Glad you had a better night…surgery recovery is very much up & down, but sounds like you’ve had more of the down, you’re due a big up soon! Glad that you would maybe consider a 2nd surgery; to go through all that for only one side to be done would be a mistake imo if both sides are symptomatic, but of course we’ll be here to listen if you don’t feel up to it in the future. More hugs & prayers coming your way…
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Thank you Isaiah. Overall progress is correct. Today has been pretty good. Some great, smooth moments. The other stuff is still junk from the surgery. I’m doing good. I’m on the couch hand-sewing a stuffed animal’s head back onto its body. Now, HE’S got some problems.
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How’s the swelling & clicking doing today? A bigbhug for you as well!
I’ve been there. I said “what have I done?” when I thought my tongue would never straighten. You’re having normal feelings. Feelings are not facts. You’re doing great. 
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Hi, no clicks today. One bad one last night. They are spreading out. 
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Thank you Jules. I look forward to the big up. However trying, patience is key.
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Thank you SewMomma. I am glad to hear that your are having a pretty good day. Funny image of the stuffed animal without a head. I can only imagine how that came to be. You make me laugh.
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SewMomma -
Glad it’s an inanimate object that lost it’s head! 
See! You’re being positive & productive simultaneously! Good job!! You’re doing great in this marathon of healing. You will come out a winner in the end!!
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Hi BG!
I had the eyeball symptom but on the left side. Mine felt like it was being pushed out from behind (though it never looked like it was). I later learned that it’s the trigeminal nerve that caused that little problem. It has 3 branches - one arches up passing just above or through the eyebrow area & in back behind the eyeballs, one wends its way across the cheek bones & into the nose (yup…I’ve had pain in my nose from that one & across my cheek bone) & the last one extends to the lower jaw & causes tooth/teeth pain (among other things) when it’s angry. I’ve experienced all 3 branches of my trigeminal nerve recently due to a significant TMJ upset. It’s been an interesting “ride”. If your eye pain doesn’t go w/ this surgery, it’s likely to disappear if you have a second one. Like the vagus nerve, the trigeminal nerve is one of those commonly irritated by ES.
I’m so glad your doctor gave you such reassurance. Kudos & applause to him! Healing from this surgery is certainly a roller coaster ride, & somedays, it feels like the fun will never end 
.
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Emma - Nice to see you are healing. With respect to your neck, sometimes I find that it is actually a muscle tight in my skull. My husband got me an acupressure neck pillow from Amazon called bed of nails - it usually only take a few minutes and I can release whatever is tight.
There is also an acupressure matt that I used ALOT in the weeks after surgery and I am pleased to say I maybe use it once a week now. Guess I need to dust it off for my second surgery 7/15.
Note - both of these were way too much in the first few weeks after surgery.
God Bless,
SL
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Hahaha, sjlash, I had the mat. I think it did nothing, but I threw it out before this last surgery. As for the pillow, I am doing well enough now, not to buy anymore items. I am rubbing the neck and massaging the occipital area and basically loosening all the tight muscles I can find. I am over 3 and a half months out of surgery, and things are loosening up. I still have a weird knot in my neck to be determined.
BG, I had eye pain and floppy eyelid for several years now on the right side. I even got Glaucoma and narrow angle Glaucoma. Like Isaiah, I also felt like my eyeball was dropping out of my socket every time i put my head forward. I did the other side first because of all the neck, throat, jaw pain (trigeminal and glossopharnygeal) even though I had intraoral done before. Finally after another 6 months of eye pain and uncontrolled Glaucoma, I said some serious prayers and had this last surgery. I did end up with the facial nerve over the styloid and it had to be stretched. I ended up with a very crooked face in three places. The eyebrows off balance, the eyelid wide open, the nose hurt and the mouth was pulled to the left because the right muscles were all asleep. It all began to settle out at about 5 weeks, but I had to take a steroid shot. I was able to take the tape off the eyelid at 5 weeks and leave it open a bit more each day. Then move on to eye patches to walk outdoors because the eye was still scratchy( Always with ointment in the eye). At about 2 months the eye was good, No more eye pain, no more eyeball falling out and no more floppy eyelid. Glaucoma pressure is back to normal with drops and for the first time in 2 years, I am a candidate for a laser procedure for the open angle and my doctor just said that if i go through with it, I may be able to get rid of one of my drops. Previously, my doctors could not offerr this procedure and when the most recent one did, he said it would only help enough to bring the pressures down that not to expect to get off of any drops. The mouth is getting better. I was biting my lip for a couple weeks as the lip started to get a bit of strength and the cheeks started working, but the lip was still not being pulled down because of the lower nerve which pulls the lower lip down. Now, I can still see some paralyisis,but do not feel it. I can chew, suck on a straw, etc. I cannot puff my cheeks fully on the right side and when I pucker my lips, there is some weakness, but not anything difficult. The thing is that I start itching and tingling something awful for a day or two around the face and mouth and lips, but then I notice improvement. I still have neck and shoulder pain and I am thinking that I am noticing more improvement, but too soon to get excited. I have in the past, and not ready to believe it can actually get better because that has been the worst problem for 5 years. I will save that dance for later when and if it becomes permanent. So just everyone stay on track to see improvement by month 3, but go for the long haul of 18 months. BG, if you go for the second surgery, you may have to wait 6 months. That is what my surgeon wanted and I was in a lot of pain, but still not ready to push for 3 months. I just needed more healing on the left side. 6 months and one week later, we did this side.
One other thing, both sides are giving a bit of pain because the left side is tight from overworking the facial muscles and the right side is weak. I can feel the tightness in the left. It seems to be balancing out. My neck and shoulder pain seem to radiate to the muscles under the jaw where the stylohyoid was. Interesting that the big shoulder and trapezius muscles could be held hostage by that very small muscle under the jaw, but that is what it feels like and as the jaw muscle is massaged and gets less tight, things seem to be improving.
