Hey everyone;
Sorry for not posting sooner. It’s a good thing. Been at work since day 2 and recovering beautifully thank God. HUGE improvements everyday. No pain meds except for reg Tylenol & ice on day 1 only. Slept upright only on night 1, with the help of this incredible travel pillow & Benadryl.
Swallowing was extremely painful on day 1 & 2. My guess is that even though I was very careful to ask for an attending physician to intubate, & asked for the minimum size tube (6.5), the s/h was in the way so he prob had to push through the vocal tract causing some trauma. Will confirm this w Dr on my telemed appt on tues. Nothing that time won’t heal
As previously posted, the immediate relief was the disappearance of swooshing sounds in the submandibular area and of course the disappearance of sharp base of skull/neck spasms. For many other symptoms, (mostly throat & vocal), I will have to wait till the rest of the swelling goes down.
On day 3 (maybe a bit premature), I went for a lymphatic drainage massage. OMG it helped so much with draining fluids. Def recommended. Bandage came off that night and here’s a pic of the scar healing. Pogonophiles rejoice
I realize that many post op peeps disappear from here and life just might make me do the same, so I’m posting my email address for all who would like to reach out with any specific questions. To review, my situation was a 5.5cm s/h process and calcified ligament attached to hyoid. External surgery w Dr. Cognetti was on Jul 8 2019.
Oh. Of course I’d like to thank all of you here for the valuable resource you were/are. To all the constants, the rockstars like Isaiah & Jules etc. you’re all doing such an incredible service. May God (or karma, or whatever you believe in be with you and bless you with all that is good with the good sense to appreciate and enjoy every moment!
Ty ty ty!
Thanks for the awesome update! You & MrNikolay get the awards for fastest healing from an ES surgery! So glad you’re experience has been so favorable and hope feeling great keeps up.
Your incision is remarkably small for such a long styloid. That will surely help w/ the healing, too! Great info regarding the lymphatic drainage massage. Day 3 seems early & might not work for some people w/ more pain than you seem to have had but it makes sense that would be really helpful in eliminating some of the swelling & pressure & helping your neck to feel much better in short order.
Sooo, you taught me a new word. Hadn’t heard “pogonophile” before & yet both my husband & son have beards. Thanks for the education!
I’m also curious how you got your email address to come out intact w/o modifying it. The software for this forum normally blocks anything that looks like an email addr or phone # & prints a row of little squares in place of the numbers or characters. We’ve finally figured out how to bypass that system by adding random spaces in ph#s & emails addresses to get them through.
Totally agree w/ JustBreathe & hope your singing career does reach new heights!
Thank you for the accolades. We all love that we can help others who are in shoes we’ve worn in the past. Jules & I are “paying it forward” for the help we received from our moderator predecessors. And, I’ll go w/ may God be with us. He’s my ultimate “Hero”!
