Sinus Surgery

Anyone who knows me knows that I have crappy sinuses. I get sinus infections at least every 2 months, often more than that. I had sinus surgery 10 years ago and went for a very long time without a sinus infection. But the last 5 years have been horrible. They have come back with a vengeance. I finally got to the point where I felt like I could not take another antibiotic. I met with an ENT, Dr. Riddle and he did a CT and said the infection was bad so they put me on a very strong antibiotic. After 4 weeks they did another CT and he said the infection was much worse. They wanted to get me scheduled for a sinus surgery right away. So I immediately had to stop taking Ibuprofen and Aspirin and could only take Tylenol. Tylenol is great for headaches and as far as I am concerned sucks for everything else. After a few additional weeks of pain (since I still had the infection) it was time for the surgery. So October 20, 2009 I had my final sinus surgery. I asked Dr. Riddle why I had to have it a second time. He said that some doctors open it up just enough. He is aggressive and said that most likely I will not have to have another one. So this is what they did.

I had an endoscopic procedure where they opened up the following sinuses:

Frontal sinuses (in the forehead)

Maxillary sinuses (behind the cheek bones)

Ethmoid sinuses (between the eyes)

Sphenoid sinuses (behind the eyes)

They also cleaned out some of the infection.

My nurse who got me all ready was awesome. She thought Dennis was pretty amusing. They gave me a ton of medication and an IV. The doctor was behind so we had to wait for quite some time. This is how I looked before the procedure.



The gown was really cool! There is a hookup in it where they can pump warm or cool air right into your gown...awesome. I remember the anesthesiologist giving me half a dose of some "calming medicine" (that is what he called it). Dennis was waiting for me to be weird but I was fine. Once they took me back for the surgery he gave me the other half and the rest was history. I don't remember anything after that except waking up. This is what I looked like AFTER the procedure. I was not even aware Dennis took this.



They want you to eat something so they can give you pain meds. So what do they give me....crackers! I don't know if you have ever slept with your mouth open but your mouth gets dry, very very dry. I nearly choked on the crackers. So I asked Dennis for pudding and he was very kind and fed it to me. Oh! And they gave me Diet Coke...yum. The doctor said the surgery went well although a little longer than expected. He said it was very good we did the surgery since the infection was pretty severe.

The next few days recovering were pretty miserable. Mostly because I could not breathe through my nose and my mouth was so dry that I could not eat solid food. I lived on soup and milkshakes. But honestly, who doesn't like a chocolate milkshake for breakfast?!

A week and half post surgery I am feeling much better. I am doing 4 sinus rinses a day. I have 2 nasal sprays, an antibiotic and am only taking Ibuprofen for pain. And in a week...I can blow my nose gently! Keep in mind I haven't blown my nose in almost 2 weeks. It is killing me! But I am grateful I was able to have the surgery, that I have an amazing husband who took care of me during recovery, a mom who got me milkshakes and anything else I needed, and a ward member who brought me amazing potato soup. I look forward to amazing, clear, infection free sinuses!