Pictures from 1hr-12hrs post-opâŠI was in surgery for much longer than anticipatedâŠBetween the combination of the complexity of the vascular involvement as well as the time it took my surgeon to carefully trace the branches of my facial nerves and to biopsy an abnormality on my oropharynxâŠmy original surgery estimated time of 1.5-2 hours ended up taking 3 hrs and 42 minutes and obviously I came home with a drainâŠI am in a lot of pain right now but even still the constant feeling something being stuck in my throat has greatly improved on my left sideđđ» Oh and hereâs s picture of my left styloid that was removed!
Ouch!! Glad that your safely home, & hope that youâre able to rest- that drain looks huge! I had a smaller one, but found that uncomfortable & impossible to sleep with- hope yours comes out soon. Better than swelling & getting infections though I knowâŠ
Good that youâve already noticed an improvement in one symptom! Praying for you to heal swiftly! 
Oh goodness D907âŠthat is quite the incision! Iâve had a drain tube like that beforeâŠwhen I had my gallbladder removed (luschka ducts) - seems Iâve got an abundance of odd and rare issues!
Thank goodness youâve got it over! Is this it or do you have bilat? Really appreciate you sharing your post-surgery with us - so helpful for everyone. Did your doc give you a time frame of what to expect for recovery? Iâm always curious what the doc says comaired to what we all know from others here! The surgeon I visite with in OKC told me I would be back up and running in a week or two - IF it worked! His success rate is only 50%! Are you doing pain meds or is everything still pretty numb?
YOWCH!! That is quite an incision & the drain looks like no fun! Good sized styloid, too! Different doctors make different sized incisions. As gnarly as your incision looks right now, it should flatten out nicely & virtually disappear w/ time. Mine was smaller & w/ no post op drain, but I was given prednisone to help control swelling. Hope the drain gets removed soon! Your pain will be at its worst this week then will gradually start to get better over the next couple of months. Hopefully you have someone to help you with your kiddo for a cpl of weeks!
Praying for a quick recovery for you!!
Omg that looks sore Iâm dreading the thought of surgery but at least I know what to expect hope you feel better soon x
Not all surgical incisions are that long, itâs different for everyone . And lots of us feel the discomfort isnât as bad as the pain from the styloids, or at least itâs worth it in the end!
It was extremely uncomfortable and as you said absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to sleep withâŠI was told to stay at a minimum of a 45 degrees until the drain came out and so when I would start to doze off I would fall over a little and instinctively pull back and it would pull at the drain which pulled at my incision and into my stitches inside my throat 
Iâm not gonna lie the first 48 hours were absolute HELL because even worse was the inside of my throat from the excisional biopsyâŠtoday is Day 3âŠitâs 3:45 AM in Anchorage Alaska right now so a little more than 60 hours post-opâŠstill not sleeping much because of the pain but they did take my drain yesterday afternoon so that helpedâŠand I am starting to get betterâŠthe first three days after surgery are always hard Iâm almost through the worst and I look forward to getting back my quality of life and be able to enjoy more time with my son it really sucks that I wasnât able to take him trick or treating and my sister had to⊠
âŠbut Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I have a lot eating to make up for 
I will check back in with you all tomorrowâŠThank you for the support it is comforting to talk to other people who have been through and/or going through the same thing âŠjust knowing Iâm not alone is comfortingâŠThank you all!
4-6 weeks with no strenuous activity or lifting over 5lbs/ bending overâŠ
Youâre absolutely right! The pain from the styloids themselves is worse because it didnât end and my biggest physical pain right now is from the huge chunk they took from my oropharynx and then being uncomfortable from the drainâŠbut I can already see an improvement especially with the constant feeling of the fish bone in my throatâŠIt will be well worth it!
Everyoneâs surgery is different and honestly yes the drain is uncomfortable but the incision you see isnât whatâs causing me the most physical painâŠI had a huge excisional biopsy of my oropharynx and the pain from that is the worstâŠDonât worry this will be worth itâŠAt least for me because I been living with such bad electrocuting pain in my face/neck/throat for years literally choking and gagging on food surviving of ensure and having mini strokesâŠI already am seeing improvements and most importantly my artery on my left side will no longer be compressed when I turn my head rightâŠ100% worth it!
I have it bilaterallyâŠbut this side was worse as far as symptoms go and next time I wonât be having an excisional biopsy of the inside of my neck at the same time lolâŠthe right side is gonna be a cake walk!
And yes I have liquid hydrocodoneâŠAnd 4-6 weeks for full recovery as in lifting more than 5 lbs and anything strenuousâŠbut I get my stitches out on the 6th which will be one week post-op and doctor said I should be doing all light activities by day tenâŠhonestly I got my drain out yesterday and I think Iâm ready to take my son to the movies this weekend⊠I did things like cooked dinner for my son and threw some clothes in the washer and I have a small shopping list for this eveningâŠso no exact date basically as tolerated but he really stressed the no heavy lifting and/or strenuous activityâŠ
D907 You are one tough cookie and a very inspiring one at that! Iâm so sorry you were having such a hard time of it prior to the surgery. But knowing that you are so much better already has to help motivate you through this recovery! This too shall pass and you will get your life back - what a lucky young man to have a mommy like you! Just try to be really careful when approaching all those chores. I know it doesnât seem like a lot to do a load of laundry but it really is. Those pain meds just tend to make you think it isnât! 
Hope you donât have long to wait for the NEGATIVE biopsy results so that stress can be lifted as well. Glad the drain is out, but you sound like my young self and maybe a bit hyper!!! LOL That drain might have helped keep you slowed down a bit. Best to your recoveryâŠonward and upward.
I am curious about nerve numbness and such and would like to hear about those sorts of things when you feel well enough to post again. 
So glad you are on your way to recovery. I have external surgery set up this month on the 29th. How long did your stylohyoid process measure? Mine is 4.1 cm. I am nervous.
Awe glad your wee bit better Iâm dreading it to be honest but canât wait to get it done as Iâm choking all the time even on air my throat constricts and itâs so sore and oh my the headaches are awful iv lost 60% of hearing on left side x
Yes, be careful with those jobs- I did a little bit of sweeping in the kitchen too soon & really felt it afterwards⊠hope you keep seeing impreovements!