Hi @dannie,
Welcome to our forum & thank you for sharing your story. I’m glad you’re seeing Dr. Davidson & hopefully he refer you for an updated CT scan. Your styloids are very pointed & definitely longer than normal. They are also pretty steeply angled toward your spine so it’s no wonder they are causing problems. You should consider getting the left side removed first since it’s compressing your left ICA. Carotid compression is more dangerous than IJV compression because it can cause stroke-type symptoms & if left uncared for can sometimes cause a stroke.
I’m sorry for all the pain you’ve suffered but am glad you have a solid diagnosis now. A sore throat isn’t always an ES symptom so the doctors who claimed it is are wrong. Your symptoms are ones we often see w/ an ES diagnosis. The pain in the back of your neck could be from ES. I had pain at the back top of my neck/base of my skull which went away after my styloids were removed.
Dr. Cognetti in Philadelphia is as experienced with ES surgery as Dr. Samji, & I believe, Dr. Cognetti cuts the styloids closer to the skull base so there is less chance of regrowth. He also does telehealth appointments. He is much closer to you than Dr. Samji & has a very good reputation as both a cancer & ES surgeon.
•Dr David Cognetti, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia 215- 955- 6760 (Has done many successful surgeries on members). Only removes ligaments if calcified. https://hospitals.jefferson.edu/find-a-doctor/c/cognetti-david-m.html
Here are links to two posts in our Newbies Guide section which our moderator @Jules wrote: