Hi nnaeve,
You are very fortunate that ES isn’t affecting your singing voice. That’s rare among our members who are professional singers. It sounds like you do have several things going on that would make sense to get taken care of in one surgery. Irritation to the vagus nerve by the styloid is what most often affects the vocal cords. Since the nerves are monitored during surgery to help prevent any further damage than ES has caused, your voice should continue to be fine after surgery. Getting your deviated septum repaired is the only thing I can think of that might change how your voice sounds, but I don’t know if that’s even an issue. It would be something to ask your doctor.
I assume you’re seeing Dr. Hepworth based on your location & your symptoms. He seems to be a pretty amazing & thorough surgeon as our members who’ve had him do their ES & other surgeries sing his praises.
As far as surgical recovery goes, it can take from a few days to close to a year for irritated nerves to recover after surgery. Recovery is a three steps forward/two steps back/three steps forward…process. It takes patience & time. I was 58 when I had my ES surgeries, & it took two months after each surgery for my energy to return though some of my ES symptoms began disappearing before then. It did take close to a year to feel like my nerves had fully recovered after surgery.
You should be aware that during surgery (even w/ monitoring), there are nerves that may need to be gently moved out of the way so the styloid can be shortened & this causes them to become irritated. Two that most often seem to cause some post op trouble are the facial & glossopharyngeal nerves. The facial nerve can cause a lower lip droop on one side. The glossopharyngeal nerve can cause minor paralysis to half of the tongue. These would definitely impact your ability to sing though both of these post op problems usually recover within 2-6 months after surgery, & they usually do not occur together i.e. our members who’ve had problems note one or the other but normally not both.
As far as public singing goes, your body & energy level will dictate the timing for that. It will likely be 1-2 months post op before you’ll feel like performing. With external surgery, you will have an incision in the side of your neck which will take a month + to heal. You can cover it w/ a loose scarf or turtle neck shirt if you feel up to performing in public before it’s fully healed.
Here’s a link to post op suggestions that Seamom put together:
I’ll add that I prefer the gel ice packs because they’re pretty soft & will wrap gently around your incision area. I would get 2-3 & put them in your freezer 2 days prior to surgery. Some people can eat as soon as they get home from surgery but others have a stiff jaw &/or sore throat so a soft diet (soup, cottage cheese, yogurt, smoothies, mashed potatoes, mac 'n cheese, pudding, etc) is more preferable for a week or two. A laxative & stool softener are vital if you’re planning to take Rx pain meds as they are normally opioids & are very constipating.
The wedge pillow will keep your head elevated (30º of elevation is recommended) when resting or sleeping which lowers inflammation in the neck & throat. A neck pillow (U or V- shaped) can help stabilize your neck position while sleeping. Ice your neck every few hours keeping ice on your neck for 15 min then off for at least 45 min. The gel packs usually come covered but you may find you need a little additional protection for your skin. Ice really helps w/ post op swelling & pain for most people.
I am 6.5 years out from my first ES surgery & nearly 6 from my second & still doing well. I am definitely an advocate of ES surgery even considering the time I had to step back from my activities to recover from each surgery.