My Snot Hole Recovery
Mar. 23rd, 2008 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cabensonI thought I’d write a post about my recent surgery and the ongoing recovery so I would remember never to have this procedure done again. Cut for length and mucous.
I had nasal/sinus surgery on March 5th after several years of chronic sinusitis. We tried every antibiotic under the sun, but nothing completely cured the infection and I was ALWAYS! congested. The headaches were getting pretty severe as well. And then there was the toll decongestants were taking on my heart and blood pressure to consider to consider.
A CT scan showed that a) my deviated septum was almost completely blocking my left nasal passage, b) my nasal turbinates were enlarged which was a main factor in my headaches and insomnia, and c) I had fractured an eye orbital when I caught a line-drive to the eye some 30 years ago. They could do nothing for the fracture as fatty tissue had already grown into the fracture, but they could fix my septum and turbinates (such a fun word!).
We had a significant snowfall the morning of my surgery, so when the phone rang and it was the surgery center, I was sure they were calling to tell me we needed to reschedule. To my surprise, they were asking if I could come earlier because the doc was running ahead of schedule. Mrs. CB had to teach that day, so I had a friend take me in for the surgery and stay until Mrs. CB got there after lunch.
After two attempts to get the IV in, I was given some pre-op meds, one called Versed. Versed is one of those “just a little something to help you relax” types of drugs and a lot of people have bad reactions to it. One of the side affects is memory loss. I now know why I have been struggling with my memory for the past 7 years- during all five back procedures, I was given Versed. I had noticed a marked loss in my vocabulary in the past few years, and now I have a plausible explanation. Not as much of a reaction this time because they didn’t give me enough to even relax me. I was a bit anxious.
When I woke from surgery, I felt like my head was in a vise and someone was squeezing it as tight as possible. I had my septum repaired, a cryo procedure to repair my enlarged turbinates, and a “touch” of Frontal Endoscopic Sinus Surgery. OMG! The pain was pretty nasty, even with the painkillers they were giving me. Finally, after an hour of asking they let me have my Imitrex and that seemed to help. Seeing Mrs. CB walk in was also a relief. We are now wondering if the Versed or the anesthesia are migraine triggers. I got migraines after both of my back surgeries too.
Unlike most sinus surgeries, I had no nasal packing put in. I had two splints to hold my septum in place and a “drip pad” taped under my nose. Surgery took 90 minutes, another 2.5 hours in recovery and I was on my way home. Once I got home, I headed to bed. Problem was I had to sleep sitting up. I wound up sleeping on the couch for several nights, trying to protect my swollen, delicate face from prying kitties. They did make for nice lap warmers. I drank a lot of Sprite and took a lot of Vicoden. It was a fuzzy few days.
By Day 2 post-surgery, I was down to changing the drip pad a few times a day instead of every hour. I also got the nose splints out. That was a special kinda pretty,let me tell ya. Thank god I had taken a pain pill before going in cause there was nonumbing or anything. Luckily, Mrs. CB had taken the day off because I was in NO shape to drive. She was actually a little concerned because I was looking pretty pale and hadn't eaten much in the previous 48 hours. As we left the office, it began to snow. Mrs. CB dropped me at home, then went to get "Blizzard Supplies". Over the next 24 hours, we got 15" of snow.
I spent the next 24 hours trying to sleep (very unsuccessful due to headaches and congestion), eat, and watching the snow fall from our living room window. The swelling at the bridge of my nose was still painful, so wearing my glasses was a chore. Prior to the surgery, I had stocked up on books, DVD's, and fanfic to keep me occupied, but I couldn't enjoy any of them. We ahd the TV on all weekend, but I mostly listened as I tried to doze off and on as Mrs. CB tried to keep the sidewalks and driveways shoveled. It was a long weekend.
The schools were closed Monday due to the heavy snowfall, so I got an extra day with Nurse Mrs. CB. I was starting to get my appetite back, but still felt a great deal of discomfort. I was not allowed to blow my nose and of course the only thing I WANTED to do was blow my nose. I only had to get through one more day til I went back to the surgeon and the entire time prayed I wouldn't sneeze. I was afraid it would hurt.
