Surgery

It is hard to believe that nearly a year ago, I had my severe bloody nose which landed me in the hospital and found me with nearly $10,000 in medical debt. Well, this continues that tale since I now have decent insurance and could get surgery done on my nose.

Back then, it was determined that I had a deviated septum as well as some other minor things wrong with my nose. As such, the right nostril was mostly closed. So the only way to fix this and to reduce the number of sinus infections I have is with surgery. That I had on Wednesday.

My brother had just moved back to Colorado with his family and hadn’t started his new job yet, so he agreed to spend the night with me after the surgery. That also meant he’d be taking me to and from the surgery. Having lived alone for so many years, I wasn’t sure I was going to be happy with having someone stay over, but better safe than sorry, eh?

Wednesday morning came and I was naturally nervous a bit. Talking with my brother helped though. We got to the surgery center a little early, which was fine. Once they had me come back into the back, I had to change into the gown along with putting on special stockings and socks with rubber grips. Multiple people came in asking me the same questions over and over — who am I and why am I here?

After seeing my doctor briefly, the anesthesiologist explained everything and gave me his business card. What I was going to do with that, I didn’t know. Once he kicked in the medicine, it didn’t really matter.

My next memory after I started being wheeled into the OR was becoming aware of a nurse speaking to me. Man, I felt groggy beyond belief. I don’t like the drugged feeling at all. I struggled to try to bring myself more conscious, but it didn’t really help. Finally, a nurse came over to take me to the recovery room. Before doing this, she helped me get dressed. I have to say that I am impressed at the skills these nurses have.

I called my brother on my cell phone. He was on his way over, so I had an hour or so to kill. Man, the drugged feeling just was not fun for me. With packing in my nose along with drip-pads under my nose, I wasn’t going to be doing much sleeping to try to sleep off the drug. Drinking and eating would be a problem as well.

My brother came to pick me up and boy was I glad to see him. I don’t remember much of the trip back because I was dozing off. It was here that I was extremely glad for my brother’s help. It is amazing how unstable one can be after surgery and he was a big help.

I spent the night in my recliner at the instructions of the surgery center staff. While my recliner is very comfortable, it isn’t my beautiful Select Comfort bed. Still, it wasn’t like I was going to be getting much sleep that night anyway with not being able to breathe through my nose.

The next day saw my return to the doctor’s office where the packing in my nose was removed. My brother graciously agreed to hang out another day which lead to him getting addicted to the game Pirates! I’m sure my sister-in-law appreciated that. Well, providing him with a fun game is partial payment for all the work he did for me, including cooking some excellent meals! Thanks little brother!

So now it is Saturday. I can partially breathe through my nose, but there is congestion of one sort or other (including clotted blood) which I’m unable to completely clear from my nose despite gentle blowing and cleaning via a special WaterPic attachment. Hopefully that will clear up in a few days.

I have to return to the doctor on Tuesday to have splints removed from my nose. That should be a lot of fun.

Still, if in the end my nose is made “normal” and I can sleep at night without needing nasal steroids or the like, it will have been worth it.

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