Ten days ago on Friday I had surgery on my sinuses…then we went on a short spring vacation. For anyone who wants the lowdown of sinus surgery, here you go. I tried to not be graphic, but I did have surgery, so there is the word blood used.
My surgery lasted 2 hours. There was a doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, and his nurse in the room. “Falling asleep” or being put under anesthesia was WEIRD. Medication was inserted into my IV and an oxygen mask was placed over my mouth. Except I would have told you I was breathing lead…or suffocating at that time. Breathing became labored and exhaling seemed impossible. I had a few seconds of panicness. In about 20 seconds I was asleep. Whew. This is what I know of surgery. It went well. I had a breathing tube placed down my throat. It took 2 hours. Yep, pretty full of information.
During recovery I was thrashing around and they administered a narcotic to me. I am pretty sure that did me in for the rest of the day. I was soooo sensitive to light and don’t think I opened my eyes at all while I was in recovery. When I remember being awake all I wanted was ice chips…..my throat was on fire from the breathing tube down my throat. My nose didn’t hurt at all, which is impressive considering I had sinus surgery. I was released from the surgery center after drinking water. I never used the bathroom there.
After this surgery they needed to basically cover my nose to catch the drippy blood. I couldn’t handle it. The nurse said I was claustrophobic?!?! That was new to me. I didn’t know that feeling anxious about being unable to breathe classifies you as claustrophobic, but whatev. I guess I had that same feeling when the sleeping medication was being administered at the beginning of surgery too. To compromise the nurse taped some roll up gauze under my nose, but not right on it. It was like a mustache. If you can call it that? I ditched it in favor of holding a tissue under my nose later.
My husband and the nurse wheeled me to the car in the wheel chair. I asked to use the staff elevator because I didn’t want to stop on all 7 floors on the way down. As it was, my head was spinny when we got to the car and I had to sit in the wheel chair for several minutes.
Once I was home I slept a lot. Except it wasn’t really sleep. It was like being awake but having an out of body experience all at the same time. I don’t even know how to explain it. I am a stomach sleeper (which is bad, I know, I know). And being unable to sleep on my stomach means my sleep was not very good. You see, after having your sinuses worked and having a drippy nose the last thing you should do is sleep on your tummy. It would be a giant bloody mess. My face was numb pretty much the entire day.
On Saturday I was pretty useless. I did get up and go downstairs. There was not a lot of pain, but I did take my Tylenol with codeine every 4 hours. More than anything there was EXTREME CONGESTION in my face. Ugh! All I wanted to do was to blow my nose. But I wasn’t allowed to. Instead, I used a Waterpik Water Flosser (yep, the ones you use on your teeth) to wash out my sinuses. To do that I stick the wand in my nose. I can’t lie, it’s pretty gross. I am still doing that.
The facial pain started on Sunday. I told my husband the pain was in my eyes and he reminded me that I had boney growths cut from the insides of my eyes. Oh yeah! That explains that pain. I kept taking my medication every 4-6 hours. Then on Monday I had a massive headache. We figured out that it was caused by the pain medication (too much codeine), so I quit taking it and I was so much better.
On Thursday I went for my post-op visit. Or should I say my first of many post op visits. I didn’t know what to expect but I imagined him basically pressure washing my nose with water. WRONG!!! There was numbing, more numbing, tools, more numbing, tools, even more numbing, and more tools all in my nose. And THAT is when I started having pain in and around my nose. I go back to the doctor this Thursday for what I imagine is the same regimen. He will tell me if I go back in one week or get to go back every two weeks.
I had envisioned being able to function after surgery. I really though I would be able to stay up to date on everything via my laptop hanging out in bed. I was soooo wrong! I thought since I had 2 children I would be able to handle sinus surgery. WRONG! This surgery taught me again to not judge others. On Monday I took the girls to a local bouncey house. And I slept on the bench while the played. I am sure the other parents wondered what was wrong with my parenting. Nothing was wrong with my parenting and in fact I was being a good parent by taking my girls to a place where they could run and jump instead of just watching TV.
If anyone has any questions that I didn’t answer I would be more than happy to answer your questions regarding these surgeries and recovery time to the best of my ability!
Leandrea is a married mom of two girls, ages 13 and 12, living in Atlanta, GA. She is passionate about helping people save money one coupon at a time. Read more
Your tweet about this caught my eye because my son has been having sinus problems for about a year now. The oral surgeon did a biopsy that came back ok. The ENT did a scan that showed a “tricky” problem. No bony growth was mentioned, tho. After one round of steroids and two (not counting the ones he took when he had his wisdom teeth removed) rounds of antibiotics, we’ll see if there’s lasting improvement. I certainly hope he doesn’t need to have surgery. I sent this link to my husband. Thanks for sharing. Trust you have a speedy recovery.
Ugh ~ this is something I have been actively considering for 2 years and was waiting until I could get on my husband’s insurance before taking the plunge. I just am so tired of the sinus headaches and swollen nasal passages to where I feel like I am always struggling to breathe. The only question you didn’t answer was this – Was it worth it? Nothing good comes without some sacrifice, I suppose, but I need to know if it was worth it in the end.