Today is officially one month from my surgery. The scar looks great but I’m going to try the Cica Care scar gel recommended on here anyway. The area still has a little raise to it but has flattened out quite a bit. If I didn’t tell you there was an incision there you’d probably just think I had some shaving irritation. There’s barely a line. Dr. Hepworth really did a pretty amazing job.
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I bet you are happy to have that teachers insurance! I sometimes regret putting that dream career aside and wonder where it might have led but I knew having the kids would likely derail it. I would have had to move into SF or LA to do the kind of work I wanted and neither were a good place (I felt) to raise the kids vs Santa Barbara. what if’s! It’s a tough business so my hats of to you.MY 1st career was a Cartographer which was fine but I grew tired of working with engineers and non-creative types. 
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Isaiah is the expert in Meniere’s, and can fill you in more about it. When looking for a good doc, look for one who has an expertise in it and he/she will have experience looking for unusual ear issues.
Im not surprised you still have numbness at one month out. I found an acupuncturist who hooked up a tens type unit up to the needles which really helped the nerves in my neck turn on. I was surprised how helpful it was.
Most of my numbness was more in my neck, not much in jaw or cheek. I was already getting and continued to get quarterly botox (sometimes steroids) in to my jaw and temples which has been helpful in calming my jaw down. I recently went to the UW oral facial pain center and their protocol for my pain patterns is doing trigger point lidocaine injections every 3 weeks for a couple months. It seems the insertion of needle disrupts the tight muscles to release, then you get added benefit of getting numbed out. A short period without pain.
As for my ear issues, I went thru a battery of ear tests, vestibular tests and specific scans of the inner ear. They found acoustic reflexes on right were non functional, some mild hearing loss on that side but they are unsure of the causes. The acoustic reflexes do have a connection to the facial nerve and they suggest it as a possible involvement. I sometimes wonder if the Eagles surgery may have caused some facial nerve damage.It is always a risk. There is also some suspicion this is related to C5-C6 impingements or TOS.
I never had much "fullness’ in my ears. I did a 10 day round of predinsone after surgery and that generally kept all my swelling at bay. Ive had inner ear pain on and off for awhile prior to ES surgery. It still kicks up at times and seems to worsen when my scalenes in neck are particularly tight. YOU may want to consider some light/gentle massage to neck and with someone familiar with lymphatic drainage techniques to help it all along.You have a good 4 weeks of healing I think before having any huge expectations. I think it takes weeks to months for all the swelling to go down. Prednisone just helps quicken the pace and give some relief. I considered that stuff magic dust.
From what I understand, they dislocate the jaw to do ES surgery so its no wonder TMJ kicks up and ear issues kick up along with it. FYI: It took me 3-4 months to see a specialist ENT. I suggest you identify one and make appt now…you can always cancel closer to appt time if ears get better?
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@stuuke, First off, I hope you don’t think I was suggesting you have Meniére’s. I only used it as an example of something that has the ear fullness & loud tinnitus as symptoms. As @Snapple2020 mentioned, Prednisone can be very helpful in reducing ear fullness, & potentially ringing. That’s most likely because the sensation of fullness is coming from inflammation & nerve irritation, & Prednisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory, thus it reduces the cause of the symptoms pretty quickly. Usually it’s given as a 7 or 10 day course starting w/ a high dose & reducing the dose daily or every other day until the course is finished. When I was first diagnosed w/ Meniére’s, I was put on both a diuretic & a high dose of Prednisone. Those helped reduce my symptoms significantly. Unfortunately, Meniére’s is incurable & tends to be progressive so I had a couple of good years post diagnosis where symptoms were well controlled w/ meds. That is no longer the case. Because I live w/ ear fullness & loud tinnitus, I completely sympathize w/ your situation.
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Headed back to Denver for my 6 week followup tomorrow. I still have the ear pressure and other symptoms I had before the surgery. I’d say the numbness on my cheek/jaw area is getting better. It’s still there but not nearly as numb so things are moving in the right direction. The only other surgery type symptom I’ve had is a little random weird twitching in my right eye. It doesn’t happen that often but not something I experienced before the surgery. I still have some blood in my sinuses and will ask them about that tomorrow but I think they’re going to clean it out again so that might be start over in the healing process. I’m also going to start some exercise today and see how it goes. I figure traveling tomorrow will give me some recovery and prevent me from overdoing it.
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I hope that the appt goes well tomorrow, & the sinus clear out doesn’t set the healing back! I hope the exercise & flying don’t make your ear pressure worse! Let us know how it goes 
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@stuuke, the sinus clean out could help reduce the ear pressure especially since there’s extra “fluid” remaining in your sinuses. l’ll hope/pray for that!
