I had my surgery yesterday with Dr. Bunnell at UF Jacksonville, FL aka Shands. Everything really went well and I posted a picture of my surgery site on here. My neck is quite swollen but I feel great!
Not too much pain at all. I was eating graham crackers about two hours after surgery. I had eggs and toast this morning in the hospital.
The staff here is very good! Nice, caring and helpful.,!
That’s great news, glad it went well, & that you can eat! Praying for a good recovery 
So glad your surgery is done & you’re doing well! I hope your recovery continues smoothly & quickly. Will pray for that!
Thanks so much! Did anyone have a good amount of swelling around their incision the day after their surgery (external)? I seem to have a lot of swelling. Maybe that’s normal though.
Very normal! I developed half a double chin (it was only on my surgical side) from the post op fluid buildup up. The incision will likely be a bit swollen foe several weeks.
Ok thanks so much. The charge nurse looked at the swelling in horror and said”that is really swollen.” You can tell she probably hasn’t seen any Eagle patients after surgery. But she was very nice. The night charge nurse had never heard of ES before so I think both nurses learned about ES because I explained it to them and told them to Google it.
Hi! I was in Dr Burnell office today wondering how you were doing. Glad to hear surgery went well. Make sure you ice 20 minutes on and off. No ice directly on wound-elevate your head so the swelling goes down quickly.
Dr Burnell said he can do my surgery in September, I also was very impressed with the staff and how they problem solved issues that can up.
Keep in touch!
Well done, spreading the word! I hope that the swelling goes down soon…
Hi Ann,
I am doing great! I have zero pain unless I hit the wound site with the ice pack a little too hard. I have significant swelling which I attribute to not icing it enough right after the surgery and of course the surgery itself. I did ask about ice right after the surgery and the post OR hospital nurse staff said ice wasn’t written in the doctor’s notes. But I kept insisting and finally got some ice. So be aware of that for after your surgery unless you are going home right after. I am very glad I stayed one night because I live 4.5 hours away from Jax. Another reason I am glad I stayed is because I always have nausea for several hours after any surgery due to the anesthesia. The anesthesiologist gave me Phenergan for nausea in my IV before surgery and then after the surgery, the nurses gave me Phenergan in my IV when I felt nausea coming on and that really helped me. After surgery I was very very dizzy and needed help to get to the little potty they had beside my bed. If the nurses weren’t there to help me I would have fallen. The dizziness lasted for about 10 hours after the surgery and I am sure the meds were a big factor in the dizziness. Everything went much better that I expected. UF Jax downtown has an amazing staff. I spent the night in the max facial ward. So everyone in that ward spending the night was a max facial patient. The max facial residents checked on me three times in the 24 hours I was there. The nurse staff will do anything you want and they spend lots of time with you to make sure you are comfortable. It’s the best experience I’ve ever had in a hospital. Except for the ice miscommunication, UF Jax really has their act together regarding post surgery patient care! Keep in touch and let me know when you get a surgery date.
So happy you are doing well. It takes a bit of time to feel better…after my first styliod operation I felt fine by the afternoon and wound up staying awake all night because there was so much beeping with the other patients in the hospital. I could not wait to get home. Dr Burnell said I could have the choice to leave or stay. My boyfriend will be driving me so we will have a hotel room near by. It was a challenge just driving the 4 hours each way to the appointment this week so I think I need at least a day of rest before I head home. They said the scheduler would call me to book the surgery in September. I am leaving for a month long vacation in August and only coming home in September so time will go by quickly. Keep icing and keep your head elevated…every few days you should feel better….I started to do little exercises like pumping my legs and walking around the house when I got up to get food so I could get my blood flowing….laying still in bed is not the best for healing but you need to pace yourself….I really appreciated siting outside for a few minutes each day to get some air ……again, so very happy you are feeling well….keep in touch!
Ann,
One last thing I forgot to tell you which may help with your decision to stay a night or not is that I had a private room and could shut the door and not hear anything that was going on outside or in the other rooms. I don’t think the nurses were max facial specialist nurses but rather RNs that work with any patients post op. But being in the max facial post op ward I think makes it easier for the residents to do their rounds.
Beach lady,
Who diagnosed you? I live in South Florida. My ENT has never heard of ES. I have an appointment Aug 12th in Lakeland with Dr Raam Lakhani.
I was diagnosed by my ENT Dr. Jonathan Morgan in Largo, FL who ordered the CT scan with contrast and the Radiologist at Baycare Imaging on Brian Dairy Rd in Largo, FL. They both diagnosed me with Eagle syndrome. However, when I went to see Dr. Bunnell at UF Health in Jacksonville who did my Eagle surgery, he did a panoramic X-ray at my pre op appt and my elongated styloid (spike) was a clear as as day right there for all to see on the pano X-ray.
Jules and Isaiah, what do you think about the panoramic X-ray to view the elongated styloid? My neighbor is a neurosurgeon who said a pano X-ray should show it which mine did. But I felt better having the CT with contrast as well as the pano X-ray.
They do often show up on panoramic x-ray- that’s how I was disgnosed too! But depending on the angle they’re not always clear, so a CT is regarded as the best for diagnosis. My left side was visible on the x-ray, but not the right, & they were both the same length.
A CT with or without contrast is the “gold standard” for diagnosing ES. Pano x-rays are usually done by dentists & many of our members get their initial “unofficial diagnosis” from their dentists. Some of the better known surgeons on our forum prefer a CT w/o contrast as the bony areas in the neck show up more clearly. Contrast adds a soft tissue dimension (i.e. vascular tissues, muscles, etc) which can make viewing the styloids & measuring them more of a challenge but does allow vascular compression to be visible (can’t be seen w/o contrast).
Thank you for the information. I will add him to our doctors list & note that he diagnoses ES but doesn’t do surgery.
Sandal 3,
I posted my ENT. I hope you get relief soon and can find a doctor that can help you.
Jules and Isaiah,
Thanks your your responses on CT vs pano. Good info to know!
Congratulation, Beachlady! So happy for you to finally have relief. Incisions look great.
Thank you. I am glad to have it behind me and can move on.
