After doing a lot of research and asking Dr. Schindler a variety of questions over multiple zoom meetings I decided that the intraoral method seemed like the best option for my specific case. I disnt have to get my tonsils removed.
I was just released from post-op about an hour ago and am on the drive home from portland.
Immediately after waking up the pain in my throat was probably like a 5. Over the course of about 30 minutes I could feel the swelling setting in and rhe pain became morenlike a 7 or 8. My ears feel like they need to pop, and swallowing is painful and uncomfortable. Turning my head much or opening my mouth too far is pretty uncomfortable.
Overall I can speak well and feel pretty good but sometimes it is easier to spit than swallow. The stiches feel like they are choking me a bit when they poke the back of my tongue.
Im prepared for the next couple days to be worse but overall I am optimistic and looking forward to being a few days in the future and able to enjoy eating, but about an hour afted leaving I would say the pain is probably closer to what I was feeling before rhe surgery - at least while I am on pain meds, but I am prepared for it to get worse. I am definitely going to try to stay ahead of the pain with painkillers.
I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks a bunch to everyone on this thread that helped me learn to self advocate, and a special thanks to @Jules and @Isaiah_40_31 for so much guidennce along the way.
@Kiriez - Thank you for the update. Your throat does look very sore & swollen. A nice chunk of styloid was removed.
Our members who’ve had intraoral surgery have found sucking on ice chips, popsicles or frozen juice cubes/chips was very helpful since you can’t put an ice pack on your throat. If your swelling & pain become too intense, please request a course of prednisone. Prednisone was a life saver for me post op after each surgery. I think I had a 10 day course each time. Also, remember to sleep w/ your head very elevated at night for the first week post op as that also helps reduce swelling.
Finally, get yourself started on a stool softener & laxative tomorrow if you didn’t start today as the pain meds will cause constipation & it’s best to avoid that if at all possible.
Please keep up updated as to how you’re doing. I hope once you’re recovered that your ES symptoms go away & you feel like your healthy self again.
My doc did intraoral for my left side and showed me a picture of a 2 cm styloid - he had told me he went all the way to base. I asked where the other two cm were - he said they were in fragments he had to pull out - you may ask on your followup
Its been about a month and a half since my surgery.
The first few days were painful and uncomfortable. It was probably equivilant to a bad head cold except it was also slow and tedius eating anything. On the first day the stitches would hit the back of my tongue and gag me a bit if I fell behind on my meds at all. That was really uncomfortable but also it passed quickly. Really, the worst longer term symptom I had was that my tongue was really numb on the right side. I assumed it had to do with swelling affecting the hypoglossal nerve or glossopharyngeal nerve. But it felt like either the clamp used to hold my tongue was too tight or they accidentally cauterized the tip of my tongue. I had some swollen taste buds in a few spots and it felt kind of like i had burnt my tongue on hot food. It took about a week and a half or two weeks until it returned to feeling normal.
I wasnt needing the perscription pills to handle the pain much by day 2 and 3. But then on day 4 I woke up with a lot of pain in my trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles. It hurt to turn my head all the way or look down. Painful near the collarbone especially. If I woke up sleeping on my right side I would be very stiff and it would hurt to roll off of my side. I ended up using the hydrocodone mainly for that pain in my shoulder and eventually requested a refill on the perscription. I think the shoulder and neck pain kept up for like 5 days and then I woke up with the pain on the other side in the same spot but like half as bad and the right side felt normal again. The pain only stayed on the left for a couple days.
After the shoulder pain subsided, it still was uncomfortable to sleep on my right side for about another week because of the pressure near the surgery site.
But once the area near the styloid healed more and the swelling went down, I can now say I can sleep on my right side pain free! It had been years leading up to the surgery that I had dealt with an extremely nagging pain around the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles if I tried to sleep on my right side. My right hand and forearm are still a little off, but I think it is unrelated as i do a lot of repetative motions, but we will see if any more healing occurs.
As far as the feeling of something stuck in my throat… it is hard to say. I THINK it is better, I feel like when I swallow the muscles move easier and smoother without the styloid in the way or agitating nerves. But with the incision site still being raised and tight, it kind of feels like there is something in the back of my mouth still. However, my right tonsil feels like it isnt being pushed on and it feels like it is returning to the shape I remember it being before I had ES symptoms.
I think as the scar tissue relaxes and returns to its new position my mouth and throat will feel bigger and more open than before and without any of this tight / pulling feeling that I currently experience.
I think in another month and a half I will be able to get tonsil stones out that I havent been able to reach in years and not have a sensation of any foreign objects in the throat/mouth. I am excited to see how much better things keep getting.
I’m glad that you’re seeing some improvements, that’s really good! And it sounds as if you’ve been very patient & optimistic about recovery, well done! Do you need surgery on the second side, or is that okay?
Hugs to you & hope things keep improving
Hooray for healing @Kiriez! We’ve heard that intraoral surgery can be a bit slower to heal from but still provides good results in many cases. It sounds like with time you should get to feeling much better.
Hi @Kiriez , thanks for sharing your story! I’m having my surgery soon with Dr. Schindler and I’m starting to get a little anxious about it How have you been healing since your last update? Any lingering side effects from surgery that you didn’t expect? I hope all is well and happy holidays!!
How have you been healing since your last update? Any lingering side effects from surgery that you didn’t expect? I hope all is well and happy holidays!!