Surgery done. Jan 18, 2022

General
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Hello Everyone! I had my surgery done on Tuesday Jan 18 in Oregon by Dr. Sunshine Dwojak at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center outside of Portland.
My Journey:
My symptoms started shortly after I recovered from a very bad flu about 4 years ago. It got worse with time and I started to consult with physicians on what might be going on and I honestly think I might have had one of the worst cases of eagle’s out there. Some of my symptoms were:

  • mild to severe headache at random times throughout the day (always wake up with headache)
    -constant right side neck pain that radiates to upper right back and shoulder
  • tingling and small numbness in right hand
  • tingling sensation on right side top of my head (skull)
  • stomach issues (gastrointestinal)
  • right leg pain occasionaly, mostly in my feet that comes and goes.
  • occasional nerve activity in my right eye
    -couldnt bend my neck to the right too much

All these symptoms vary in intensity and they can get so bad that I cant even work and have to go take a nap for a few hours (I am a software engineer). I have seen numerous doctors in the past who all had different diagnoses and undergone various treatments for TMJ, IBS, thorough ear examination(came back 100%), stomach enzyme tests, etc but all to no avail. I was always told everything is fine with me and its probably all in my head. (smh)

I started reading unline and I came across Eagle’s syndrome and the more I read about it, the more convinced that I had it. That is what led me to this amazing online community. It was almost like I had discovered Gold in my backyard. It was such a relief. Fast forward, I began forwarding some articles to my doctor I found online and begged her to look into eagle’s syndrome and she agreed to check for that and low and behold, there it was. She then refered me to Dr. Dwojak who according to her is an expert in surgeries in that area of neck and that she was not comfortable to do it. It took me a year to decide to go ahead with the surgery because I was scared of all the what ifs. But I came to realization that I would rather live with the possible side effects of the surgery that to continue to live the rest of my life with these God forsaken symptoms (I am only 30yo). I did the surgery (took about 2 hours total) and I am happy to say that I am 100% percent free ALL the symptoms pre-surgery (except pain in my right face and numbness from the surgery which will heal with time according to the doctor). I told Dr. Dwojak about this online community and that I am going to put her name here and she was happy to agree to it.

Thank you all and God bless you.
I have attached a few pictures that were taken during the surgery showing the length of my styloid ligament (warning !!!)

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IMG_01491920×2560 311 KB

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First off, WELCOME to our forum!! That is an amazing picture, @blessed2bhere! Some of us have gotten pics of the styloid(s) once removed but no one has posted a pic of the styloid in situ!! Your ES symptoms are definitely among those experienced by many of our members so you were in good company prior to surgery. :wink:

How fantastic that you found such a wonderful, helpful & knowledgeable doctor do your surgery (especially that she did it externally) & that your PCP actually listened to you & went to bat for you in finding the right surgeon to help you. I’m also glad that your symptoms are vastly improved this quickly after surgery. Dr. Dwojak is correct - your remaining symptoms should resolve w/ time. It can take up to a year for nerves to fully heal. I will add her name on our Doctors List.

I hope you continue to recover well. Recovery can go forward & backward & forward again in a cycle so please don’t be discouraged if you have some harder days after your good days. It seems to be the way healing from ES surgery goes. Hopefully you will only get better & better though.

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Hi & welcome to the site!
Very glad that you’ve been able to get surgery & that it’s resolved your symptoms! I hope that you keep healing well & that the pain & numbness resolve soon. I have numbness still from surgery around my jaw, but that’s better than pain! Glad too that you found this site helpful :smiley:

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Welcome. And wow!! I’m so glad you found help. And encouraged that you found help within the Kaiser system. Prayers for continued healing!!

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@bizzaresyndrome,

The best I can tell you is that Kaiser ENTs don’t know much about Eagle Syndrome & very few have even done ES surgery. There is a team of 2-3 doctors at the Kaiser in Sacramento, California, who have operated successfully on two of our members. I will give you their contact information below. We have several members who had Kaiser insurance who chose to leave the Kaiser system to get their ES treated by doctors who had more experience with it, but that means paying cash for the surgery or surgeries.

We have also learned, based on recent experience, that there is a big disconnect between Kaiser Hospitals & doctors between northern & southern California, so I expect it may be a challenge for you to see the doctors in Sacramento which is out of state for you. It’s worth trying though. There is a specific Kaiser protocol you need to follow in order to go to a Kaiser hospitals outside of your area. If you want details, please let me know.

If you think you have vascular ES & can afford to go out of state for care, Dr. Hepworth in Denver is one of the very best for vascular ES. It will take a number of months to get an appt. w/ him though & you would have to fly to Denver for your first appointment which will be with his NP. After that visit, he will do Zoom appts with you. He is very busy but very good.

•Dr. Brian Jian (Neurosurgeon) & Dr. Balough (Neurotologist) & Dr. Ji (Neurosurgeon/Neurointerventional Radiologist) - KAISER SACRAMENTO, 6600 Bruceville Rd, Sacramento, CA, 916-688-2000
•Kaicheng Lawrence Yen, MD, UC Davis Health Department of Otolaryngology, 2521 Stockton
Blvd, Suite 5200, Sacramento, CA 95817, 916-734-5400 tel, 916-734-6774 fax, Assistant/Receptionist - Ivy Hamilton, 916-734-1759, Kaicheng Lawrence Yen, M.D., Ph.D. for UC Davis Health

•Dr. Edward Hepworth, IMMUNOe, 3150 E 3rd Ave, Denver, CO 80206 (303) 224-4711 http://www.immunoe.com

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hi @blessed2bhere - how are now ? how was your surgery?

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how anyone pay out of pocket surgery must be so expensive .

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@bizzaresyndrome - Yes, there have been people who paid out of pocket. Our Canadian members have a hard time getting surgery in Canada so a number have come to the US for surgery. Dr. Cognetti in Philadelphia has a lower cash price for surgery so some people who don’t have insurance coverage have gone to him. We have several Kaiser members who have also gone out of network for ES surgery then done a legal battle w/ Kaiser to be reimbursed. I don’t know if any of them were successful in getting Kaiser to pay them back.

You mentioned in another post that you’ve seen Dr. Sunshine Dwojak, & based on @blessed2bhere 's post above, she does the surgery. Have you talked to her about doing your surgery?

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Welcome!!! I’m not in the Kaiser system. My brother is a doc for them, so I’m always happy when I hear somebody doing something good there. The doc who checked my compressions was Dr. Hepworth. He’s the best!!!

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