Surgery this Friday

Thank you for the doctor info, buddysmom! How did your surgery go (you can wait to reply till you feel up to posting)? Been praying for & thinking about you today.

:bouquet:

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Great news! Best wishes & God bless, it’s been a long wait!

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Woo hoo …good luck you all on your surgeries you guys! Congrats on finally getting surgery dates! FYI: Dr. Samji told me 80% chance. It may depend on the case ? 50% is a safe bet.

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@BFresh best of luck for tomorrow, will be thinking of you. When you’re up to it, please let us know how you are doing. :pray:

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Yes, I’ll add my best wishes & prayers in for you too! Hope all goes well!

It’s been a hell of a rough ride these past few days, that’s why I haven’t posted. I had a right side tonsilectomy and styloidectomy on May 15 at 10am. Surgery was successful. Intraoral approach and Dr OConnell said he removed the entire styloid process right to the skull base. I was in the operating room approximately 90 minutes. I was discharged and sent home at 3pm.

The general anesthetic wrecked me that evening, I was vomiting and feeling terrible. I returned to the hospital for the night. IV gravol, ativan, antibiotics, saline, etc. it was a lovely combo and I slept really well for about four hours. Discharged from hospital on May 16 mid morning.

Today I started swelling on my right side, I couldn’t open my mouth to eat anything,
My temperature was increasing. It was a bad combination and so here I sit in the hospital again trying to get my vitals back on track.

I’m a healthy 45 year old and this has absolutely knocked my on my butt. I will persevere. Keep you posted later. @Weezie65 - I still have confidence in Dr Oconnell and the system. He did exactly as outlined and I will recover in time. I will be praying for you Tuesday. We are strong.

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Thank you so much for your update, BFresh. I’m sorry your recovery hasn’t been straightforward. The one disadvantage of intraoral surgery especially when combined w/ tonsillectomy is the risk of infection due to the fact that anything you ingest has to pass over the area of the wound. A lot of our members have had intraoral surgery w/o infection but many have suffered as you are. I hope the treatment you’re getting in the hospital gets you back on your feet soon & your pain/inflammation become a distant memory ASAP.

Your throat recovery will be a little slower because of the tonsillectomy, but you should feel very much better in a month or two. The recovery process is gradual but thankfully our bodies are designed to thrive & survive. They’re generally pretty good at repairing themselves. It sounds like you have a positive mindset/outlook which will go far toward helping you heal. We’re here to support you in that arena as well.

Thank you for your note of reassurance to @Weezie. That’s what we’re all about - upholding each other even when the going is tough. Kudos to you & a gentle get-well-soon cyber hug. :hugs:

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@BFresh - So very sorry to hear you have had a rough go of it. I hope you are feeling much better soon. Thank you for the reassurance, I am a little nervous, but know this is my chance to get my life back after five years of suffering, and what I have fought for all this time. I truly hope you can get past this setback quickly and be in your way to a life without pain. Thinking of you, sending encouragement, and good vibes that this will all soon pass. Virtual hug, hang in there.:pray:t2:

Thanks for the update, have been praying for you…I hope that you soon get over this infection & can get on with healing. Best wishes to you, let us know how you get on if you’re able… :pray:

I’m back at home, sleeping better, able to drink water much better and that’s hugely important. It’s a cycle, it’s painful so you don’t drink but that dries the surgical area out and increases the pain and around and around we go until you’re in the hospital getting IV fluids. I had 3 litres of IV fluid over night plus dexamethasone and morphine. I’ve set up a humidifier and wearing nasal strips at night to minimize the drying out internally. Next step as I understand it will be the scabs starting to flake off and new skin emerge. Very delicate process and everything I eat or drink rubs it and triggers pain.

I’m amazed at the level of ear pain, yesterday it was off the charts. Today it’s persistent but manageable. I guess it’s referred pain due to the surgery and nerve activation. No infection anywhere. I hope to remain home tonight for my recovery!

Major disagreement in the field about taking Advil and ibuprofen after surgery. I have one doc say no and the next one prescribes it. Wonder if there’s a consistent approach? It’s nice to have accessit then for pain management. Otherwise all I have is Tylenol with codeine. Anyway these are rambling post surgical notes, let me know if you have any questions or can help me with my own recovery. @Weezie65 still thinking of you, best of luck tomorrow! :crossed_fingers:

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@BFresh, I hope you are feeling a little better. Glad to hear no infection, that is a good sign. Sorry to hear you are in so much pain, did Dr O’Connell not prescribe stronger pain meds? He told me I would receive a prescription for pain meds and meds to help with nerve regeneration??? I will be sure to ask all these questions when I check in at the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning.

I am sitting in my hotel room in Leduc, getting more and more nervous as the evening goes on; I’m going to try a nice warm tub to ease my pain and hopefully relax my body so I can get a restful sleep. No turning back now. Thanks for thinking of me and wishing me well, all the support I have received on this forum really has helped me forge on when all I really wanted to do was give up. I’ll be thinking of you, and wish you a very, very speedy recovery. Please keep posting on your post surgery tips, so grateful for these. Take care, I will post again as soon as I am able. :pray:t2:

Hi BFresh,

I know swallowing hurts but some of our members who had intraoral surgery found sucking on popsicles or ice chips helped calm throat pain. It’s sort of equivalent to icing your throat. Also eating/drinking cold things like ice water, chilled applesauce, fruit juice, or smoothies can help. If you can tolerate the Tylenol w/ codeine then I would highly recommend you take it for the first week then gradually start weaning yourself off. With external surgery, the post op swelling is generally at its worst 3-5 days post op so that’s a time to keep ice & pain meds handy for sure.

