Surgery this morning, going home tonight. This time a small side effect,common one. Temporary, facial nerve paralysis. Doc says should clear up in about two weeks. Droopy mouth,eyelid cannot close. Of course, the bad eye. They showed me how to tape shut and keep it from drying out, feels better than has been feeling. I already has floppy eyelid. That is all for now, going to set up my recovery room at home. Yeah.
Emma,
I’m so glad your second surgery is behind you. I’m praying for a quicker recovery than last time. I’ve been praying for your bad eye that the anesthesia wouldn’t affect it at all. Will be praying that this surgery will help the eye improve as well as remove your other symptoms completely. Don’t be discouraged if the facial nerve takes more than 2 weeks to recover. It WILL recover. God designed our bodies to heal & thrive.
& a gentle 
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Woo hoo - 2 surgeries are over!! My wicked tongue surprised me and is inching along nicely at 9 weeks. Take it easy!
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Sending hugs and best wishes for you- hope that your eye improves along with the facial paralysis, and you soon heal. Thinking of you, and will pray for you…
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Hi Emma, I had the same problem with my surgery last year. Initially I didn’t know if the damage was permanent… Anyway, it took about four months for the movement to return to my face and for me to blink. I am now 7 months post surgery and find that if I yawn my face is not symmetrical and when I wake up in the morning the skin on my face on the operated side is tight hence making my mouth droop on the other side (this doesn’t last long and then corrects itself). When my friends see me these days they can’t see anything wrong with me. I took it upon myself to visit my optician to get my eye checked out. I was told to ensure that my eye was lubricated with eye ointment in the night and eye drops in the day. I was also sent to the hospital, where I was given a guard to protect my eye at night. I also used to tape my eye up until the hospital staff told me that I didn’t need to tape it in the daytime. Good luck with your recovery x
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Great info, cjeagle. Thank you for sharing. I love that our cumulative experiences here provide info for nearly every situation someone might find him/herself in both pre & post op. 
Thank you Isaiah x
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Thank you all. I keep it taped night and part of the day. I am allergic to the ointments petroleum and mineral oil. My eyelids swell and get red. The eye can close now, but only when I close the good eye. So I use my drops every hour when it is not taped. I have to put in several glaucoma drops each day so it is a process. I am more comfortable with it taped. This eye already is floppy and I have had 3 corneal scratches. It is coming along,but I do hope it resolves sooner than 6 months. The surgeon believes it will take about 2 weeks. The nerve is healthy,but he had to move it. We will see. My pressure has been bad and I really need the cataracts removed. Today, I had it open for about 8 hours,but I wanted to watch a bit of TV. It is less tiresome taped. Tonight,I will untape it for a couple hours to get all my different drops and get it lubricated, then tape for sleep. We will see what tomorrow brings. The mouth on the other hand seems pretty lopsided, but I am not especially bothered by it.
So far, the eye looks and feels fine. The first night, i used ointments and that was not good. I then washed the eye with saline used an Alaway drop, then my normal dry eye drops then my glaucoma drops then another application of my lubricant drops. I woke up with nice healthy looking lids and no pain, so I am pleased so far.
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Recovery can be a full-time job! Not forever 
Yeah, full time for me3 surgeries in a year and a week,but finally got through the scariest. Prayer, perseverance and patience and an awesome spouse and all of you. I am blessed.
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Awesome spouses are the best. I’m humbled to have one as well.
Keep watching tv that you like. I find it a very helpful distraction to pass the time and turn the brain off 
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Hi Emma, I"m sorry to here that you have the added problems of glaucoma and cataracts. Therefore, you have to be especially careful with your eye and obviously follow medical advice. We are all individuals and what treatment is suitable for one person may not be suitable for another person. I would like to wish you a speedy recovery!!!
You are such a trooper, Emma. I’m so glad you’ve found a routine that’s working for your eye & that you’re seeing improvement. The mouth droop will also recover w/ time. So glad that’s not a big problem for you. Hoping you’re also noticing a significant absence of ES symptoms since this most recent surgery.
Praying healing prayers 
& sending another hug 
Second that, Emma; keep strong & glad you have lots of support 
2 months since surgery. I hope that I am done with Eagles surgeries.
Still have some facial paralysis. The eye is improving now. The mouth and cheeks are slower. I saw a facial nerve specialist. My nerves are all recovering. They are slow. The most affected one is the slowest. It is a nerve below the chin. Right now using a straw and eating soup can be a tiny bit messy. The lower right lip is still paralyzed, so when I try to eat a sandwich, the lip stretches over my bottom teeth. I need to be careful not to bite it. It is beginning to gain some muscle to pull it downward, but still needs rest. It is the longest nerve from the ear and was the one most stretched.
I had difficulty with dry eye and needed to tape the eye shut nighr and day for 5 weeks. Then only at night. I am still using lots of drops daily and ointment and tape at night. Last night, I went without tape. My eye pretty much lets me know what it needs. I wear a patch when walking or staying outdoors to protect from wind and dryness. Otherwise, I am beginning to be able to read or watch TV longer between drops.
