Well… haven’t slept yet. My husband on the other hand crashed 5 hours next to me!!! Poor thing he has been so worried and I have been in so much pain leading up to this surgery he couldn’t rest. So I’m now post surgery 9 hours. I think that oxycodone is preventing me from sleeping. It makes me feel really trippy. I have taken 1 pill at hospital and the hospital and I was fine but this last one makes me feel trippy where I cant sleep. I’ll try it a few more times I guess but if it doesn’t let me sleep i may bail on it. Is that ok?
Also super crooked mouth right now and tongue a little numb. I’ll keep u posted but I still feel more clear headed even with the drug. It is as if my brain is getting more oxygen.so awesome I hope that continues as I have been in such a zombie fog for a long time.
Hi SusieQ!
I had a similar reaction to the Percocet. My doctor had me take 1 tablet every 3-4 hrs as opposed to 2 every 6-8. I still got pretty spacey from them & felt more wired than drowsy, but I was able to sleep at night. I did set an alarm at night so I’d wake up to keep on the dosing schedule. If you do decide to stop taking them, you’ll need to add in Tylenol for sure & maybe Advil if your doctor says it’s ok. NSAIDs are blood thinners & sometimes not advised for a few weeks post op. If you can take Advil then you can alternate Tylenol & Advil every 4 hrs which is better than having to wait the 6-8 hrs they recommend & which allows the pain to ramp up. Icing your neck will also help a lot toward swelling & pain control.
Learning to sleep on the wedge pillow is also an adventure. I hope you adapt quickly to the more upright sleeping position it offers.
You will most likely be a bit more uncomfy for the rest of the week than you are today. The anti-inflammatories & pain meds you received during surgery will be wearing off & your body will be realizing the extent of its “injury”. Remember swelling isn’t a bad thing. It’s your body’s way of protecting what’s been injured while it gets repaired. Excessive swelling can be problematic though.
Your tongue & mouth may be wonky for a few months, but they will recover. The nerves that affect those are often irritated during surgery as they’re moved out of the way so the styloid can be shortened.
Here’s a gentle hug & wishes for a quick recovery. Glad you’re already noticing positive changes.
Amazing that they prayed with you, so pleased that things went well…take care & take it easy! God bless
Hi SusieQ-Thanks for the update on your surgery. I am glad it went well and you had such a supportive team for surgery! Your incision looks great! I will continue to pray for your recovery-may it be uneventful and speedy!
Thanks for the update SusieQ. The incision looks fantastic.
The oxy made me nauseous so I didn’t take it after the first one. I stuck to Tylenol and ice packs. For me ice was the key for pain and swelling. My surgeon did not prescribe steroids so it was essential for me to keep the swelling down with ice.
I too had a crooked mouth. I was worried that I wouldn’t get my smile back but over time it came back. I am just past two months post op and its mostly normal - I can still feel the numbness but no one can see any abnormalities.
Hang in there. Healing will take time but you are on your way. Woo hoo!
BG
Thank you!! Well. I didnt sleep a wink last night as that oxycodone is brutal on my stomach. Cannot take it. So everyone is gone now my son at school and hubby at work… I will take some benadryl and crash I hope. What is hard is one side is the wound but the other side is the right side that hasn’t been done yet so it hurts terribly too. So I have to lay like I’m Dracula in a coffin. Which is okay I guess for 33 minutes until your back says hell no! But I have a bite mark on my neck like Dracula knows the good stuff when he sees it!
BG
Is your other side angry? What is such a miracle is I feel more clear headed already but my right side is en fuego.
Makes me realize how much pain I was really in. I had cried myself to sleep so many nights thinking I just could not manage so to feel this way less than 24 hours later is nothing short of a miracle.
Kay
Praying for you on 27th. You will do great!!! Please send posts when you are up to it so we can share in this journey.
Hopefully maui posts soon as she is going through both sides at same time.
Ps. My doctor didn’t give prednisone either. I’ll be more vigilant with ice. He just wants me to use vaseline until post OP next Thursday and dont get wet.
Sew momma
thanks for advice with throwing up. The anesthesiologist did a great job keeping me stable with zofran. She also asked me if I wanted something in iv to help with anxiety prior I said yes please!!! Afterwards fentanyl did not help me so they gave me morphine which did the trick in post OP. They told me for next surgery I can request the same anesthesiologist. They also said to tell them skip the fentanyl if it doesnt work on you. Apparently they have a protocol drug chain they have to first try but you can request to change that too. The hospital was a great experience as they were very caring and professional. None had heard of eagle syndrome so they were all googling it before I went in! It was quite funny. Highly recommend Dr. MILLIGAN and Saint Joe’s hospital in Phoenix.
