Hi Everyone , I have 2 weeks until surgery. I see Dr. Cognetti this Tuesday July 27. Of course it is during the DNC in Philly - lol. Any tips or suggestions for pre and post ? Also, I have been experiencing a lot
of pain in my neck which makes it uncomfortable to sleep. The count down begins
The best advice I was given on this site was to sleep semi-upright- I use a wedge pillow, and also a V shaped one which is great as it takes the pressure off the sides of your neck and that’s been really helpful for me.
Some of the pain medications can help with sleep too; I take amitriptyline for the nerve pain and that helps a lot.
For advice and tips about what to expect with surgery, have a look in the Newbies section- there’s lots of info in the ES Info sections there.
Presurgery I basically just writhed on the floor of my hotel, hahaha.
Post op- good pillow, comfortable clothes that don’t take a lot of bending to get on, ice, and have some good soup of food that doesn’t need much chewing.
Lifting my head was a big issue, so bring props
Thanks so much for advice. Will buy v shaped pillow and soup. Prayers please
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Good luck to you. I hope your symptoms are resolved after the surgery.
I will pray for you 
Best wishes, hope all gone well x
You’ll be in good hands with Dr. Cognetti. He knows whats up, and he’s very personable.
I remember the residents (from anesthesiology to the OR) were all pretty pumped to be part of an ES surgery as well, since it is so uncommon. They were eager to learn and ask questions. They were into it. Med students tend to be a competitive lot, so that also meant they were invested in a Successful rare surgery to put on their list of skills 
Just about 6 months later and you can barely even See my scar they did such an artful job of suturing the site.
Cognetti also has a series of follow ups, so don’t feel like you’ll be sent out to sea after surgery. If there’s any issues you can reach him by phone, or a “telehealth” visit over the computer.
And like a lot of people have said before on here, the surgery pain is nothing compared to being miserable all the time.
Good luck!
Hey how did your surgery with Dr. Cognetti go? Hope you found some relief! Thinking about you, sending well wishes & prayers!