Tuesday I went to the surgeons thrilled that he would be removing what I thought were extra pieces of plastic in my nose. Uh, that wasn't plastic. He sprayed stuff up my snot holes and removed chunks of tissue, scabs, and blood clots. Whoa! He "cleaned" things up a little bit and sent me home with a sinus rinse kit. Unfortunatey, I was seeing an associate of my doc, and where my doc is nice and funny, this guy was a bit of a tool. He refused to remove a stitch that was causing obvious swelling and actually was painful enough that I suspected it was abcessing (That has happend several times before with those "dissolvable" stitches). So when I got home, I removed the bastard myself. There was one more that I couldn't see and it eventually did come out on its own.
Best thing is I was allowed to blow my nose.Worse thing is it hurt like hell! I swear, when I first tried it, it vibrated through my entire head all the way to my front teeth. I have never had my teeth hurt from blowing snot. Nasal/sinus surgery results in a lot of Christmas color crap that needsto come out. The sinus rinse really helped that process, but I have never been able to stand the sensation of water up my nose. It still bothers me, but I do the rinse anyway.
I went back to work the next day, one full week after the procedure. It was too soon. I still had swelling and headaches and my voice wasn't as strong as usual. Not the best things when you are on the phone all days with doctors and nurses. Luckily, I have a kind boss who is very understanding of my needing a few extra breaks over the first week back.
I am almost three weeks post surgery and I can now sleep on my side instead of upright. The headaches and swelling persist, but on a lesser scale. Mrs. CB found one of those frozen eye gel masks and that really helps. The nose is still pretty sore and I am still going through Kleenex like crack-whore goes though rocks. I am only now starting to breathe easier through my nose and I realize it will be a couple months before I am healed completely. I can blow my nose without pain, I can sneeze without fear, my appetite is back and last night, I had wine for the firt time in a month. It was heaven.
I go back to see the doc on Tuesday and I am really hoping I can resume taking my allergy meds. The pollen count has already hit the 6-7 range for this region and I need to get back up to sneeze speed before we hit the 10's. I hope I won't need decongestants. I am trying to get my resting heart rate and BP down to a normal level without corrective medication.
So if you ever have sinus surgery, prepare for discomfort, tons of nasal discharge for weeks and weeks post-surgery, swelling (but no black eyes or facial bruising), and just an over all "Why the hell did I do this?" feeling for a couple weeks. I'll let you know in a couple months if it was worth it or not...it's still too early to tell.
I had nasal/sinus surgery on March 5th after several years of chronic sinusitis. We tried every antibiotic under the sun, but nothing completely cured the infection and I was ALWAYS! congested. The headaches were getting pretty severe as well. And then there was the toll decongestants were taking on my heart and blood pressure to consider to consider.
A CT scan showed that a) my deviated septum was almost completely blocking my left nasal passage, b) my nasal turbinates were enlarged which was a main factor in my headaches and insomnia, and c) I had fractured an eye orbital when I caught a line-drive to the eye some 30 years ago. They could do nothing for the fracture as fatty tissue had already grown into the fracture, but they could fix my septum and turbinates (such a fun word!).
We had a significant snowfall the morning of my surgery, so when the phone rang and it was the surgery center, I was sure they were calling to tell me we needed to reschedule. To my surprise, they were asking if I could come earlier because the doc was running ahead of schedule. Mrs. CB had to teach that day, so I had a friend take me in for the surgery and stay until Mrs. CB got there after lunch.
After two attempts to get the IV in, I was given some pre-op meds, one called Versed. Versed is one of those “just a little something to help you relax” types of drugs and a lot of people have bad reactions to it. One of the side affects is memory loss. I now know why I have been struggling with my memory for the past 7 years- during all five back procedures, I was given Versed. I had noticed a marked loss in my vocabulary in the past few years, and now I have a plausible explanation. Not as much of a reaction this time because they didn’t give me enough to even relax me. I was a bit anxious.
When I woke from surgery, I felt like my head was in a vise and someone was squeezing it as tight as possible. I had my septum repaired, a cryo procedure to repair my enlarged turbinates, and a “touch” of Frontal Endoscopic Sinus Surgery. OMG! The pain was pretty nasty, even with the painkillers they were giving me. Finally, after an hour of asking they let me have my Imitrex and that seemed to help. Seeing Mrs. CB walk in was also a relief. We are now wondering if the Versed or the anesthesia are migraine triggers. I got migraines after both of my back surgeries too.
