The 2017 school year was a struggle with daily nose bleeds, sinus pressure, allergies, headaches, and sleep apnea. When I went in for my second cauterization for heavy nose bleeds, it was determined we should do a CT scan. They discovered that I had four issues going on: a deviated septum, a bone spur, a large band of scar tissue covering part of my nostril. and something I've come to learn a lot about...a turbinate. Evidently there are several turbinates in your nostrils. They are chambers that circulate warm moist air in the nose. Sometimes, these get enlarged and block the nostril. One of mine, the concha bullosa turbinate was huge. Before I saw the surgeon, they had me see an allergist. I had allergy testing done. They only discovered that I had allergy symptoms but were unable to determine what I was allergic to. I met the surgeon, who is the top plastic surgeon at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Grant Hamilton. He agreed that surgery will help me breathe much better. Surgery was scheduled for mid July.
I was a nervous wreck the night before the surgery. We had an early report time at the hospital but there was still a wait for the actual surgery. I was wheeled to the operating room, transferred to the table, and was given the IV. They made sure before they took out the intubation that they pumped my stomach of blood from the surgery to prevent nausea. Next thing I remember was trying to wake up in the recovery room. I had to return the next day for a check up. It was so hard to get there as I was very weak. We discovered the valet parking that Mayo offers and it was worth it. I had a struggle the next several days getting the anesthesia out of my system. I was groggy, had an intense headache, tons of pain, and my legs would twitch for days. I tried Oxycodone to relieve the pain but it made me throw up. I toughed it out with just Tylenol. They prescribed me a precautionary antibiotic that terribly upset my stomach. I was only allowed low sodium food that was soft to chew. Opening my mouth to drink was tricky so straws were my friend. I had to keep a gauze taped under my nose for about 4 days to catch the random blood drips. For me, twice daily cleaning my nose was the hardest as I am a big wuss and can't handle blood or pain.
One week post surgery I came in to get the biggest set of stents removed. They were enormous! About 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. Two weeks post op I had the final set of stents removed. I was able to breathe for the first time in over several years! My nose is still very sensitive and still healing. The surgeon said tissue takes up to a year to really heal properly. I am hoping I don't have any more nosebleeds and that the snoring is taken care of. I'm hoping I don't have actual sleep apnea too. Now that I can breathe and exercise better, I'm hoping I can finally let go of some weight. The girls have been amazing helping me out while I heal. There is much I have been unable to do. Even simple things like bending over to pick up a dropped object was tough.
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| A waste of time allergy test. |
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| A hilarious survey Mayo Clinic, nice acronym. |
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| I hate sharing this photo but a picture says a lot. You can see the swelling of my nose, the dripping blood on the gauze, and the fatigue/pain in my eyes. |
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| This is what the stents look like that they shove in your nose. Not fun to remove let me tell you! |
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| CT image of my nose |
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| I added arrows with an explanation! |
