Hi, don’t worry about changing dressings or putting on new steri strips after a week post op with mr Hughes at Cleveland. I changed my dressings end of week one. I am sure your scar will be better than you expect. If you want advice just call nurses on ward at Cleveland who will advise you.
As soon as surface is sealed start putting bio oil on it (Mr H advice).
Sadly JVs do not just “spring back”, they take time to recover and to expand. In a year mine more than doubled/trebled in width but it takes time. Also JVs are designed to collapse when we stand up, so they can get compressed by swelling post op. But that will in time improve. Think more in terms of weeks/months, not days. Patience is essential.
Reduction in pulse rate is a promising sign that op has helped. I’d expect that to continue/improve. Take care. D
Thanks that’s really reassuring to hear! I think I must have read about some lucky people feeling instantly better, so naturally you start to worry if it’s worked or not! After all, I don’t think any of us ever get a doctor who says to us “this is 100% the cause of your symptoms, and this is the way to fix it!” So it’s a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions isn’t it!
Thanks all.
And good luck to babzie and Jacqui for your upcoming surgery’s! Not that you will need it im sure it will go great. I have been very pleasantly surprised with the whole thing from the hospital stay to the post op symptoms, so I’m sure you will have the same experience!
Another thing i will say with my ‘science’ hat on. Is that when you read medical literature they will explicitly state if improvements are seen immediately. BUT, basically any medical paper has hard data from 1, 3, 6 month etc post intervention as things are slow and everyone moves on different timescales.
It is an emotional rollercoaster for sure. Dr. Nakaji told me that sometimes a second procedure is required such as a ballooning or a stent to get the IJV to open. He said stenting before a styloidectomy/C1 surgery has not been successful but stenting after the surgery if needed has been. Hopefully it just more time that your body needs but if not, know that there are still things out there to help you. Wishing you well!
Hey Warrick. You and I seem to be on a very similar timeline. @Jules Told me on my thread that you also had symptoms return. It is indeed a bit of a roller coaster of emotions. Like you I was hoping that I would be a lucky one that woke up from surgery with a clear mind and only surgical site related pain and So on. I did read enough of other people’s threads here to know that that often is not the case and that often symptoms Return for a little while before they start to get better more slowly, or just take a while to go away at all. As much as I told myself I was ready for the worst so that I wouldn’t be too disappointed, I gotta admit there were a couple of days that I was really disappointed. Between that and some auxiliary nerve issues that left me unable to leave the bed… I had a moment of thinking " Please please don’t tell me that I’ve just made myself worse" I was just put on a steroid pack though and two days into it feeling like my head felt like before surgery instead of significantly worse than before. So this is good now hopefully I can get on the track of seeing little improvement over improvement. Just wanted to reach out to you and let you know that I’m around too, My surgery was may 8, And I’d be happy to have someone else to follow along with or even chat a little bit with as our symptoms work their way to where they will eventually land. PS I pretty much purely dictate and it always comes out a little weird.
I think Im back to pre surgery symptoms rather than being worse.
There are some tentative signs of change. Less neck pains, less orthostatic hypotension. I can bend over / stand up quickly without feeling heady! My heart rate is lower.
Still have some mild dizziness and headphones pressure. Worse when I over exert or with stress.
But I have slowly been feeling a little better day by day so I hope it will continue.
Took the dressing off yesterday as it’s been two weeks, still have steri strips on as they are still glued on tight, but all looks good!
@Warrick I’m so pleased to hear you are seeing some improvement!
My visual snow, head pressure & tinnitus have really upped their game this week and I’m just hanging on for Friday!!
Do you mind if I ask a couple more questions please??? I’ve been told I need just a week off work. Does that sound realistic? I’m currently off already, as my symptoms have been so bad, I literally can’t function. I’m worried as I won’t get paid soon.
Also, have you spoken to JH about the other side (assuming yours are also bilateral)? My right side has decided to pay up now (having left removed). Both were close to 5cm at the last check. I’m losing my vision and just want them both gone. Wondered if I’ll have to wait for the post op check or not. I assume I’ll see JH pre op. If so, I’ll ask.
Regarding work, it all depends on your occupation. I couldn’t do mine after 1 week and I’m still off work, but if I had a non physical job where I wasn’t exposed to too much stress I would say the surgery wouldnt have stopped me going back to work after maybe 1-2 weeks at most. But really depends on how your pre op symptoms continue afterwards. Does that make sense?
Also I’ve not specifically spoken to JH about other side but got the impression it would be fine to do second side but he would want to see if the First side helped at all. No idea how long he would want in between.
@Warrick Thanks for confirming. I work from home, so I guess it depends on the outcome of the surgery for me. At the moment I can’t see properly and just cry at everyone - lol. Not the person I used to be.
I’ll ask re side 2, but assume he’ll want to wait until the follow up. I also have some neck instability that I think is causing me issues, but I won’t go back to the chiropractor to fix it until they’re both out. I’m afraid of the risk of having a stroke with them being so large.
Anyway I hope you continue to see improvements. Happy healing!
@BabzieAM , I would think a couple of weeks off work at least…your symptoms have been pretty extreme & I can’t see them resolving enough to work after just one week. Are your employers very helpful with that? Not long now…
@Jules My employer has been great, but I’ve had almost 4 months off already since November with symptoms. My vision is terrible, I feel out of it all the time, I genuinely feel traumatised by the whole experience, to the point by where I had a period of self harming. I need to work though, as I can’t afford not to be paid. I just hope one side makes enough difference. I’m only sleeping a few hours a night due to pain and head pressure. I’m getting worried about how I’ll cope if I don’t see some improvement. I am trying to remain hopeful.
That’s rough, you’ve had some pretty awful symptoms… Keep strong, you are taking positive steps forward to improve things…praying the surgery helps you
Curiousity got the better of me this evening, and despite the steri strips still holding, I decided to remove them, as I wanted to know what was underneath to know if I would be ok bathing etc without the waterproof dressing.
Its been 15 days since surgery…
I don’t know whether to be impressed by the surgical skill, or questioning whether he even opened me up at all! I was expecting much worse!
I can feel some little lumpy bits along the line, but it’s honestly hard to see it looking in the mirror. I’ve got worse blemishes from the dressing being pulled off than the actual scar.
I guess I can commence using bio oil over it now, and taking baths / swimming etc as it looks to be very well closed?!
Just follow any advice on being active though, I found the outside can look healed, but the inside not be yet. In terms of bathing though, that’s a definite win!!
@Warrick - Your incision looks fantastic! At three weeks post op, I looked like I had a caterpillar on my neck. I’d say that between Dr. Hughes suturing ability & your body’s healing ability, your incision has come a long way in a short time!
I do agree w/ @BabzieAM - the outside can look healed, but there is still healing going on inside so take it easy even on your good days so as not to cause symptoms to return from overdoing.
Hi, on “little lumpy bits” on scar it’s important to avoid scar “cording” which can result in lumps. So if scar is healed at surface then after bio oil just very gently do circles with clean finger tip on lumpy bits. It will help stop scar from cording. Just few times a day is fine. Be gentle. D
If scar not flat as heals then Cica silicone dressings or silicone gel in tube on scar can help flatten scar. You may not need it but mention just in case. D
I’d say that between Dr. Hughes suturing ability & your body’s healing ability, your incision has come a long way in a short time!