If the pain meds prescribed make you nauseous, as for Percocet or Tramadol instead. One of those may be less detrimental for your gut.

Healing is a slow but steady process. Listen to your body, do what it asks, & keep a positive mindset. The days will pass & soon you’ll be feeling so much better!

:relaxed:

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Saying a prayer for you right now, Weezie65. All will go well for you tomorrow. You will soon be mending & getting your life back!! Hallelujah!! :two_hearts:

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Thanks Isaiah! I really struggle with cold stuff, normally I love it but post surgery the cold really triggers my ear pain. So I ice on the outside of my neck, it’s still really helpful and doesn’t trigger my ear pain. I’ve got my jug beside me today and I’ve drank 3 liters of water which is what they suggested I should do yay me! My urine is basically clear today which is what they wanted from the hospital, means I’m well hydrated. I’ve been taking gravol with the codeine and it helps, I’m tolerating it quite well now. I’m also cycling in Advil even though I have conflicting beliefs about that due to bleeding risks. It just helps pain management so much.

Dr O’Connell gave me a pretty standard pain management pack I’d say - Tylenol 3s, an antibiotic and a topical rinse that I’ve found useless. Since my hospital visits I’ve added gravol 3 times a day, settles my stomach and helps me sleep. The hospital also gave me lots of anti inflammatory meds so I’ve added in Advil to my pain management cycle. I found this video really helpful, he has a bunch but this one hit the mark for me as a pain strategy - https://youtu.be/tJP3b5rp__4

Drink 2-3L of water a day even if it hurts, it’s critical to keep your body hydrated and keep your surgical site moist and clean. So scabs can form and new skin to protect underneath. Literally every 6-8 hours something new hits me, it’s quite a roller coaster recovery. For me the ear pain was the absolute worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Dr OConnell said it was from the removal and cleanup where there styloid meets the skull base. He had a fancy term to describe it, I’m just glad it’s over for now. That’s a key takeaway, whatever you’re feeling in the present moment is pretty awful but know that it is temporarily, it will resolve and something new will take its place you have to deal with. Next up will be dealing with the constipation all these meds are causing me. One problem at a time though!

Try to rest as best you can and all the best tomorrow, I will be 100% in your corner as we travel this path a mere 4 days apart.

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BFresh,

I used CALM for constipation. It’s magnesium citrate in powdered form so you can control the concentration you’re consuming. However, it might not be the best for you right now as it mixes into a fizzy drink in warm water which will likely be horrible to swallow w/ your sore throat. Mag citrate capsules are also available. Epsom salts also work as a laxative. There are instructions on an epsom salts container which describe the concentration you need to mix to consume as a laxative. You can also get a recommendation from Dr. O’Connell’s ofc or your local pharmacy for a standard stool softener & laxative. Being constipated when you’re already in a lot of pain is no fun. Been there & done that.

Thx for letting me know how cold affects your ear. I hadn’t considered that. I know Jules couldn’t ice her neck post op because it flared her pain. Heat was her go to.

You’re right that healing is a roller coaster ride! As you get farther along, you’ll notice you have great days followed by terrible days followed by ok days & so on. Eventually the great days win!! HOORAY!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

Early days…hope that the ear pain soon subsides & that you can keep up with the water, that’ll help with constipation too… :pray: for your healing…

Best wishes for your surgery; praying for a good outcome & peace for you! :pray: :hugs:

Like BFresh, I have numerous problems following surgery on Tuesday, May 12th. Surgery was ok and I was discharged around 4pm. Doc took 3/4s of the styloid and both tonsils. Felt ok for four days then things went downhill. I was very sick, throwing up, weak, so I went to the ER. They admitted me to rule out a blood clot. My heart rate was 40 and my blood pressure was running from 180-190 over 100. They did a heart Cath and a nuclear stress test. Thankfully, tests were all good. They diagnosed Vasovagal Syncope and gave me more prednisone to take four more days. They said vagal nerve was very swollen. Home three days, I’m still very weak and disoriented. Reading up on the vagal nerve, it says these are symptoms. Taking the prednisone (by the way, try to get liquid) and trying to eat and drink.
Hope this is not too discouraging to those of you who have surgery pending. Just be sure to take the steroid and stay hydrated.

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So sorry that you’ve been through this, it sounds awful, but thankfully not common. Brooklyngirl has had a long recovery with vagus nerve issues, it took a while but things did improve for her, & she was able to have her 2nd side done. hopefully she might chip in, but has been poorly again with coronavirus…
Here’s a link to her discussion you might find it helpful to know you’re not alone!

Hope that the steroids work, take it easy & hope things improve soon for you…hugs & prayers coming your way :hugs: :pray: :bouquet:

Hi buddymom!

So sorry to hear you’ve had such a struggle post op. I, too, hope & will pray that this extra course of prednisone will make a HUGE difference in how you feel & you’ll notice healing beginning.

:hugs: :two_hearts: