shrink and droop. A tissue expander was inserted into the left side. After it was removed and a few minor operations were constructed Lucy's face began to look somewhat "normal". It took Lucy a very long time to get used to her new face but eventually she began to recognize herself.
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    Life span