Unlike most sinus surgeries, I had no nasal packing put in. I had two splints to hold my septum in place and a “drip pad” taped under my nose. Surgery took 90 minutes, another 2.5 hours in recovery and I was on my way home. Once I got home, I headed to bed. Problem was I had to sleep sitting up. I wound up sleeping on the couch for several nights, trying to protect my swollen, delicate face from prying kitties. They did make for nice lap warmers. I drank a lot of Sprite and took a lot of Vicoden. It was a fuzzy few days.
By Day 2 post-surgery, I was down to changing the drip pad a few times a day instead of every hour. I also got the nose splints out. That was a special kinda pretty,let me tell ya. Thank god I had taken a pain pill before going in cause there was nonumbing or anything. Luckily, Mrs. CB had taken the day off because I was in NO shape to drive. She was actually a little concerned because I was looking pretty pale and hadn't eaten much in the previous 48 hours. As we left the office, it began to snow. Mrs. CB dropped me at home, then went to get "Blizzard Supplies". Over the next 24 hours, we got 15" of snow.
I spent the next 24 hours trying to sleep (very unsuccessful due to headaches and congestion), eat, and watching the snow fall from our living room window. The swelling at the bridge of my nose was still painful, so wearing my glasses was a chore. Prior to the surgery, I had stocked up on books, DVD's, and fanfic to keep me occupied, but I couldn't enjoy any of them. We ahd the TV on all weekend, but I mostly listened as I tried to doze off and on as Mrs. CB tried to keep the sidewalks and driveways shoveled. It was a long weekend.
The schools were closed Monday due to the heavy snowfall, so I got an extra day with Nurse Mrs. CB. I was starting to get my appetite back, but still felt a great deal of discomfort. I was not allowed to blow my nose and of course the only thing I WANTED to do was blow my nose. I only had to get through one more day til I went back to the surgeon and the entire time prayed I wouldn't sneeze. I was afraid it would hurt.
Tuesday I went to the surgeons thrilled that he would be removing what I thought were extra pieces of plastic in my nose. Uh, that wasn't plastic. He sprayed stuff up my snot holes and removed chunks of tissue, scabs, and blood clots. Whoa! He "cleaned" things up a little bit and sent me home with a sinus rinse kit. Unfortunatey, I was seeing an associate of my doc, and where my doc is nice and funny, this guy was a bit of a tool. He refused to remove a stitch that was causing obvious swelling and actually was painful enough that I suspected it was abcessing (That has happend several times before with those "dissolvable" stitches). So when I got home, I removed the bastard myself. There was one more that I couldn't see and it eventually did come out on its own.
Best thing is I was allowed to blow my nose.Worse thing is it hurt like hell! I swear, when I first tried it, it vibrated through my entire head all the way to my front teeth. I have never had my teeth hurt from blowing snot. Nasal/sinus surgery results in a lot of Christmas color crap that needsto come out. The sinus rinse really helped that process, but I have never been able to stand the sensation of water up my nose. It still bothers me, but I do the rinse anyway.
I went back to work the next day, one full week after the procedure. It was too soon. I still had swelling and headaches and my voice wasn't as strong as usual. Not the best things when you are on the phone all days with doctors and nurses. Luckily, I have a kind boss who is very understanding of my needing a few extra breaks over the first week back.
I am almost three weeks post surgery and I can now sleep on my side instead of upright. The headaches and swelling persist, but on a lesser scale. Mrs. CB found one of those frozen eye gel masks and that really helps. The nose is still pretty sore and I am still going through Kleenex like crack-whore goes though rocks. I am only now starting to breathe easier through my nose and I realize it will be a couple months before I am healed completely. I can blow my nose without pain, I can sneeze without fear, my appetite is back and last night, I had wine for the firt time in a month. It was heaven.
I go back to see the doc on Tuesday and I am really hoping I can resume taking my allergy meds. The pollen count has already hit the 6-7 range for this region and I need to get back up to sneeze speed before we hit the 10's. I hope I won't need decongestants. I am trying to get my resting heart rate and BP down to a normal level without corrective medication.
So if you ever have sinus surgery, prepare for discomfort, tons of nasal discharge for weeks and weeks post-surgery, swelling (but no black eyes or facial bruising), and just an over all "Why the hell did I do this?" feeling for a couple weeks. I'll let you know in a couple months if it was worth it or not...it's still too early to tell.
