Hi All,
I had my surgery in 3 days ago on Friday. Surgery itself went well and tney showed the IJV a lot more plump after. I am however in huge post Op pain. My right ear and bottom of jaw are numb but that doesn’t bother me. Day by day the pain appears to be getting worse, originally was on a pain pump button I could press while in ICU. No I’m in the ward I’m just being given oral pain relief which isn’t working despite trying so many. Ice pack helping slightly. Any suggestions?
I’m sorry that you’re in so much pain, that’s not good & unusual… What do the hospital staff say? I’m guessing that you’re taking the pain relief regularly & as soon as the time is up to take more? If pain gets a hold it’s hard to get it under control again… Keep up with the icing regularly & if you can suck on ice pops or something like that (if you have someone bring a couple in each day?) And keep propped up if you haven’t been?
I hope that you can persuade the doctors to help with something stronger as it won’t help with healing if you’re in alot of pain, & hopefully any swelling will go down soon as that’s probably making things worse… (days 3-5 are the peak for swelling).
Thinking of you & praying that this resolves soon 
Hey there,
I’m 12 days post-op and had pain (and numbness) in the same spots you are describing. First of all, it did pass for me and get much more tolerable at about the 5 day mark, so hopefully yours will start to heal and settle. Second, you mentioned this but I wanted to reiterate it: ice helped me more than any pain meds. The hard part is keeping the ice on that particular portion of your neck. I highly recommend getting special ice-packs that are used for wisdom teeth removal (I’m currently wearing one). They helped me a little prior to surgery, but they help tremendously afterwards. They just wrap around your chin and there are built in ice “cushions” that press against your chin, neck, and just below that troublesome ear spot. I ordered like 4 so that I can keep them in constant rotation. I even fall asleep with one on and it helps me sleep. Hang in there!
@Benwt - Both @Jules & @RobotEagle have given you good suggestions. My ES surgeon suggested sleeping w/ head/shoulder elevation of about 30º for several days to a week post op. I ended up sleeping that way for about 6 weeks after my first surgery. It really helped having my head/neck more upright at night when sleeping.
Another thing my surgeon prescribed was a dose pack of Prednisone to help immediately with post op swelling. I don’t love the side effects of Prednisone & learned after my 3rd ES surgery that Dexamethasone works just as well as an anti-inflammatory but without as many side effects. You could ask about something like that.
I agree completely with the advice you’ve been given about using ice packs - 15 min. on w/ a thin towel or cloth between skin & ice pack to prevent ice burns. Ice every couple of hours or more often if needed but for no longer than 20 min. each time & w/ at least 45 min. in between.
If you’re being given opioid pain meds, you’ll also need a daily stool softener & laxative to keep from getting constipated. I hope the hospital staff knows that & is also administering those supplements.
It may take a week or more for the worst pain to noticeably go away, but it will. I’ll also pray for you.
So I’m 2 weeks post op today and thankfully the majority of surgical pain has gone and I’m close to my baseline pain. A bit disappointing that I haven’t seen any improvement yet, I had a follow up with my surgeons nurse today who said the other two patients operated in the same day as me are noticing large improvements. I have none yet unfortunately but it’s still early days.
Good that you have less pain, I can understand that you’re disappointed to not see improvements, but it’s not uncommon to have to wait for a while to see this. Even up to a year nerves can still be healing. Praying that things do start to improve soon
@Benwt - I was in your boat after my first surgery, but didn’t have as extensive of a surgery as you did. It was probably more in the 3-4 week range that I finally started to notice some symptoms reduction.
I’m glad you’re being realistic. The nurse wasn’t right in comparing you to other patients because your body may have a different rate of healing or may have had worse nerve damage, etc., & that can’t be accurately accounted for in a post op visit.
I’m glad you’re being realistic about recovery time as it can be slow, & sometimes every symptoms doesn’t completely disappear, but even having symptoms reduction can create a positive life change.
Yeah big thanks to you and Jules. I’m definitely finding it hard not noticing any improvement when all seem I see is people talking about early improvements. But I have to be patient and hope this heaviness in my head goes
It is more the norm for this to take longer to go…
Ok that gives me hope! If my head can just go from a rock to a feather that would be great!