6 Week Post-Op With Dr. Osborne

[sarahmarie5]

Hi everyone, I’m about 6 weeks post-op from my right styloid ligament resection performed by Dr. Osborne. I’ve been waiting for the right time to write this out and post it on this forum. IT’S BEEN A WILD RIDE and I’ve been a bit overwhelmed at how I would be able to explain my experience.

Mentally and emotionally, I am currently processing a decent amount of grief over how long I’ve truly suffered. More importantly, I likely went into the surgery with bilateral carotid artery dissections (yes, both sides!) - I was diagnosed 6 days post op in the UCLA ER after I had a very brief episode of blurry vision in my right eye and burning in my cheek. I thought maybe it was an infection and went in immediately. After 26 hours in the ER - two CT scans with contrast, MRI with & without contrast, neuro & ophthalmology workups, I was diagnosed with the dissections and given blood thinners. They told me the dissections happened within the past 3 months, and it’s hard to say when. However, I know in my heart when it happened. Because all of the symptoms I’ve been MASSIVELY struggling with were this year - with me going to the chiropractor twice weekly for months on end having high velocity neck adjustments. My last one was in April, and I wasn’t diagnosed with Eagle Syndrome until April 29th. Once I was diagnosed I stopped chiro adjustments immediately. I believe the constant friction of these adjustments caused the tears, but of course, I can’t prove it. I have my first appointment with a stroke neurologist here soon. I anticipate they may keep me on blood thinners until after I get the left styloid (the big 7.3cm whopper) removed next year.

I will say, this surgery has completely changed my life and I felt the mental/cognitive shift immediately after surgery. My heart palpitations also completely stopped. My doomsday thoughts are gone, my nightmares are gone, the amount of calm I have is incredible. It’s as if someone waved a magic wand and made my anxiety, racing thoughts, and electricity go away. I’ve spent an enormous amount of resources focused on nervous system regulation over the past decade. And now…it’s…calm. Just like that. I feel as if I’ve been given a new brain and body that I’m still adjusting to. I’m in awe and disbelief often.

Dr. Osborne’s office was absolutely incredible. I went into the surgery smiling, laughing, requested classical music to be played during my procedure. The staff was so supportive and I went under with them rubbing my forehead, smiling at me, and telling me I’m in great hands. It was extremely peaceful! I woke up and I immediately felt like something was wrong - the pinch in my neck. WHAT IS THAT!? “It’s the drain, yes Sarah, it’s properly placed, nobody likes it. You just need it for a couple of days.” Haha. The drain was one of the worst things about recovery. The pinching, and the removal. Just awful. But, blips in time.

Pain - I didn’t miss a single Vicodin dose for the first week. I know many of you just took Tylenol, but I was in quite a bit of pain! I had the facial droop on one side for 2 days that subsided, and definitely had the zingers every time I’d go to take the first bite of food. I still do, every meal. My entire ear, cheek, and part of my neck were completely numb for 4 weeks. Week 5 & 6 I’m having more feeling in those areas.

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton Marina Del Rey for 10 days total. I’m glad I planned for extra time, as two of those days ended up being in the ER. It was very helpful having housekeeping come through twice a day, and room service as needed, it was less then 15 min from Dr. Osborne’s office, the view was beautiful, relatively quiet than other options, the food and staff were amazing. I did however bring a lot of overnight oats and meal replacement shakes as I anticipated soft meals only in case it was difficult to chew.

I’m an extremely active 36 year old and this surgery really did humble me in terms of slowing down and listening to my body. I still have days now where I know I just need to take it easy.

I will say…to those who do it back to back; I applaud you. I personally am very glad with my decision to space out each side. They say everyone’s recovery is very different and while I was bright and positive when relaying my recovery to people, behind the scenes, it’s been a lot. I think if I didn’t have my dissections and those physical restrictions, it would be easier.

I can’t imagine life without having at least one of my styloids removed. I can only speak to how I feel now and I’ll circle back once the left side is out. But it’s extremely sobering to realize how long I’ve been suffering. I would really like to know how my brain and body feels with both of them out, as they’ve clearly been wreaking havoc for over a decade…This all happened to fast with my diagnosis to surgery (April 29th to July 31st), that it continues to be a lot to process.

Feel free to ask any and all questions, more than happy to help anyone as much as you all have helped me- the resources, stories, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[SCJeff]

Wow, what a trying experience you have been going through, and to suffer caratoid dissections ontop of eagle’s symptoms and surgery. I too have gone through many high velocity chiropractor adjustments this year until I realized the severity of my condition and stopped. Hopefully chiropractors will begin to screen patients for eagle’s to minimize risk of harm. There is plenty of papers of case studies about caratoid dissections occurring in eagle’s patients including from mundane events such as turning neck or a fall. I am sorry you have been suffering for so long, I know how you feel I’ve also had this for over a decade and close in age but finally found help through this forum. I talked with Dr. Osborne and he is truly wonderful but because of my compression and anatomy he supported me deferring to vascular eagles surgeons, so I am consulting those now. Your styloid was quite large, and your larger one is next. Besides blood thinners, is there anything else that must be done to heal your caratoids? Good luck on the rest of your recovery and thank you for sharing.

[Isaiah_40_31]

@sarahmarie5 - Thank you for your amazingly thorough post. I’m so glad you’ve had such great improvement since your surgery. Very scary about the carotid dissections! I’m glad your body gave you warning signs rather than going into full blown stroke mode!

You do have a whopper of a styloid left. I expect you’ll feel “on top of the moon” when that one’s gone, too! My shorter styloid was removed first, too, because of the angle it was growing, and by 2 mos post op I was chomping at the bit to have the second one done.

I pat you on the back for listening to your body & recognizing it’s still in recovery mode. It is soooo difficult to keep activity at a lower level during recovery especially once you’re feeling better. It will pay off though.

I hope you notice continuous improvements as more time passes.

[lsheep]

Thank you for sharing your journey with us I hope and pray you continue to heal quickly & fully!

[Jules]

Thank you for sharing your story and your recovery process, I’m so pleased for you that you’ve seen big improvements already, and sounds like it was a wise decision to space out your surgeries…

I had a drain in too & that was horrible!

I hope that it’s not too long before you can get the other side out- they are mighty long styloids so no wonder you were feeling so grim… take care and keep us posted!

[LisaMaria]

@sarahmarie5 Wow, if you said about the dissections before, I totally missed that! To me you are a really good example of what drove me to get mine out! I thought, even if none of my symptoms resolved, getting those little swords out of my neck was a good move. Obviously, like you, I had a tremendous turn around in my health which is all bonus. But, man, thinking of all the doctors that gaslight people and don’t do anything about their elongated styloids, how many people suffer needlessly. And a dissection!!! that could have been so catastrophic! I’m really happy you are seeing better days and look forward to you getting the other side out when you are ready. Your facial drooping was definitely a fear of mine, it’s always a risk. I’m glad it was so short lived. I think if I had endured what you did, I may have chickened out of doing both of mine at the same time. I’m grateful the first one of mine was so easy, it built confidence to go forward with the second one right away. You look great - happy and healthy!