Life is a Cabaret

Freddy Prince, the great lead singer of Queen, composed “A Bohemian Rhapsody”, one of the most notoriously challenging songs for any vocalist. Sally Bowles was an 18 yo aspiring opera singer whose teacher always remarked that Montseratt Caballé destroyed her career as a classical operatic soprano when she joined Freddy in the duet of Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics in the Catalan capital. (Not true - her teacher was jealous of Caballé). Sally does love opera, but she also enjoys performing gigs with friends at nightclubs where she becomes known for her rendition of a wild “Rhapsody”. Through her rock ‘n roll performances, Sally gains local fame, but she begins to experience difficulty with swallowing and often she senses that there is something stuck in her throat. When she exercises heavily, she feels a shooting pain from her throat to the ear and more frequently, she is beginning to feel pain at the base of her tongue. Mentioning these symptoms to her opera teacher leads to the teacher exploding in rage and claiming that she will stop her instruction unless Sally ends her ridiculous rock ’n roll side hustle. Sally’s aunt, an otolaryngologist, hears of the symptoms and prescribes a CT imaging exam. Results demonstrate that Sally’s styloid process is exceptionally long and is impinging on her glossopharyngeal nerve; she is diagnosed with Eagle Syndrome. Surgery is scheduled to trim the styloid process via a pharyngeal approach after first removing the palatine tonsil. Which of the indicated sites approaches the styloid process most directly?

Postscript: Sally Bowles is the name of Lisa Minelli in the movie Cabaret where she sings up a storm.

The styloid process is best reached by entering which of the indicated locations?