Take It Off!

Finally! Today is the day - the splint comes out of my nose! My appointment with Dr. Troost is at 3:45 pm today and comes with mixed emotions. I'm anxious to have it removed because it really is a pain in the butt (errrr, nose??). I can feel it and it's still sitting right on my tickle spot and makes me sneeze endlessly! But...I know it's going to hurt like a b&*ch to have it removed! Think about it...this thing has been on my healing septum now for two weeks...you know darn good and well that it's grown along with it and that taking it off will feel like yanking pieces of my brain! LOL Okay, so maybe that's a bit over-dramatic, but I don't care...I'd rather go in with a pessimistic attitude, only to be surprised and walk out with a smile on my face!

Please, please, pleeeeeeaaaaaase let it not hurt! Updates later!

Holy Ouchies, Batman!

I'm alive! I feel like someone is jabbing a knife into my brain, but I'm alive! Surgery on Thursday was a success! Although I went in a bit late (7:45 am), I was out and home just shortly after 11 am! Everything went smoothly. Dr. Troost took some cartilage from elsewhere in my nose (doesn't this create another hole???) and was able to patch the perforation on my septum. I left the hospital with a nose packed full of who knows what and some good drugs. The rest of that day is pretty much a blur and sleeping that evening was no fun. Yesterday (Friday) morning I had a doc appt. at 9:30 am to remove the packing and as a general follow up to make sure things went well. The trip in to DC was amusing in itself...you might want to ask Brian about it because apparently I was "a lot of fun". Pain meds will do that. And, the picture above shows what I looked like traveling in to the doc by metro - lovely, huh? Removing the packing - OW! OW! OW! May I just say that it was NO fun and I hope I never have to do that again? The pain was only momentary, but whew, did it hurt! How those 2 1/2 inch long pieces of whatever they were fit up there is beyond me! I swore he was pulling my brain out through my nose! LOL Once the tears cleared, I realized that I could sniff! And that my sniffer felt different! Yippee! I've still got a splint in my nose and will have for the next two weeks - he'll take it out on December 17th, just in time for Christmas! I still didn't sleep very well last night - now that the packing it out, I have a lot of clotting and drainage (sorry for the visual) and I'm very stuffy. My nose also burns like crazy inside! This will go away in a few days, or so the doc says. :) Other than these few things, I'm feeling surprisingly good today and am on the mend! I'm still restricted to no lifting or strenuous activities for 2 weeks, but the time will pass quickly, I'm sure. I do believe that this would be called progress!!

Stick A Fork In Me, I'm Done! Well, Almost...

Tomorrow is the day. Let's hope we're close to an end to this nonsense they call recovery! I just received a phone call from Dr. Troost's office (he's my ENT, by the way). Surgery to repair my torn septum was originally scheduled at 9:15 am but I've been moved up so I go in at 7 am instead! If all goes well, I should be walking out of the hospital by noon! Keep your fingers crossed that it's fixable because they've said that although they believe they can take care of it, there's a chance it won't be 100% fixed. Ugh, that would SO not be fun!

For the record, my nose doesn't hurt and I'm not in any pain. But, the perforation makes breathing uncomfortable and it just plain feels weird! Try this on for size:

You go to McDonald's and buy yourself a fountain drink. You grab a straw. Soda in one hand, straw in the other...what do you do? You bang the straw on the counter to get it to poke through the paper. When you bang it too hard, what happens? Yep...the straw gets a perforation and when you try to drink through it, you have that "open air" feeling, you can't quite get the suction you need. It just doesn't work like it should, right?

This is how my nose feels when I breathe...it's incredibly irritating! And, I whistle. I've contemplated learning some songs and putting myself on the Letterman Show but so far, I haven't gotten a call back. Maybe another time. NOT!

Wish me luck! Maybe tomorrow will finally be the end of the carnival and someone will let me off this ride! Please? Anybody??