Health Issues 2026

Saturday 12 July 2026

I am putting up this blog so I can refer people to it when they ask me how I am going.  There is a major update.

Since 17 June 2026 Vivienne and I have been on a health discovery journey.

It turns out I am suffering from Osteoradionecrosis/osteomyelitis in my right mandible.

I will explain what that it is further down.

On Christmas Eve 2018 I was diagnosed with a Squamous Cancer Cell in my right tonsil.  The oncologist recommended a treatment that required 7 weeks of daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy.  Your throat ends up a mess and a tube was inserted in my stomach before the treatment started and from about week 4 to week 9 Vivienne was feeding me with liquid food (3 tetra packs 3x day).  The treatment worked, the cancer was eradicated.  Although the damage to my throat lining meant I could not eat spicey foods like curries; the good news was that I lost 30 kilos.  Since then I have lost another 10 kilos which was necessary.

Unfortunately, there was another side effect.  I had received about 70 rads of radiation.  Below 50 is good, At 70 the cancer is generally obliterated but so are the healthy bone cells in the jawbone.  So while my left jawbone appears smooth and healthy; my right jawbone appears as a fragmented and crumpled aluminium foil.  (see picture)

On 19 December 2016 I had an operation to file back a bone that pierced my inside right cheek and was irritating my tongue.  In addition, a crown was removed and the remaining tooth was filed back.  According to the surgeon the gum would close over the gap.

My jaw was increasingly feeling ‘locked’ and it was becoming harder to open my mouth.

On 17 June as part on my standard procedure I went to my oral hygienist, Sibel Serce, and mentioned the problem.  She looked in my mouth, said she could see pus, the gap was not closing, and tooth was infected.  She said I needed to get a second opinion ASAP.  And so I ended up seeing Dr. Andrew Thorpe in Macquarie Street.   He collected professionally the evidence via a CBCTScan and was the first to suggest the diagnosis and to confirm it made me see the leading oral surgeon in the Sydney area for doing jaw replacements Dr Tim Manzie.  Both these gentlemen are ‘guns’ as we used to describe the best in my investment banking days.

Accord to Manzie the first step was to find out if there is a cancer in the ‘dead bone area’ and that requires a biopsy which he did yesterday (11 July) at the Lighthouse.  He informed me the right jawbone was in better shape than he expected,  Also both Manzie and Thorpe prescribed me the most powerful antibiotic they could Augmentin Forte Duo.

We are now awaiting the results.  More updates to come.

22 July 2025 I believe in Miracles.

I must confess while we were waiting for the results I was getting increasingly depressed.  Typical recovery time for Jaw surgery is 6 to 12 months.

I go to a gym class for seniors at my city club on Friday mornings.  A fellow participant is the  emeritus professor for Dentistry at UNSW,  When I asked him for advice he looked at me thinking “you poor bastard.”  He confirmed the recovery time; said it was a major operation, and that I would be eating a lot of liquid food.

I was then messaged to stay close to my phone on Monday and Dr Manzie would ring me.  While I was waiting I began to think why should I have the operation?  I had survived for 6 years.  Why not just take antibiotics?  My jaw was slowly improving.  I spent Monday morning rehearsing my arguments.

He rang me at lunchtime.  “Look you have been the subject of a lot of discussion.  We have decided not to do surgery.  We have booked you an appointment with an infection specialist Dr Ria Ko at 2pm today.  We are going to treat you with antibiotics.”  To say I was gobsmacked is the understatement of the year.

Dr Ko has tripled the dosage of Augmentin I was taking and added another antibiotic:  Resprim Forte.  Already the jaw feels much better and you cannot wipe the smile off my face.