I had surgery Tues 7-22 morning. Stayed overnight and home today. Had left Ext approach by Dr Bumpous at U of L. I have some temporary (I hope) nerve damage to post auricular nerve causing numbness from lower left ear down to neck. Also mandibular nerve causing temporary weakness along left mouth. I have a JP drain in my posterior neck until Friday. Has any one else had temporary nerve damage? How long did it take to return? I can live with some numbness to be free of styloid pain. Thanks
Hi Mare,
I had surgery on 6/23/14 and sustained a "stretch injury" to the lower mandibular nerve, leaving my right lower lip somewhat weak and immobile. Looks like a wry pirate smile but not terribly noticable. I was told function would most probably return within the indicated 4-6 months overall recovery time. I was also told that about 10% of the time it doesn't. I'm not particularly worried. Better than the pre-surgical pain.
I wish you all the best with your recovery! I don't have input for your questions though, sorry.
What tipped the scale for you to actually have the surgery done? I'm looking at having both sides done in the fall...I'm so scared..
NavyWife,
You might consider just taking it one side at a time.
NavyWife said:
I wish you all the best with your recovery! I don't have input for your questions though, sorry.
What tipped the scale for you to actually have the surgery done? I'm looking at having both sides done in the fall...I'm so scared..
I am post op almost 3 months (04/28/14) Left side only, there was calcification of styloid, if Cognetti found it to have elongation he'd do right, AT ANOTHER TIME< becuae I'd also had thyroid cancer removed at same tie.
My styloid incision OTOH gave me issues, well not the incision itself, but the underlying muscles that get overstretched during the procedure, responsible for swallowing were affected severely at first, I was sent home with a nasogastric feeding tube. I actually asked Dr Cognetti "WTF did you DO TO ME?" I was unable to eat solids for a few weeks and fluids would leak through my nose choking me, could NTO swallow pills etc, very hard times. But I got over it.
SO I am waiting to do the right side but making damn sure no one involved in first surgery is attending, I feel it could have been the intubation process as well as being so tight, i did get a serum tests for SS(Systemic sclerosis) but docs won't diagnose me with that either., as I am getting some funky feelings in my throat i did not have before the surgery and that I don't believe are due to the incision either as they are more towards the roof of my mouth.
Definitely NOT related to teeth either as I don't have any, not a one!
Alaska Eagle, sounds like what happened to me a bit, Cognetti told me what happened to me only ever happened to one other patient, might it be you? Maybe not if I remember he counted on his finger around the third week after saying it took them 23 mod to get better.Cathy
Navywife, don't be afraid and I f I could have i'd have and the both sides at same time; essentially it is as IF I did with one incision on left for the styloid and the other for thyroid cancer, so Cognetti didn't have time to do the right side (my surg was about 5 hrs!) HE also had to sue a surgical instrument to break off the styloid when it has been his experience to just use his hands to break it off. HE told me this himself and my report states the difficulty he had breaking it and using the instrument(s).
Good luck!
Cathy
NavyWife said:
I wish you all the best with your recovery! I don't have input for your questions though, sorry.
What tipped the scale for you to actually have the surgery done? I'm looking at having both sides done in the fall...I'm so scared..
dr cognetti did my right side, may 31 2013 and the left july 8 2013...
post op just over a year now. right side did not give me any troubles, pretty much no pain through the entire process.
left side, different story,
that one caused a lot of pain post op. still have some numbness on the left side of my throat that goes from the scar up and under my lower jaw.
a little weird to shave around it. and I get lots of ingrown hairs in the scar...
. otherwise everything is great. no question better than pre op...
I had issues with this since 1999, it had gone on so long, I did not even realize how far down I had gotten. not sure where I would be if I had not found doc cognetti...
Mare,
I had my external surgery November 2013. I had a little bit of numbness in the neck and lip area. It is now all gone. My smile is straight again. So it has been less than a year and I'm back to "normal", what a nice feeling.
NavyWife,
For me there was no decision to be made. I could not have lived as miserable as I felt with my "elephant tusks." I just could not have made it.
TrooperDue it took me a little over a year for numbness from a partoid gland biopsy to dissipate as well, some people may heal more slowly.
Did you have swallowing issues as well? you may be the patient Cognetti told me about then he counted on his fingers how long it took to them to bounce back. Of course docs never use names, in telling us about their successes and those who may have had side effects. I didn't find this out til Post-op! but I have been in conversations with complete strangers, once in a Dunkin Donuts and met someone whose hubby was a patient of Cognretti's, I forgot the name lol but i live in NJ at the Shore so if it is anyone reading this, HIYAS!
I have some residual issues but it may lie in the fact my styloid was calcified and I am thinking the tissue is scarred within that area, not from the Styloid surgery but from Gadolinium from MRI's I am still working up that end of issues (we found some GAD in the tissue taken at the time of the styloid surgery and I am determined as all hell to get this out there and fixed as far as is humanly possible. There is not much in line of treatment for NSF other than treating all those things that pop up such as kidney did dues and scleroderma like dermal issues)
Just took some throat pics although my surgery was from the external approach, I am exhibiting more throat issues as well, I see the allergist immunologist first and have to check with their office to see when I have another followup, he has to address this thickened tissue from an ENT perspective. Cat
note the third image I have lost all my teeth due to Sjogren's and or bloodflow issues I am begin worked up for via a vascular surgeon, but the swelling/blistered area at left side is worrisome for me, I also have IgG issues (hypogammaglobulinemia)
OK I'll admit it I am a mess but determined to get my answers!
C
