Hey all,
So I am officially 4 days post-op and wanted to share my experience with the surgery and first couple days of healing.
I had my surgery conducted by doctor Dr. Nakaji and he was great. They were able to get the whole thing out, which clocked in around 5 cm…which was longer than it looked like on the scans. He was unable to shave my C1 because my spinal accessory nerve was getting too irritated and it was providing the least amount of compression, so he just called it. He did clean up the area and cut away any soft tissue that started calcifying and expanded the carotid sheath to allow expansion. He did note, my carotid sheath and surrounding tissue was already inflamed and very rough, so my recovery period might be more intense than what is considered normal.
The first day, I didn’t notice much of a difference but it was mostly numb and I could barely speak. I had some minor facial weakness, but you can’t really tell. I did immediately notice the foreign object sensation was gone and it was no longer poking me in the back of the throat. Small wins!
The second day was pretty much the same. My neck felt a little lighter but too many medications were in my system to get a good read.
Third day was the worst. Swelling and pain kicked in and I couldn’t swallow very well. Most of the day consisted of choking on my spit and icing the area. I started noticing very small amounts of shoulder weakness, likely from Dr. Nakaji trying to move the nerve out of the way.
Today is the fourth day and the swelling went down significantly. I still have some issues talking and sinus/throat swelling makes it hard to swallow, but I think it is getting better. I can feel the shoulder and trap weakness a little more and I will probably have to PT it to get back my full strength. It is not a big deal though, it doesn’t prevent me from doing anything I could have done before.
Dr. Nakaji had said any bloodflow or dysautonomia symptoms would likely take between 2-6 months to notice any real change, as the area needs time to heal, scar and settle. Right now, my neck is too swollen to notice anything beyond the absence of a foreign object. But, that in itself was encouraging. The initial relief was small but it was immediate.
I follow up with him in a week and a half to discuss recovery. After the surgery, he had said I may need the other side decompressed but wants to see how this does. My veins were smaller than he expected and the inflammation in the tissue suggests either the Eagle Syndrome was really affecting the area or there is another vascular component at play.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
I feel likes its been TOS or rotator cuff!