SewMOmma and BG, let us know if you notice the same changes as you go.
I am so grateful to be able to sleep lying down on a pillow for 7 hours a night and to be without eye pain. Baby steps and I am still praying for a miracle for us all.
AS always too detailed and long winded, but maybe some encouragement.
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Emma, your posts are always informative & helpful, I learn alot from the steps you’ve been through, & it’s encouraging to se improvements still over time (although I’m sure that you’d rather it happened alot quicker!) Thank you!
Thank you for this information, sjlash! It will be useful for others (maybe even me!!).
Glad you’ve found tools that have aided in your recovery. I often have tight neck muscles thus the acupressure pillow sounds wonderful!
Hi Emma!
I never find you long winded. I, too, am glad to read about your healing progress. It’s a long & winding road but you’re finding your way to the end. I hope you can do a happy dance sooner than later & get back to enjoying your cute grandkids ASAP!!
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CHi Emma,
It certainly is a rollercoaster ride. Hold on tight, scream when you can and enjoy the smooth gliding when ever possible. I pray for you for continued, positive healing.
Monday will be 3 weeks post op for me. I see a very small improvement in my lopsided smile/lip in the morning, but as the day progresses it relapses and is at its worse in the evening. I’m guessing that’s because the nerves just get tired.
The incision is getting tight. I am still numb above the incision from my jaw line to my chin but I am beginning to feel some tingles. I went all out messaging the nerves at first but the pain released from the message was just too much to bear. The poking pain and all the throat pain associated with the elongate styloid is gone but I did feel the tongue and the poking pain yesterday- I chalked it up to phantom pain. Is that a thing? Or maybe it’s my nerves coming alive and it’s residual.
I still have pressure and pain in my ear with dizziness. My GP said it was from fluid in my ear canal, that there is no place for the fluid to go and that it should subside soon.
Durning my visit to the doc last week for the stomach/breathing episode, which may have been caused by the disruption of the vegus nerve, he did an ekg and was concerned until he compared it to last year’s ekg and saw a similar pattern. He did say that it is my “normal” heartbeat and didn’t seemed concerned. I used to be able to feel that odd beat but not for years. Now I feel it again - only after my surgery. I want to follow up with a cardiologist. I have a question though, (I don’t want to Google. I dont want to find something that may raise my anxiety). Is the nerve from the brain to the heart on the left or right side of the neck? Can this be a symptom of ES?
I too have terrible knots in my neck. Possibly/most likely caused from compressed discs in my neck. It exacerbates the ES pain. I want to start physical therapy after the incision heals but I have the right side to deal with. I may try the needle pillow.
During this journey we get to find out who our true friends are. My boyfriend of 5 years took my unattentivenss personally. Not feeling well, spending time at doctors and not being the fun, active person that I always was took its toll. I ended our relationship New Year’s Day when, not feeling well enough to go out, he declined to spend NYE with me. A blessing in disguise for sure. So I thank you all for the heartfelt support. I do know who my true friends are.
Peace,
BG
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I’m glad at least that you’ve noticed a little improvement in the lopsided lip, that’s a positive sign…you mentioned phantom pain; it’s a recognized thing when people have a limb amputated, so I don’t see why it’s not possible to happen when a nerve has been aggravated & then the aggravatiin is removed! Ages ago a link was posted (I think by Christian22) to a research piece about nerve pathways & pain, I think when they’ve built up a pain pathway over time it can takeva long time to reroute or something like that…if I remember tomorrow I’ll see if I can find it!
Such a shame you lost your boyfriend over this, very hard when you’re already in a difficult time, big hugs to you!
I’ve had a disc problem in my neck- I had bad knots for ages, a physio recommended laying on my back with a pillow under my head, the tucking your chin slowly & gently towards your chest, 5 times. Then slowly & gentky turn yiur head to one side & back, 10 times, repeat on the other side. It helped the knots really quickly! I started these back up a few weeks after surgery, not the full amount to start with, might be worth a try? She also recommended a spiky massage ball which helped, but probably to early for that!
Keep strong, & keep patient! 
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That dude needed to go as badly as your styloid did.
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SewMomma, you do make me laugh. I needed that. Thanks!
Thank you Jules. I will give the stretches a go. With everything that’s going on It would be great to have some relief. The phantom pain hopefully was a one off. It hasn’t happened again.
Hi BG!
Improvement is GOOD! Healing from this surgery is normally by baby steps not leaps & bounds. As a matter of fact, I found that some of my symptoms disappeared so gradually, I didn’t notice they were gone for awhile. Kind of silly, eh?!
As far as your incision tightness goes, keeping your incision “lubricated” w/ bio oil, vitamin E or avocado oil may help with that or putting some sort of lubricant on & then gently massaging the area so you have very little friction. You will also be massaging it, in a manner of speaking, as you do the neck exercises Jules recommended as those will be stretching & moving the incision as your head moves.
Glad your heart checked out ok. The vagus nerve runs through the neck to the chest & ends in the abdomen. That’s why it affects so many different areas of the body. From what I’ve read the vagus nerve has both right & left branches in the neck that meet in the thorax & extend to the abdomen (viscera), thus w/ bilateral ES it is possible to continue having vagus nerve irritation until both styloids or calcified s-h ligaments are removed.
The story about your boyfriend made me very sad. But I TOTALLY agree w/ SewMomma! She has such a way with words, doesn’t she?!
I am happy that you count all of us as among your friends. We are so happy to be here for you & count you as our friend, too.
Sending up healing prayers for you & also a virtual hug 
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