Finally, the date has been set for surgery. The 29th off february in St Olavs Hospital Trondheim.
That means i have to prepare, because i belive the journey is not over yet. And i belive the surgery is far from easy, both for me and the people who is going to work on me.
So i therfore come to you guys, what and how do i prepare mentally,physicaly and all off the practical stuff?
What do i need to bring ?
What do my wife need to bring ?
-Henrik
That’s great news!
There’s lots of past discussions about what to expect after surgery, it’s a good idea to read those as they’ll help you prepare mentally. The recovery can be a bit up & down, and usually people don’t experience symptoms disappearing straight away, that throws people sometimes & it’s easy to panic & think that surgery hasn’t been successful.
There’s info in the Newbies Guide Section about surgery, & a link to as surgery shopping list that a member posted, here’s a link:
ES Information- Treatment: Surgery - Welcome / Newbies Guide to Eagle Syndrome - Living with Eagle
Briefly though you’ll need to ice your neck regularly to avoid swelling, & sleeping propped up will help, so buying a wedge pillow is a good idea. Often it’s uncomfortable to chew & hard to open your mouth wide, so getting soft foods and smoothies ready is a good idea. You’ll need to keep up with pain meds regularly, & some of those can cause constipation, so a good idea to get something to counteract that…
Surgical techniques vary; some patients are discharged the same day, some kept in, so can’t say what to bring to hospital will depend on that . If you have much of a journey home afterwards then an ice pack for the journey & a neck pillow would be a good idea. Some doctors put a drain in over night to prevent swelling, others prescribe prednisone, both are helpful so if you don’t get kept in with a drain you could ask for the prednisone?
Surgeons often don’t realise how long the recovery will be, so allow at least a couple of weeks off work, longer if you do a physical job.
Some members have eaten an anti-inflammatory diet beforehand to make sure they’re as well as can be- you can look up foods to eat/ avoid online if you want to do that. B group vitamins are supposed to be good for nerve healing, so you could take those before & after if you want, check with your doctor if you’re on any medication though. And a good idea if you are on any meds to check with the hospital before surgery about whether you can take them or not if they’ve not already said anything, as sometimes this gets forgotten!
I can’t think of anything else atm, but there is more detail in the Surgery info section.
Good idea to get as prepared as possible!
The surgery will be at “dagpost” wich directly in english will be “day post”. Wich means i will meet up 08.30 AM at the hospital and will be put and arranged at the operation table, put to sleep with anestisha. The surgeons will do their thing, fix me and then if everything is okey and no problems i will be sent home after i wake up the same day.
It is going to be a bilateral surgery they will go from the outside off my throat/jaw, and im in good hands. Im in the hands off ENT surgeon Dr. Nils Petter Fossland who has done this a couple off times before.
My wife is following me along, and she has booked hotel and airplane tickets wich is covered by the hospital. Im so happy that here in Norway the hospitals will cover every expenses with travel and such.
Im also going to have a consultation with my personal doctor, to update my medication list and take some few tests and bloodtests to chek for if i have any infectious disease etc next week, this will be sent to the hospital where im going to have surgery.
-Henrik
That’s amazing that the hospital pays for your transportation & hotel room when you have surgery there! That would only happen in our dreams in the US. 
In the US we call what you’re having “out patient surgery” meaning there is no overnight hospital stay. With bilateral surgery the US doctors tend to keep their patients in the hospital for one night because the post op swelling can be somewhat extreme, however, the medications given in the IV during surgery help to keep it down somewhat. It’s days 3-5 or 6 after surgery that the swelling gets the worst once the surgical meds have worn off. If your surgeon hasn’t prescribed a course of Prednisone, you should consider asking for that as it will help a lot to control your swelling after surgery.
We have Dr. Fossland on our Doctors List but without contact information. If you could give us his contact information, @Henrik, so I can add it, that would be very helpful.
This is what i have been thinking about the whole journey from when i got diagnosed to final surgery date. How freaking hard this must be for you guys living outside EU, specially you guys from US.
The only thing i have paid for so far is painkillers. Everything else have been covered by free healthcare, and from the wellfare administration.
Regarding Dr.Fossland, i think i should mention that and ask him about contact info. I don’t honestly know how this works in our system. Because when we want to get in touch with specific doctors or surgeons we just contact the main clinic or hospital and ask to get in touch with him/her and they will either call back or they will try to put you over to the doctor or surgeon.
@Henrik - I think we have the main clinic where Dr. Fossland works listed after his name on the Doctors List, but a phone number for the main clinic would be helpful.
Phone number for ENT surgery clinic at St Olavs Hospital: 004772576117
And phone number for the hospital St olavs is 004772573000
This is their email post.onh.kjeve.oye@stolav.no
Thanks @Henrik , I’ve added the contact info to our list! Hope you’re able to get well prepared for your surgery!
Thanks, think that will be at help for many !
Godspeed to me and for everyone that is following along this journey in our forum !
Im doing fine surgery went very well, it has been some rough days prior surgery and after surgery. Been MIA for a while.
I will make a full written post when im a bit more up and runing.
Both me and the surgeons team is sure this is going te be good for me.
Straight after surgery, kept under observation 2 days full off morfine and some other good stuff 
They look nasty sharp styloids @Henrik, definitely better off without them! Take care of yourself, hugs to you and your wife 