Mmm, rather a butterfly than an eagle 
Hope that your mouth goes back to normal, & that you get more sleep. Interesting the staff all googling ES- spread the word! I was kept in overnight after my op, the usual ward was full so ended up on a different one, nurses kept coming & peering at me & asking about it!
Hope you & hubby both recover well!
SusieQ! I LOVE your caterpillar! It will become a BEAUTIFUL butterfly! The stitches are amazingly symmetrical! That incision should disappear just about completely when it’s fully healed!
Sorry your pain meds didn’t work out, but BG offered great alternative advice. Other really important info is TAKE IT EASY for at least the first couple of weeks post op. As you begin feeling better, it’s natural to overdo which will bring back pain & even symptoms. Try hard not to push yourself much for the first 30 days post op. Listen to your body!!
I’m SO happy you had some instant relief! And what a caring place that hospital is!! I also loved the calming juice in pre op. 
Post op is a mess. Two steps forward, one back. Just keep getting Chick Fil A brought to you 
Day 3 post OP-- well a bit of a stinker today. Chest pains and the side I haven’t had surgery on is flaring up. Swallowing not fun but all in I am so grateful for feeling more clear headed on left side. I feel like the removal of the styloid is helping oxygen flow. I definitely have weak muscles in front of my neck which doesn’t allow me to open my mouth straight. It looks like I have had a stroke but in reading through many of your posts this just takes time to gain back so I won’t freak out yet with that…This part doesn’t
worry me as much as the chest pressure but I try to focus on breathing which helps.
Last night I slept in recliner and took a flexril. This helped me so much as I could finally rest.
My Caterpillar and I are just taking it easy. I think day 3 is more challenging because mentally I’m ready to be over this but my body is saying hold on sister dont just look at the Caterpillar we have to heal from the inside out.
I have an angel a girlfriend gave me that says “God only gives you as much as you can handle. I just wish he didnt trust me so much!!” :-)
Here is Caterpillar day 3.
Hi @SusieQ !
Nice work finding a comfort zone and breathing through the craziness. I’m praying for you and honored to walk these days together into a blissful fall. Aside from all of the other spot on advice from everyone I have found that fresh air and dark chocolate are incredibly healing 
Love your angel friends quote, trust baby trust. Looking forward to hearing about your caterpillars morphology, breathing with you one slow calm breath at a time 
HI SusieQ,
I hope you start feeling better soon and you will. Praying for you. Do you know how big was the stylo they removed? Caterpitar looks nice
Hi Cali
I will ask on thursday for sure at the post op appointment what was the final measurement but on the ct is showed 4.2 cm and the doctor took out 3 cm. He told my husband it came off easy and was pliable. I plan on asking if that suggests newer growth. I wonder if they can tell how old the bone is like rings around a tree?
My right side which is next for surgery in a few months is 4.6 cm. I asked to do left side first as I was getting lots of facial numbness on left side.
Have you had surgery?
Praying for you, hope that the breathing issue resolves soon- it could be irritated vagus nerve following surgery…BrooklynGirl has had breathing issues, you could search for her posts so you know you’re not alone in that.
And unfortunately having surgery often does set off the ‘better’ side, so keep strong.
Just to give you something to look forward to, often people find days 4&5 seem to be peak for swelling & therefore feeling rough, so don’t get too discouraged at that, things will improve. God bless 
Thank you for suggesting to read through Brooklyn girls journey and I read through sew momma too !! So helpful. Reading through everyone’s experiences is so helpful as your family can empathize but they just can’t know.
Question for those who have had surgery- day 4. Cannot open mouth and when I do the bottom has neck spasms as of too weak to hold open. Is this an experience anyone else has had?
I read from Isaiah prednisone helped with inflammation. I did not get that perscription. I will ask for it Thursday. When am I allowed to start massaging that area?
If anyone has any more tricks for inflammation send my way.
Happy Sunday to all and thank you!!!
Hi @SusieQ 
A few ideas for you…standard tissue healing is 4-6 weeks so no messing with the scar until then. It is important to let the new baby tissue knit together and heal. As far as the mouth opening trouble, I have that as well. You can do a very gentle protected opening exercise to help it along while the swelling goes down (ice, baby ice…right over your ear/jaw, can wrap it back behind your ear onto your neck as well)
… Here’s how it goes: with your mouth closed put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, keeping your tongue there slowly open your mouth only as far as that allows and without pain. This lets you glide both sides of your TMJ equally without over opening, thus protecting it and lubing it up some. Slowly your range of motion will improve. I do this nice and easy 3-5x before I try and open my mouth to eat the first bite, brush teeth, etc. so maybe ~10x a day (I graze a lot vs big meals) No need to do more than that.
Hope this helps, keep fighting the good fight! It will get better 
