Mid 40s Yr Old with Prematurely Aged Neck

I've been meaning to do this update for months now. I am overall pleased with the results - it's not perfect as I still have a little tiny gobble just above the adam's apple that has been there since just after the surgery...and it looks pulled. But it's 80% improvement on what was there before and I have gotten many compliments on how young I look. I'd recommend Dr. Harley and his staff as they are very accommodating and wanting to give you good service and he is good at what he does.
Almost all the numbing in and around my ears and face near ears is 95% gone. Where incision was on chin is about 55% gone. I have more flexibility than i did, and am almost able to bend my neck/head back as far as before. there still is some extra skin i wish wasn't there on my neck but you can't get perfect. also almost all of the scaring is gone - all that's left is a small scar under my chin and on my left ear just looks like a crease. i still have "bumps" behind my ears but they have lessened. I'm very glad I did this surgery as it gave me so much needed self-confidence again. I do wish I'd have done my eyes at the same time...but then again the recovery from just the neck was a lot. I also do not recommend doing any other major surgeries anytime near this one. I had a tooth/jaw deep surgery one month after the face that hasn't healed properly (chronically infected and bone not growing back). I believe it was too much for my body to try and heal...
I'm very glad I did this

So far I'm very pleased with the results and have gotten compliments as well on my looks. i do have so much more self-confidence now and so far am happy i did this. i'm still very sore though in my neck and sides of face and cannot look up to the sky yet. the tight bands around my trachea are still there - apparently they are scar tissue that will soften over time. i am worried about the swelling of it when it dies down, will there be excess skin? numbness is about 50% resolved. I actually got back together with the boyfriend above and being in the medical field, he noticed my scars on my face - like one tiny little speck of a scab!! and did say "when did you get that scar - i didn't notice it before....hang on...let me see the other side of your face....did you get a face lift?!". i about fell on the floor as i did sooooo much to hide this from him including breaking up with him. and he saw one little scab and totally knew what i did! i did reduce the term face lift to "removed excess skin from my neck from my weight loss and CFS when I had the benign tumor removed from my neck." he didn't judge or think much of it and just supported me...and keeps saying "now I can see your face from the 20s and 30s pics of you". anyway, i couldn't have kept that as the scars are still not gone and he's too observant... the pics are of today just after I got out of the sauna, so i'm probably redder than i normally am.

Since last thursday, i've felt this tight swollen band across my throat as I stated in my last post. it's getting noticeable and creating creases along my neck. Did anyone else go through this? I'm 15 days post. see pics and please comment. it's like a hard knot on either side of my throat that goes about 2 inches on both sides.
Dr. H did see me briefly and felt it on friday and said it was the platsmya muscle (sp?) and it hardens then softens over time. but this is getting noticeable and creating wrinkles and lines along my neck! Did anyone else go through this?
Thanks for any input!