I am w/ Jules in hoping that flying doesn’t make your ear pressure worse. Eye twitching can be caused by IJV compression but also facial nerve. Will Dr. H send you for an ultrasound of your IJV since those symptoms haven’t gone away? On the other hand, you do have bilateral ES & it may take getting both styloids out to fully resolve the vascular symptoms.
Safe travels to you & we’ll look forward to hearing how your 6 week follow-up goes. 
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Made it back. I’ll start by giving thanks to Allison for seeing me early. Their office is pretty difficult to schedule, call or have call you back but Allison is as good as it gets in the medical field. She went up into my sinuses and said that my healing for the hole was ahead of schedule. The protective cover they put in there has all come out so I don’t need to worry about discharges any more. There was also some scar tissue that had formed in my sinuses from the surgery and she cut those apart and opened the area up. She did say that they like to see improvement of my symptoms by now. They’re going to try another scan of the jugular before I have my Telehealth appointment with Dr. Hepworth. The flight really didn’t have any effect on my pressure. I wish I knew what caused it. She thought the eye twitching could be from an electrolyte imbalance. I never had the issue before the surgery so who knows. The best news is I’m cleared for all activity. I am happy that they’re not satisfied with my condition and will continue to investigate.
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Good that the sinuses are healed okay, difficult that you’ve not seen an improvement in other symptoms…at least they’re not just discharging you, from what others have said Dr Hepworth is thorough and will keep looking! Thinking of you…
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I second all that @Jules said @Stuuke. Was there any comment made about some of your symptoms coming from the remaining styloid &/or IJV compression on the other side? I hope there’s something obvious in the next scans you get so it can be dealt with sooner than later.
I think I’ll get more input from Dr. Hepworth next week about possible issues with the other side. I didn’t have any compression on the right in my previous scans. Allison was mostly checking on how the repair in my sinuses was going. I had my scan on the jugular Tuesday and from what I can tell from the report everything came back normal.
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I had my Telehealth appointment with Dr. Hepworth last week. He ordered another CT scan of the head and neck and I had that yesterday. In regards to the scan on my jugular he said that my flow is still not the correct speed and might refer me to a neurologist on the east coast. He’s going to call and check in on me in a few weeks after he gets the results from the CT. It sounds like he doesn’t feel the leak fix and styloid removal fixed me. He mentioned the possibility of trying blood thinners again to see if those along with the surgery will have a different result. Really not looking forward to starting with yet another doctor.
That’s rough, but at least Dr Hepworth is still trying to help you…what does he think a Neuro would help with?
I think he feels like there are issues with the flow further up in my head. He said there are a few neurologist that work with those kind of vascular issues. He said there are some doctors in NY, Maryland, North Carolina and possibly Austin that he’d recommend.
I am still pretty amazed that with everything they did in surgery that I haven’t noticed an improvement in any of my symptoms and conditions. Obviously a compressed jugular and a hole in my skull leaking fluid is not a good thing. Just crazy that I’m not noticing any difference.
Yes, I agree, it should have improved things…I hope that you can be referred to a good Neuro & get some answers… 
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@stuuke I am deeply sorry to hear your lack of response. There are so many of us united in the exhaustion of this process. It takes incredible determination not to slide into despair. The good news is Dr Hepworth is the strongest possible advocate and will see you through this. The good news is there are others who can help. The good news is you are not alone. Take a deep breath and know there is much to learn for us all, thank you for having the courage to help. You can message me if you like, I too have a similar experience.
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What a challenging & discouraging time for you @stuuke! I’m so glad you have the likes of Dr. Hepworth in your camp & as your advocate! @JustBreathe offered great encouragement. Looking at the good/positives along with what’s still unsettled will help you keep your head up & will encourage you to move forward to a solution.
We’re all here for you, too, rooting for you to get your good health back! 
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Definitely appreciate this community and the positive support. Just getting to the point that I feel like I’ve said to myself so many times “this is it, I’m finally going to be fixed” only to go there 1-2 years with one doctor and find myself in the same exact spot. I’ve taken time away from my family, my work and not to mention the expense of going all over the country and seeing different doctors. At some point it might just be healthier for me to just accept that this is my normal for the rest of my life. I do feel Dr. Hepworth is a smart doctor and could help me. Dealing with his office doesn’t help the frustration though.
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I am wondering if he specifically point out where there is flow issues in the upper sinuses (transverse/sigmoid/sagittal…etc). I am assuming they did Catheter Angiorgram/Venogram as part of the Styloidectomy surgery so they should have a pretty good idea where there issues are at the upper sinuses. If there are narrowing in upper sinuses, then it makes sense why you are not feeling any relief from the Styloid removal.
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