Jennifer's Story

Grosse Ile woman thankful for her dedicated Henry Ford care team after unexpected jaw surgery

In 2023, Jennifer Moody was a woman in her thirties that lived a very active life. She worked in healthcare philanthropy, was getting her Master’s degree in public administration, enjoyed many hobbies and spent time regularly with her family and friends.

Jennifer was born with a cleft lip and palate, requiring her to have had multiple surgeries when she was younger. “At the time, I hadn’t been to the doctor a whole lot in my life other than for a few surgeries and regular check-ups. That all changed big time and now I’ve been to more doctor appointments in the past few years than many go to in their whole lives,” recalled Jennifer.

Her upper and lower jaws still didn’t align properly and she elected to have orthognathic surgery. Her surgery was originally scheduled to be in 2023 with oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Barbetta.

It all began with a scheduled surgery

Prior to her scheduled jaw surgery in 2023, Jennifer had some routine tests and scans done. It was after one of these pre-surgery scans that the team discovered a ping pong ball-sized tumor in her skull. She left her appointment and immediately called her otolaryngologist, Dr. Lamont Jones, to see what she should do next. He happened to have a cancellation in his schedule for the next day and brought her in for an appointment to evaluate her scans.

Upon meeting with Dr. Jones, he told Jennifer, “I looked at your scans. The colleague that I’d refer you to is actually here today. If you are able to stick around, he can see you shortly.”

Jennifer said, “It all was happening so quick. I started to feel pretty scared that all of a sudden, I had a tumor in my skull that I never knew was there. The Henry Ford team kept me so calm the whole time.”

Jennifer saw Dr. John Craig, a rhinologist in the otolaryngology department, right away. Upon looking at her scans and evaluating the tumor, he determined that she likely had an osteoma in her frontal sinus, a non-cancerous sinus tumor that grows out of bone. Dr. Craig told Jennifer, “It absolutely should come out. Not necessarily tomorrow since they are usually slow growing, but it will definitely cause problems for you in the future.”

Knowing she didn’t want to reschedule the surgery on her jaw, she knew she’d make removing her tumor the next priority after her jaw was fixed.

“I couldn’t get over how fantastic it was that my doctors all knew each other, could call each other, and quickly made decisions on what to do next,” recalled Jennifer.

Jennifer’s journey with jaw surgery

In February 2023, Jennifer had her scheduled jaw surgery with Henry Ford oral surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Barbetta. While Jennifer was in recovery, Dr. Barbetta noticed that she had a red lump on her jaw. He didn’t like how it looked so he asked Jennifer to come back and see him in a week to evaluate if the red lump grew larger.

Jennifer had follow-up appointments repeatedly with Dr. Barbetta. Even though all of her wounds had closed, her pain was improving, and her bite was well aligned there continued to be a persistent red area in the right neck/anterior jaw line. She was prescribed oral antibiotics to remedy this, and they unfortunately had little effect, even though she was still hitting all of her post-surgical milestones.

“For several weeks I wore a band around my head to keep things compressed while recovering from jaw surgery and I was hoping the red lump would go away on its own. But, while I was seven weeks post-surgery, I called Dr. Barbetta and let him know that the lump started bleeding. I could feel it in my gut that my jaw was definitely infected,” said Jennifer.

Dr. Barbetta brought Jennifer in immediately and confirmed her suspicions. She had developed an infection in the jaw bone and he scheduled her for surgery a few days later to remove the infection. During surgery she was diagnosed with mandibular osteomyelitis (a bone infection in her jaw), requiring her to need removal of the infection and revision surgery for her jaw.

“I remember waking up with a nurse there in the room with me. She let me know that it was 9:00PM and they were trying to get me a room for the night. The infection in my jaw was so bad that my jawbone was in the wrong spot, and they had to completely reset my jaw.”

The aftermath

Jennifer was placed on antibiotics for nearly nine months following her surgery.

“I’ve seen countless other doctors including infectious disease specialists, gastroenterologists, allergists, physical therapists, and pain management doctors. I've had so many blood draws, EKGs, and even a few CT scans. I feel like I can navigate Henry Ford Hospital on autopilot,” recalled Jennifer.

Time for tumor removal

Once Jennifer’s jaw healed, she had the frontal sinus osteoma removed in October of 2023. Now that she’s on the other side of a health journey that just kept unraveling, she’s thankful for her Henry Ford care team who truly has become like family to her.

An endless case of newfound gratitude

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visited or talked to Dr. Barbetta or the staff on the phone or via MyChart messaging throughout this. They quite literally held my hand through all of this.” remarked Jennifer.

She also reflected, “Through no fault of anyone, I just happened to be one of the unlucky ones that experienced complications. I know for a fact that if I hadn’t had Dr. Barbetta as my surgeon or received care at Henry Ford, my story would’ve looked a lot different. He called me at night and on the weekends to check on me. He drew me pictures. He was honest but empathetic. I felt nothing but support, even against an endless case of bad luck,” she said, “I work in healthcare philanthropy, and I see every day how clinicians change patients’ lives, but after this past year, I can say pretty confidently that my physicians at Henry Ford Health saved my life. Now I really get it.”