As for facial pain., none since surgery. First bite syndrome just about gone. Headaches were common for about six weeks, but upper neck and skull area are feeling much better. I can sleep lying down without pain.
The neck and shoulder and shoulder blade pain are still bad. My therapist thinks we need to wait until he can work my neck joints because my muscles are still tight and it is impossible to loosen the shoulders until then.
My 2 month surgical followup had to be rescheduled because my doctor ran unusually late and I had another appointment. He is a cancer surgeon so I can wait. Hopefully, in two weeks, we can be more aggressive at movong and stretching the neck. That also gives the still sleeping face nerves a longer rest.
If my neck and shoulder do not improve in a few more months, I will go to pain management and address possible spinal narrowing. I did a bit of this before, but I was so completely locked up that we could not find anything specific. I think some of that has now changed. I can find specific spots now. Still hope they will release naturally.
My right earlobe still feels numb and large so there is obviously more healing coming. My left ear feels much better after 8 months. Both sides of my jaw seem to be happier, but the mechanics are still obviously bad, so any upcoming discomfort would not surprise me.
I use my TMJ bite guard, but I forget it a lot. That could backfire in a month or so.
I will report back in a couple months. I do not expect any fast changes.
I am through it and looking forward to improvements over time. Happy that I feel better than before surgery. Happy the eyelid paralysis is greatly improved and my mouth and cheek are progressing. Any improvement in the neck or back and shoulder remains a question, but with the styloifs and stylohyoids gone, I can use process of elimination to move on.
My eye does not hurt like it did before surgery and so far my occular pressures have been normal. I have 2 more eye checkups in May. If the pressures remain normal and particularly the pain stays gone, I will credit this surgery with that win. My right eye hurt and felt like it wanted to fall out when I put my head down for the last two years. That was the main reason for my anxiety and concern about this surgery. I think my decision to go with the surgery was the correct choice even though the eyelid paralysis caused more pain and fear for the first month. I could not report because I was too wrapped up with fear and treating my eye with ointment and taping it shut.
Emma it is so good to hear from you! I am happy for you that things are headed in the right direction. Will pray that you continue to have slow but steady healing! Thank you for posting an update - had been thinking of you often.
And I have been thinking of you.
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Glad that you’re seeing positives & that you feel the surgery has helped. You’ve certainly been through the mill & healing is takibg a while, good job you’re experienced in this & are being patient! Will keep praying for you. …
HOORAY for progress, Emma! So glad to read your upbeat post. Healing can be a long slow journey. You’re traveling it well so far. I will be praying for clarity as to the cause of the should & neck pain & better yet that it will simply go away as everything else heals.
3 month update.
Eye is working.
Mouth is getting there
Sleeping lying down on a memory foam pillow purchased 4 years ago and could never use. Sleeping longer, fewer headaches.
Jaw is definitely not happy, but that is from birth and probably a big cause of the eagles along with a fall from a Penske moving truck.
Was moving along well until 2 weeks ago when I got the okay to work on the cervical spine in therapy. Within 12 hours, pins and needles down both arms down the spine into mid back and a bit into the ankles, also around the face. This is pretty intense and feels feverish.
Same type of response after my C6-c7 fusion, but a little different in intensity and location. Of, course, we had to travel and will be away from therapy and DrNuss for 2 weeks.
Pain seems to indicate cervical spine and neck and shoulder. Also, was exercising the shoulder more because it was better. Not anymore.
The face and some shooting pain seem to indicate nerves involved in the surgery waking up. All the nerves around the face seem to be tingling, lips itching and face feels flush. More than uncomfortable. Pehaps this is just nerves waking up after being pinched do not know
The shooting pain from shoulder to ear could be from sternocleidomastoid muscles or cervical, not sure. Painful and I want it to calm down. Years of not being able to lie down could certainly require some adapting throughout the neck. Might be a rough ride for awhile. Not looking forward to another two day car trip end of next week, but starting pain management when I get back. Time for new neck xrays and new MRI of neck fusion that never felt right. My guess is that all will just need the year to 18 months after 5 years of compression.
Hoping to find some medication that does not cause bleeding, itching, dry eye or worsen Glaucoma that will help through the journey.
Ice, heat , rest tylenol are not quite covering it.
As far as the Eagles surgeries. They both went well and I love lying down and sleeping again. I awake rested. My eyes seem better and I was terrified about the eyes for 2 years. The pain starts a few hours after awaking. An improvement over pre-surgery.
We will see what new cevical images indicate soon. I am still doing home therapy and slowly, gently massaging my neck, working on piriformis syndrome, walking and working on balance, just taking a step backward for now. okay maybe a few steps backward.
Typing lying down with neck on my pillow, so more typos that way. Prayers for everyone. Hope more of us can get diagnosed and surgery sooner so less long term complications, but life is never simple. I am 68 and if I can manage the pain, still looking forward to watching my grandchildren grow up in 4 different states.