Hello everyone I’m new here IJV Eagles

That’s awesome to hear. I’m glad you got it removed. How did you go about making your appointment without a referral?

I just called the office, had my images sent over and made an appointment at the UF Jax North location near the airport. Does your insurance require a referral maybe? If so, whoever ordered your images should be able to refer you or maybe even your primary care physician. Dr. Bunnell will spend a lot of time with you during your appointment and will answer all your questions. I was told by the anesthesia nurse at the hospital during my pre op call that I picked an excellent doctor. Dr. Bunnell is not in my network but the hospital is.

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Oh ok you called the north location. I called the other location. I will call the north facility tomorrow and try to get in. Jacksonville is only 4 hours for me. So that will be amazing. Thank you so much for the info! :slight_smile: I just wanna get this devils toothpick out of my neck and get back to work.

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Good luck! They are a VERY busy team but the doctor is amazing so don’t give up. I was told Dr. Bunnell sometimes does surgery five days a week!

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That’s a lot of time in the OR, thank you i will keep y’all up to date on everything. I hope you have a great night :slight_smile:

Hi Calebp,

Just a thought from my end. You’re contacting a lot of offices, & you’ll potentially get different info about surgical strategies & recovery times from each one. We have a list of questions to ask a doctor whom you’re considering for surgery. Using that may help you sort out which doctor(s) seem to be the best fit for you. You’ll also make your decision based on personality fit - i.e. how well you feel you get along w/ a doctor. Seeing someone who is a competent ES surgeon is certainly important but being able to also feel good about your relationship w/ the doctor you choose is the icing on the cake. I’m sure you experience this scenario with the docs you work with. Some are welcoming teachers & others keep you at arms length.

Here’s one thread about the questions to ask, but there are many others:

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Thank you I have a list from this site to ask the doctors when I go. Y’all are amazing :blush:, I have one appointment at UAB in Birmingham with a neck and head surgeon. And I sent my images and report to dr Samji, I have a friend that lives in California near San Jose that I could stay with. I am willing to drive out there because he seems to be pretty awesome with patients and surgery.

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Yup! I think he is awesome! He did my surgeries back before he’d done 100 of them. Now he’s at around 300+.

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You said once you become a pt it usually goes pretty quickly?

Yes - video consult (because you’re so far away) w/in a couple of weeks of CT/radiology report review & surgery w/in 2-3 weeks after that.

I sent my images through a one drive link, and I sent it through email to his assistant. Should I call them tomorrow and check and see if everything made it to them? Or should I give them more time. And did your insurance cover the surgery?
I do t want to be bothersome to them but I also don’t want to be swept by the way side.

It’s always good to give a follow-up phone call to make sure what you sent got there. Whoever you talk to will hopefully give you a time frame in which you can expect a response. I think that’s you doing your due diligence, not bothering them. :blush:

My insurance did cover my surgery but not completely. I don’t recall what my out of pocket was. There is Dr. Samji’s fee, the anesthesiologist’s fee & the fee for the surgery center. Your insurance should cover at least part of all of those.

-Yeah I seen where people are paying out of pocket around 13k for the surgery with dr Samji. But idc if this gets me feeling better.
-But I called and she sent me to dr Samji assistant and I left a message.

  • is it weird that I am excited but scared about all of this?

We’ve all been there; relived at having a diagnosis & a reason for the symptoms, scared at the prospect of surgery but looking forward to getting rid of the styloids! I hope that you get some results from all your enquiries!

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Thanks @Jules, yeah I literally thought I had all these crazy diseases like ALS, MS and a couple others. It’s bitter sweet to know a source. Do y’all have members that symptoms start out of nowhere? And progress decently fast? Cause it took me all of a month to be from running miles a day to on the couch dizzy with all kinds of symptoms.

It does vary- mine came on gradually, although once diagnosed & researching I realised I’d had some for years (I’d had a whiplash injury 20 years before so had had some symptoms since) But the vascular symptoms did come on quite quickly.
We’ve had members with both experiences- some have had an injury or possible fracture of the styloid so symptoms start then, others with a slow progression…

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Gotcha, yeah looking back now I was having face twitching and problems sleeping with my head in certain positions for about 7 months but just thought it was from working 8-12hr nightshifts in a row at the hospital. :sweat_smile:

I agree w/ Jules. Not weird to be scared but excited. Our member @SewMomma coined the term “nercited” for how she felt about finally being diagnosed & having to face surgery. I think it’s a perfect word! :joy:

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I agree.
It feels like I’m close to the end of a race. And I see the finish line, but the finish line is lit on fire. I know I will probably be ok but there is a slight fear crossing the finish line.
My brain is weird idk if that makes sense :joy:

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Great analogy, Calebp!

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