Surgery today with Dr. Samji

To all you dealing with this condition. There is nothing like piece of mind! So happy I had surgery with Dr. Samji this morning!! I Praise God for the answered questions to my continued pain and dysfunction from my first surgery (intra-oral approach)in April of 2011. I already swallow better that won’t change. As it turned out my previous resection left the end split and a sharp portion which he filled down. He had to crush parts of the bone to get it out. He was working around scar tissue from previous surgery. He took a total of 1.5cm out. He had to leave the rest in since he did not want to disturb my nerve. Wow! Talk about fine surgical precision! Post again in a week. I want to thank everyone on this site who are so helpful in so many ways.
God Bless,
Linda

Wow Linda, great to see a post from you so soon after surgery. I'm so glad it went well. You're in our thoughts and prayers.

Congratulations!! So glad things are going well. I’m going to make another appt with Dr. Samji after the first of the year about my left side. It’s been 2.5 years since surgery on my right side. I think the left styloid is growing. He is an excellent sugeon!

Yay!!! That's incredible! Sooooo happy for you! I agree with Polly.... He is definitely an excellent surgeon!! (He did my surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago). Praying you have a speedy recovery :)

There seems to be a line growing for this Doctor! Great you all found him. As we know, these kinds are hard to find. Should we adopt him and only let him do ES? You know - handcuff him to a radiator to do our bidding. What is his specialty-I only know of him through here and the great work he does. If mine didn't work out in LA I was working on getting authorization for San Jose sight unseen.

Does anyone know how many styloidectomies that Dr Samji has done; did anyone here ask him?

I thought he normally removes it to the base, but here I see that he has left some to preserve the facial nerve. Is this what he has done for everyone?

Thank you for your fast update...I like the bone filing thing he did! I hate to hear people going back to get 'redo' surgeries because of prior procedures with other docs that didn't work out, but of course I am glad to know that they are getting this second chance!

Shaw,

I know right?! He is an ENT was trained at Stanford to do skull base surgeries.

His other specialty is ear, nose ,throat cancer..... surgeon. Adult and pediatric.

Tee,

Polly was his number 13th. I believe. As of Oct. 11th (my consult appt) He was at 30. (some of which were revisions of other surgeries prior)

Not sure what number I am.

He said goes down to about 1 cm...1 1/2 cm and removes the rest. (ligament included) However he will go to skull base if needed (as required per circumstance). I think he said mine was all the way. Awaiting clarification on report.

Also he does nerve conduction during the procedure.

Sheila :)

Thanks, Lailei/Sheila :) I am glad you had this info! Those are respectable numbers :)

I wonder whether he keeps track of success rates. My doc would love to know how his successes have been. He wanted to know how many he had done, and how many of those were vascular.

I like his style, for sure.

Welcome:)

Not sure.......

As of Oct 11th....... he was at an 80% success rate. I am hoping Todd, Linda and I have just raised that even higher :)

Hi Linda

I am so happy Dr Samji was able to redo this surgery for you! Knowing you can now swallow better is huge!

Praying that you can get the rest you need and that your flight home goes well.

Thank you Lailei! Extremely helpful!!!!!

My surgeon in LA took mine down to about 1 cm to clear the carotid artery and the area behind my ear where the nerve was affected. Is this typical? The one on the right shortened in 1990 seems about 2cm long still but all symptoms were eliminated and I can't feel it. I'd like a post op x-ray but have been denied-but I'd like to have that final picture for framing.

Good luck to everybody and good healing.

I met with Dr. Samji on Tuesday and he told me he's done about 35 Eagles surgeries. Of my three Eagles surgeries, the one done by Dr. Samji was by far the easiest recovery I've had. I think he's a very skilled and precise surgeon. He agreed to do a revision surgery on my other side so I am very relieved and happy. He's doing the surgery on Dec. 9. He didn't make any guarantees, but he says he's willing to try. A lot of times that's what we need - someone to try.

One of the things I like about Dr. Samji is that his decision to do the surgery is based on the science - he checks the scans and MRI's etc and then decides. He doesn't get into the whole thing about what the symptoms are and whether or not they can be caused by Eagles. I have very unusual symptoms (some weird nerve connection) and I really appreciate that he didn't turn me down because of that. I was helped a lot by his first revision surgery and I'm hoping the second revision will also make improvements.

I met with Linda and her husband the afternoon before her surgery since we were in town on the same day. What a great couple they are. And I have to say that I was very impressed with the Eagles knowledge that Linda's husband had. He knows as much or more than most of us.

I fedex'd my stuff to his office yesterday and already got a call this morning from Samji's office. They were really nice and (obviously) really prompt. They already reviewed my CDs and agreed that I am a candidate for the surgery. I sent maybe 6 CDs? I have family in California, and I think I want him to do the surgery because of how many he has done. I still need to speak with them again today, so nothing is decided yet. I told them that everyone has spoken very highly of the office.

Dear Tee,
Yes they are prompt. I was amazed at their response time when I sent in my packet of information and images. He is an excellent surgeon. I believe what he did for my case was very complicated since it was a revision of a prior surgery. He said I would be his 3rd revision. Despite my personal fears and hesitation as to the overall success I could not be more happy or relieved by this life altering decision. I can move on knowing it was the right thing to do for me. He makes no promises and that’s fine. I only wanted improvement and I already have it 2 days out of surgery. I think that’s good enough. Everyone is different but hopefully things work out for you. His experience is what I banked on, and I’m really glad I did.

Hi Heidemt,

Sending out best wishes and prayers for your surgery today :)

Take care,

Sheila

heidemt said:

I met with Dr. Samji on Tuesday and he told me he's done about 35 Eagles surgeries. Of my three Eagles surgeries, the one done by Dr. Samji was by far the easiest recovery I've had. I think he's a very skilled and precise surgeon. He agreed to do a revision surgery on my other side so I am very relieved and happy. He's doing the surgery on Dec. 9. He didn't make any guarantees, but he says he's willing to try. A lot of times that's what we need - someone to try.

One of the things I like about Dr. Samji is that his decision to do the surgery is based on the science - he checks the scans and MRI's etc and then decides. He doesn't get into the whole thing about what the symptoms are and whether or not they can be caused by Eagles. I have very unusual symptoms (some weird nerve connection) and I really appreciate that he didn't turn me down because of that. I was helped a lot by his first revision surgery and I'm hoping the second revision will also make improvements.

I met with Linda and her husband the afternoon before her surgery since we were in town on the same day. What a great couple they are. And I have to say that I was very impressed with the Eagles knowledge that Linda's husband had. He knows as much or more than most of us.

heidemt. Good luck, hope you get a great Christmas gift, no more styloid pain.

Hi Linda

I had bilateral intraoral surgery 4 months ago but I am in a lot of pain on my left side. Maybe it is sharp pointed? I Will do a post surgery CT scan soon. Correct me if I am wrong, did you have a review surgery with dr Samji where he filled your styloid sharp pointed bone? Is that correct? How are you doing now?