Yes thank you!
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Thanks much! I don’t hold it against them. I’ve heard only good things about Dr. Liu!
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I did wonder if that might happen! Maybe this was the case with Dr Hepworth & Dr Costantino 's offices; there are so few doctors experienced with VES especially that once the word gets out they will see an increase in patient referrals…
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How are feeling so far? Are you still in jersey or back in tx.
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@Richard123 It’s been up and down so far… but definitely zigzagging up. Swelling was terrible the past couple days. About to get on the plane back to Texas! I’ll do a more in detail update when we get back.
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9/9/26 (one week update)
Hi all! It’s been a week since surgery so thought I’d recap how things are going. Since my post last week I went a bit downhill as some of you all suggested was to be expected. I largely think it’s due to swelling crowding my neck again. Yesterday and today have been much better with regard to that so I hope I’m over the hump.
I have seen drastic improvement in my endothelial function and coordination. I had blood pooling issues for the last 6 months and after standing for a short amount of time my feet would turn red and the veins would bulge and hurt- I can now take a warm shower without that happening which previously was unthought of.
My appetite is slowly coming back. My mom used to call me a bottomless pit for the majority of my life but over the last year due to gastroparesis, dysmotility, and bloating I could not eat and eventually lost all hunger and thirst queues only eating to stay alive. This has improved by about 40-50% as has my overall digestion. The past 4 months I was blending all food and relying on elemental shakes and for the past 3-4 days I’ve been eating solid food and tolerating it well.
Heart rate has gone back up. After an initial drop back to normal my heart rate is back up to the 80-100 range resting. I have some theories for why this is but I’ll wait until it levels out to comment on that. Beyond heart rate my number one complain was that for the last 6 months I had this sensation of pressure, discomfort, and impending doom over my heart. Every single day felt like the end I kid you not. That sensation is about 10-20% of what it used to be and I hardly notice it now.
Temperature regulation- temperature regulation has improved a lot I still struggle with heat a bit but I used to get very cold easily and now I’m back to my normal self where I run a bit on the hotter side and like the cold.
Mood / cognition - much better especially since the improvement of impending doom and chest sensations. Can be mentally present in my life again. Still have a bit of brain fog and a headache here and there but much better off than I was and
Sleep - averaged about 7 or so hours the last two nights which is good and I’m getting to sleep and waking up at a good time. Could be a bit more restful than what I’m getting but it’s still early.
Main issues so far-
Headaches! When the swelling peaked I felt like my head was going to explode. I’m glad that’s since gotten better
Stomach pain- before surgery and a bit after there was some blood in my stool and dark spots. I had terrible terrible gastro symptoms. I think has my stomach acid has started to come back and as things begin working again those inflamed and beat up parts of my stomach hurt extremely bad.
Numbness and feeling of fullness at the ear on the surgery side. It feels like I have a headphone in or that half of my head is underwater. I offen get shocks or zaps in my ear or at the surgical site but this is likely just nerves coming back online.
That’s all so far! There’s probably more I forgot to mention but if you have any questions please reach out.
Lots of interesting things I am going to dig into and track on this journey- the vagus nerve innervates parts of the liver which produces cholesterol. I have ate about as good as one can (allergic to basically all grains, dairy, and avoid sugar) and exercised for most of my life and as I started to struggle with this my cholesterol went out of wack. I theorize that as my vagus nerve begins to function at full capacity I will see that normalize again. I will be tracking that and much much more and posting updates here!
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That’s really good news, so pleased that you are seeing improvements already, and some really interesting ones too, like the blood pooling! I’m glad that you’re getting some appetite back, and can eat, it certainly sounds like your vagus nerve is recovering!
After my second surgery I had the sensation that my ear that side was completely blocked, like they had poured concrete in my ear, & I lost quite a bit of hearing. This went after a couple of weeks, so I think it must’ve been a nerve irritated (I had even seen a nurse as I thought it was physically blocked, but it wasn’t). So hopefully this will clear up for you soon!
If swelling is an issue, there are some suggestions for lymphatic massage once the incision has healed up properly:
How to do Lymphatic Self-Massage on Your Face, Head and Neck
I look forward to hearing more as you go on, take it easy & don’t overdo it 
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Thanks Jules that’s good to know. Did you ever hear your pulse in your muffled ear? That’s been ongoing for me it’s very faint but I can feel / hear it a tad. I definitely overdid it today. Had to put together my daughter’s next size up crib and went grocery shopping. I’ve been so restricted it’s hard to not want to do things.
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I can totally remember doing too much too soon, @Mr.Finer , & paying for it in pain the next few days. It’s really tough to start back into life very slowly when you’ve long been a very active person, but the dividends to doing so are HUGE & will help reduce symptom flare ups going forward.
I’m so glad you’re doing as well as you are at only a week post op. That’s really great news!
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@Mr.Finer I’m really curious to hear how the blood pooling progresses as you recover. That is such an interesting symptom to have improve so dramatically after surgery. I’ve had very similar pooling issues in my arms and legs, so I’d love to know whether that improvement continues.
Mine did not resolve after styloidectomy, thought it was coming from somewhere else, but Dr. Liu noted that I still have compression of the IJV, so now I’m wondering whether some of my vascular pooling could be related to that remaining compression.
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Good. It Will get better everyday my friend. The catch is not to do too much in the begenning. How much was the cost of the surgery with de liu. I hear very good comments about him so i am interested in his services.
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I used to have pulsatile tinnitus because of IJV compression, yes, mine went away after surgery & I rarely get it now…hopefully this will go once all the swelling is down.
Definitely try not to do too much though!
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