Edes: Napoli rejuvenated after dramatic surgery
There were numerous nights, Napoli said, in which he woke 50 to 100 times, which left him so sleep-deprived he’d sometimes nap during batting practice just so he could play in that night’s game.
"I was always tired," he said. "There were games I came out of, people really didn’t know what happened, but it was because I was dizzy. I was sleep-deprived. I couldn’t focus or anything. It was tough."
So tough, Napoli said, that at the end of the past season he told Red Sox officials he was considering retirement, unless he underwent surgery to correct the condition.
"I was feeling, I’ve got to have surgery or I’m not going to play anymore. That’s how bad it was," he said. "I had a really bad episode one night. I would wake up, and I couldn’t breathe. I’d kind of freak out. You wouldn’t know where you were.
"I came in and I said, 'I need to see the doctor now.' I wanted the surgery yesterday."
The procedure, known as maxillomandibular advancement surgery, is typically a last resort for those afflicted with obstructive sleep apnea because of what it entails: a face-altering, three-to-four hour operation in which both the upper jaw (maxilla) and lower jaw (mandible) are moved forward, so the entire airway can be enlarged.
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Nothing could have prepared him for what he underwent on Kaban’s operating table.
"It was a brutal process," he said. "It was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done, to tell you the truth. They broke my upper and lower jaw and moved it forward. I spent two days in ICU [intensive care unit], and afterwards, there were 10 days of pain where I was just sitting there, I couldn’t do anything. I walked around a little bit.
"I still have some complications. I don’t have any feeling in my lips, just because they stretched out my jaw so far, all the nerves take time to get back. It’s like when you go to the dentist [and get novocaine]. You know when it gets tingly, [the feeling] is starting to come back? My upper lip is like that, but [not in] my lower lip, the front of my teeth. I can’t really feel the roof of my mouth. It could be a year, or it might not ever come back."
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Although unable to do his normal offseason workout routine, he insisted, "I haven’t really lost too much strength." Building up endurance is now the priority, and he expects to be ready for the start of the season.
"I started hitting. I’m throwing. I’m lifting weights. I’m running," he said. "I couldn’t clench my teeth for a certain amount of time, so I couldn’t do strenuous stuff, but I got the full go from the doctor.
"I don’t feel like I’m that far behind. I'm going down to [spring training] on the third [of February]. All the trainers are going to be down there. I'll hit outside, do all my stuff there. Everything is looking good."