In December I had had enough of sleepless restless nights and daily battles with blocked nasal breathing; this had been going on for a couple years or actually longer and got worse as time passed on.
I went to the ENT doctor and he said I have a deviated septum(a nasal septum is an approximately 2 X 1.5 inch wall inside the nose that divides the right side of the nasal cavity from the left side). The nasal septum is composed of cartilage in the front and bone in the back of the nose I also had a hole in my septum which resulted in less air intake and a whistling breathing sound occasionally. Can anybody say:EMBARRASSING??!!
He also told me I'd need an inferior turbinate reduction. Turbinates are tissue masses extending into the nose from the sides which warm and humidify the air we breathe,in many patients, the inferior turbinates become so unusually large that they contribute to not only nasal obstruction, but also nasal congestion and sometimes a persistent clear runny nose (as in my case) alternating nasal obstruction on the side one lays down on (right nasal obstruction when laying down on the right which than switches side when laying down on the left) obviously mine were too large therefore my only remedy was surgery.
I scheduled my surgery for January and did my own research on the internet resulting in reading too much scary stuff that I litterly chickened out just one week prior to surgery, so I cancelled it. In the meantime I was struggling with sleep and breathing and the author of one of the blogs I read, Brandi was having this same procedure done for other reasons (severe daily headaches). OK, so I secretly let her be my inspiration (thanks Brandi). She had a very painful rough recovery but I figured if she could do it with 4 kids under 6 I could make it through with just myself and my husband.
I rescheduled for Monday,April 19th.
Sam was with me right until surgery. I was in surgery for an hr. and the doc came out to tell Sam all went well and he believes it was a success. I was in recovery for an hr. after that, then they wheeled me into a room and finally I was able to see Sam and when I finished up I rated my pain a 2 out of a 10; isn't that amazing? From a chicken to a 2!!! I know this was the result of God guiding my surgeon and my family and friends praying for me, thank you everyone:-)
The bleeding was out of this world, (I thought I might need a blood transfusion) Sam quickly reassured me I was going to be fine. Let's just say I'm really happy I had a bag for all the tissues I went through on our way home. Even my mustache gauze didn't make it half way home!
We got home at 6:00 P.M. Sam got me all comfy on the loveseat, served us dinner, filled my eye ice bag to help reduce the pain and swelling then went to the pharmacy to get my meds filled. He really took great care of me and continues to even through Thursday night (when I am STILL writing this).
I have been sleeping sitting up in the spare bed(room) and only taking my Vicodine at night now(Tuesday I took 2 doses of it) My face is numb/swollen all the way up to my temples and my upper lip is very bruised on the inside but no visual bruising. I've been sucking on freeze pops trying to get my lip back to normal. I didn't lose my appetite and had no fever. I've been extremely tired, I can barely believe how much I've slept. My dad says you will sleep if your body needs it and since I have to sleep more-less sitting up, it's not the best sleep I've ever gotten so I'm sure I do need my sleep. I got a call from the nurse again today (Friday) she told me I can now lay down to sleep. Yippie!
About Me
- Lori
- Ohio, United States
- My name is Lori and I am married to my highschool sweetheart, Sam. We have one grown, married daughter. Currently, I am a very part-time nanny. We also have two grandchildren and a dog. The dog lives with us, the grandchildren don't.
5 comments:
I am so glad i didn't scare you away from surgery. lol
I really think my problems were just from the stents.
I didn't have alot of bleeding though, but it just continued on till i got my stents removed. I do remember having numb areas on my nose and below my eyes but that went away when all the internal swelling went down.
I think you have had an excellent recovery.
How is your breathing now? I couldn't really tell till they removed my stents but once they did i could immediately tell the difference. I just went to my ENT today for another follow up and he said i am still having some frontal sinus drainage (which i knew cause i am still blowing my nose alot). So he is putting me on flonase for the next 6 months but he said everything else looks great.
Thanks Brandi, My nose is tender however; I have no kids to accidently bump me and I'm getting my kisses on the cheek these days, haha. I'm using Simply Saline got 5 cans when Walgreens had them a few weeks back for 7.00 get 7.00 register rewards so FREE + 1.00 money maker per can cause I had 5 coupons. Not a lot of bleeding after the first 24 hrs. but still some. Yeah, I think I'm in much better shape (recovery wise) than you, I really felt bad for ya. My breathing is still pretty bad, I'm really congested up and not blowing too hard, I go back on next Friday for a check up. I'm supper glad your doc says your looking great.
The Dr told me after surgery that Lori would have a straight nose now. I told him I didn't think is was bent before but he assured me it was but is better now. Slowly but surely Lori is getting back to normal but she has kept me company over the past few days as I am on vacation for her this week but have managed to get a medium sized retaining wall built between taking care of her. I appreciated all the time Lori spent with me but wanted to make sure she didn't get too much dust & dirt.
I love my wife more everyday.... straight nose or not :) Sam
oh Honey, that is so sweet of you. I love you too! He's referring about not wanting me to breath in too much dirt and dust from his work outside. He loves when I keep him company when he is working outside, but this time he was pretty much on his own.
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