I had my consultation with Dr. Bunnell a few days ago. I really liked him; he explained the surgery thoroughly and answered all of my questions. He said I’ll likely have a 2 week recovery. He did a scan of my neck while i was there and it showed that my left side is longer than my right, but he is going to use my scan from Mayo Clinic (because it is more thorough) to see exactly how long, what it’s hitting, etc. (He has to request it from Mayo because they didn’t send it over like i asked). He’ll only remove my left side during surgery, and if i end up feeling symptoms on my right afterwards, i can schedule a surgery to remove that side. He said there is some risk during surgery of hitting the nerve that controls my lower lip movement, but that it would be relieved over time. He is booked until the end of September so I will either schedule it for then or after the holidays. Really excited
So great that you saw Dr. Bunnell & your appt went well. The only caveat to what he told you is that recovery from ES surgery will take longer than 2 weeks. Nerves that are irritated by the elongated styloids can take up to a year to mend once the styloids are removed. Most people feel pretty good by a couple of months after surgery but symptoms can come & go for awhile even beyond that.
If you get another chance to talk to him before your surgery, ask him if he will be monitoring your nerves during surgery. Many doctors do that to help prevent accidentally injuring or irritating them.
Good news that he’ll help you! I second @Isaiah_40_31 's suggestions too…
I had ES surgery on my right side with doctor Bunnell. I was told by the anesthesia nurse that called me for pre op questions that he was a really good doctor. I live five hours away so that’s why the pre op was done on the phone and through doctors on the west coast. Anyway, I had fantastic results from the surgery with doctor Bunnell. Good look to you. You are in good hands!