Thank you Isaiah. My focus now is the Sonshine (intended spelling). I feel the bitterness trying to overtake me and I can’t allow it. Thank you again for your prayers. I am soooo grateful and excited for everyone else visible VICTORIES.
BLESS YOU EACH.
Seamom I’m ready for your report.
What does that mean?
Redacted for guidelines
We are not able to allow members to post negative comments about doctors for legal reasons. We appreciate that sometimes members are frustrated with doctors, but these are the site rules. If you need to vent, you can private message, but no negative comments on the open forum, I’m afraid.
oh I apologize. I saw the name on the list.
I stopped righting updates on my story here because this topic took a turn I was uncomfortable with… but I am hoping by the number of people visiting this topic that is has been helpful so I wanted to add an update.
3 weeks ago I paid out of pocket to have my surgery with Dr. Samji. I had a very good experience with all aspects of the surgery and am very happy that I went with this surgeon who is very experienced and monitors nerves to decrease risk of damage [none of the other surgeons mentioned using these “nerve sensors”]. When I awoke from anesthesia I was thrilled that I could talk, chew, and stick my tongue out straight! I was a little nervous going into it.
I went back to work 2 weeks after, and had a rough first day back. I have been icing frequently throughout the day…it helps! I also started using Mederma on my neck scar [2.5" long] which was Dr recommended.
I will add a few pictures soon
Glad that the icing is helping, and that you’re happy that you’ve had surgery! I had the nerves monitored too through surgery, although I didn’t realise this had been done until after my second surgery- I had some interesting bruises on my face and found out that it was the clips which had caused this. (There’s a vein above the eyebrow, which the doctor jokingly referred to as ‘the vein of sod’, as it isn’t easily visible but bleeds a lot if nicked, which they possibly caught). So I was really happy that they’d monitored me during the surgery; it’s something I forget to mention when members ask what to talk over with the doctor pre-surgery. I’ll try to remember in future, as it does give you a bit more confidence in the docs!
Mederma is great & Dr. Samji is careful to do his cutting where the scars will be nearly invisible. People tell me they can’t even see the scars on my neck when I point out where they are. They just look like part of my naturally occurring neck creases. Kudos to Dr. Samji for this!
It does help. Thanks for sharing. I don’t think there’s a 3D CT around where I live. Are you still working?
EagleWings, there’s a way to look at ordinary CT pics in 3D format- if you look in the ES Info section, there’s a link to a previous discussion where one of our members did a tutorial, or otherwise you can search for it using the magnifying glass icon top left of the page.
I made my 3D CT Pictures with the program Jules mentioned. I followed the directions on this website.
Okay. Thank you. I might look up how to do that.
I went skiing yesterday and it was GREAT to be able to enjoy life!!! I was worried about going up in altitude [chewing gum helped my slight ear-ache] otherwise NO bad effects. Meet with Dr Samji next Friday for final check up on left side and to discuss next [final] surgery!!!
This was 4 days post-surgery [gauze was just removed]
This is 5 weeks after surgery! My cut was longer [2.5"] because I had a thick bone so a bigger tool was needed and still healing magically! When my chin is down you can’t see it because the doctor put it in my natural crease on my neck.
It’s healed up really well! Glad you enjoyed skiing, and glad it’s all going well, hope the post-op appt. is all fine!
Thanks for the pics, seamom! I had pics of my scars but I think I deleted them. Just didn’t feel like taking new ones the day I made my last post. Your neck looks amazing!
Someone was worried about scarring so I thought it might help if I showed my 2 pics
saw Dr Samji today and he felt I was healed up enough to have my surgery in a 3 month window, so I booked it for April 10! He basically said, a periodic ear ache post surgery is normal from post op swelling and should go away. My under-chin prickly / numb jaw should be gone by 6 months post-op.
Overall, most of my major issues on my left side pre-op haven’t shown up since my surgery: one-sided headache, pressure behind my eyes, loss of consciousness, over-heated head, electro-shock nerve pulse at base of skull, brain-fog / searching for words.
Very glad I had surgery with Dr. Samji!
That is FABULOUS NEWS!!! So glad your really bad symptoms are gone and you have your next surgery scheduled! When I had my first surgery, Dr. Samji was adamant that he wouldn’t do a second surgery any closer than 6 months after the first. I begged him to re-consider. You are very fortunate to have your surgeries closer together!!
Don’t be discouraged if your numb jaw isn’t gone at 6 months. It took at least 9 months for the sensation to come back on my first side & even longer on the second. Nerves are slow to regenerate.
Glad all’s gone well, and I’m sure the time will fly by 'til April!
(I do have some numbness both sides post-op; don’t think it will probably go now, but it’s only if I touch there I realise I’m numb, if that makes sense! I prefer a bit of numbness to pain!)
How long till ALL your neck muscle pain was gone?
