Hey all! Figured I’d write another post with my roughly 2 week update post surgery and how it went.
I flew into Arizona from PA for imaging with potential surgery on a Thursday. First I had to have a veno/angiogram with manometry with Dr. Mehta in Phoenix. This was really interesting, and wasn’t really as bad as I was expecting on the table. I’d really consider it more interesting than anything, you’re awake and somewhat sedated while Dr. Mehta explores the veins and arteries in your head. It’s pretty uncomfortable when they spray the contrast for a few seconds, but that’s really the only discomfort in the process.
You’re awake watching on the screen as they spray the contrast, although you won’t see all results because you’re turning your head and changing position.
The recovery from this was a pain in the ass though. They put in a catheter in your groin, and while you don’t feel it during surgery time because of local anesthetic it quickly shows up. I wasn’t able to take NSAIDs because my surgery was going to be in less than a week, and it felt like I was kicked repeatedly in the groin area for several days after.
While my veno/angiogram didn’t show “traditional” vascular eagle as Dr. Nakaji says, my Jugular was entirely occluded when turning my head. I had an “impressive” network of collateral veins in my head to compensate though, paraphrasing him. I showed a number of vascular symptoms positionally though that were not able to be replicated through the procedure because of limits in movement etc.
I had the surgery the following Monday, and woke up and immediately noticed the styloid missing once I was conscious. The “bone” poking in my throat was completely gone, ear pressure, ear pain, etc. The only pain I was experiencing was my throat, from intubation. Apparently nerve monitoring requires some sort of special intubation which is larger than normal - and this was pretty painful overall.
I felt great other than that obviously, because I was heavily on drugs which lasted I’d say 2-3 days. It’s a bit hard to tell where the pain and stuff really began, because I was flying home on the Thursday after the surgery which exacerbated the pain quite a bit. I came home with a killer headache and had a lot of problems that day and the day after. I’d guess its a mix of the surgery, pressure, etc. I’d highly recommend waiting a bit longer to travel if you can.
Overall, after the first week which was (literally) a big headache, some jaw pain, I’ve been doing well. I’ve been a bit dizzy when doing anything more than walking on a somewhat flat surface, the tinnitus remains on my left side, and my jaw hurts - but the surgical site itself isn’t all that bad.
Sleeping elevated has helped quite a bit, although my sleep quality has been low.
Overall I think it was a success, stuff that has been 100% taken care of:
- Feeling of bone in my throat on the right side
- Ear pain, fullness, difficulty hearing
- Palpitations/dizziness when turning head to right side
- Jaw pain
- Throat pain
- “Base of skull” ache on the right side.
Some things I didn’t expect to be taken care of that were:
- Stuffy nose on right side
- Sinus pain in forehead
- I’ve gained probably 50% ROM on my neck on the right side. I couldn’t navigate my neck to my shoulder previously, and now it feels “freed”
- My airway feels much less constricted
- GI issues
- A chunk of anxiety
I definitely have a bit to go in terms of recovery and feeling 100%, but so far so good.
