Sorry I’m just now responding! I decided to stay off the forum and the ES FB page as I was having a lot of anxiety from it.
I am day 11 post op today. I had my left side stylohyoid ligament (the most problematic side and the most calcified) removed via extraoral surgery by Dr. Donovan at Baylor in Houston, TX.
Apparently, my stylohyoid ligament was deeper than expected. The platysma muscle was cut (which apparently is normal to get to it), and mine was “well-established” to get to the ligament. The ligament was about 4cm long and pretty much fully calcified. I may do a separate post, too. I stayed the night in the hospital for observation with the drain tube. Immediately it was apparent that my tongue on the left was swollen. Apparently the muscle on the right was pushing on the left as the left is currently damaged. Also I can’t pull my left lip down. The doctor said the lip will probably be the longest wait to heal at about 3 months. So my smile isn’t normal. My tongue has gotten somewhat better and I can eat a little better since right after post-op. But one concerning thing I’ve had beyond those things, is since about day 5 or so I’ve been getting a bad tension type headache on the back of my left head where it meets my neck. I’m hoping it’s just from the tight muscles due to surgery (and not permanent occipital neuralgia–please I need to not get too nervous about that prospect), but every time I lie down on my back or try to sleep it hurts. It aches. I’ve tried a muscle relaxer which maybe helped slightly? Last night I was able to sleep fairly well, but I have to turn to my left, then to my right side, throughout the night. As it hurts to lie on my back or one side too long. Also, it seems to be connected to my swallowing. When I swallow it still hurts sometimes in the left tonsil area. It feels maybe tight? And I can sometimes feel a pain when I swallow on my left side tonsil as if it’s connected to the back of my head.
I’ve also now become more anxious and aware of my right side ligament being there. And wondering how long I should wait to have that surgery done. I’m also trying to fit in some cycles of egg retrieval first ideally (I’m 38 and don’t have any embryos made with my husband).
I think maybe I should make a separate post about this? But Dr. Donovan did my surgery. He said although my surgery wasn’t out of the realm of normal, he did think it would go better for me. But my ligament was deeper than expected. He thinks he’ll have better ways to go about my right side. I have another post-op appt. next week on Aug. 4th.
There’s also another doctor who does intra or extraoral who took my tape and outside stitch out, Dr. Eddie Liou, N. Eddie Liou, M.D., F.A.C.S. | BCM
Any insight on how long it takes to stop having this headache (?) when I lie down (which didn’t start straight away–so I’m guessing either nerve irritated from super tight neck muscles), as well as how long it might take to get my tongue back to normal, and also my lip? Also any good stretches. I’ve been heating the back of my neck and that seems to help some. I’ve also been icing since I got home the day after surgery on my surgery site.
One thing I’ve learned is there’s not a lot of great post-op recommendations from the doctors. I should’ve maybe looked on here, but I have anxiety and didn’t want to make it worse/more stressful.
Thanks!
*Oh also, I don’t have any numbness anywhere. I can feel my full tongue and my lip. I just can’t control my lip very well/at all on the left side to smile normally. And my tongue seems to get “tired” on the left throughout the day with talking a lot.
Also, I’d say my pain is maybe worse now (?) with the back of head/neck pain being near constant. Worse while lying down. I didn’t take pain pills very often except for the day I got home from surgery. And then more recently when I tried to see if it would help my head pain (it did one night but not the next). I can’t take NSAID’s due to possible allergy. I’d prefer not to take a steroid due to anxiety. So I have a muscle relaxer. Which I haven’t wanted to take very often.
That being said, I know maybe it’s too early to know, but the ES nerve pains I was getting pre-surgery do seem to maybe be gone. I can now spit (when brushing teeth) without sharp nerve pains.
UPDATE POST: Day 11 Post-op Left sided stylohyoid ligament surgery - Photos