Tuesday 10 June 2014

Septoplasty and FESS surgery

Day of the Surgery:
    The D-Day had come and i was going nuts. My surgery was scheduled at 9 a.m and i was instructed to not eat or drink anything after 12 a.m the previous night. In my hospital, the patients are required to get admitted the night before the surgery. In the morning they asked me to remove all the jewellery i had on myself, cut my nails as short as possible and to remove all the nail polish i had on. They also gave me a special shower gel and asked me to use that instead of my regular soap during my shower. Then they put me in an extremely loose-back baring gown and braided my hair and stuffed it up into a hair cap. At this time, the anesthesiologist came in and asked me a bunch of questions and checked my neck movements. I was left waiting for a while as the surgery scheduled before mine wasn't over yet and the waiting was pure torture. I was frozen with fear, no joke, i mean why why why would they give my over worrying brain so much spare time?
So i waited and at about 11:30 i was wheeled into the surgery wing. The only thing i was doing was trying to control the five year old i had suddenly become. I pondered over asking  the Dr. to give me a little time so that i can ball my eyes out a bit but i chose against it and stayed mute. Anyway, the Dr. came and stuffed some cotton strips soaked with a numbing solution into my nostrils. I was then wheeled into the operating theatre and it looked like i was in a movie with all the people in masks and the circular lights. They put a mask over my nose and asked me to take deep breaths and in the mean time an I.V was being put in my arm and the general anesthesia was being administered. The anesthesiologist was explaining the whole process to me and i was out before i knew it. I was woken up by the Dr. with a soft tap on my hand and the only thing i remember was the intense thirst. My tongue felt like a dry piece of leather and my lips were parched, literally cracked from the lack of moisture. I remember asking for water and they poured a few precious drops into my mouth.The surgery had lasted for about an hour and a half.
Now, my mind was awake but my eyes remained shut and they wheeled me into the recovery room where i saw my mother for a brief moment. The only thing i felt at this stage was the extreme dryness in my mouth and the difficulty of breathing through a dried up desert of a mouth. They put an oxygen mask on me and that improved the breathing so much and also i was put on drips to avoid dehydration i guess. I was kept there for four hours and i think this was the worst part of the whole surgery because i couldn't fall asleep thanks to my packed nose and dry mouth. I remember counting from 1 to 100, then backwards and begging for water and my mother every 15 minutes. But i was only given a few drops here and there. Pain wise i was at a zero, i mean i was extremely uncomfortable and irritated but i had no pain whatsoever. Finally, they gave me some water and wheeled me back to my hospital room.
My nose packing was highly irritating and my nose was bleeding and my gauze dressing was getting full quickly. My hospital requires an overnight stay after the surgery and i was glad because i was paranoid that something might go wrong after i went home. The first night was horrible because i couldn't sleep at all, no matter how hard i tried. I had my nose stuffed with cotton, a sore throat and an I.V up my arm. I get major anxiety when i cant breathe properly, so you can imagine how i dealt with the packing. I started crying after a while because i felt suffocated and finally cried myself to sleep for about 2 hours totally. It was the worst night of my life even though pain wise i was still at a zero.
I am sorry for the long post but i just wanted to include every single detail in there. Hopefully you found this helpful.

Why i chose to have septoplasty!

So, I know this post is a bit morbid but this is something i went through recently and i thought it would help some of you itching to know about the different personal experiences with septoplasty.
Anyway, I have been suffering from constant nasal congestion, sneezing a hundred times every morning, head aches, colds, throat infections and what not for the past 3 years. I didn't really have any symptoms before that but it all started around three years ago. I also get severe ear pain when i fly and i am an aspiring flight attendant and obviously the two don't mix. Now i got this surgery after getting the opinions of four E.N.T doctors because i wanted to be sure that this will eradicate my ear pain whilst on a plane. They told me that with my indications there is a 99 percent chance that the ear pain will resolve itself after the surgery. They also told me that with the current shape my nose is in, being a flight attendant would be next to impossible. 
Bottom line - I had to get this surgery if i wanted to be a flight attendant so I thought why not because it will cure so many of my other problems too.
My specific problems were:
  • Deviated septum
  • Bilateral Concha Bullosa
  • Ethmoid and Sphenoid sinuses 
I would really love a life where i don't get constant head aches, colds and all that jazz because i am young  and it is really not fun to be sick all the time. The thought of surgery freaked me out but i kept holding on to the thought of the benefits i will get from it.
Keep on reading to know what happened to me.

 

An Introduction to ... ME !

Hello,
I am slowly tiptoeing into the world of blogging. I decided to start this blog as a mapping chart for my official adult life. I am a 22 year old girl(woman) fresh out of college and it kind of puzzles me that i feel like i only have old age to look forward to. I mean most of life's usual milestones have been crossed considering I am only left with two more; getting married and having babies. Well that can wait for a while because i am not going to let my waning youth slip by and i will make this decade of my life something i will be proud to look back on.
So here i am trying to make a "record" of sorts and hopefully i can be an example(cough..guinea pig) for the rest of you out there.
As my pug would say - Toodles !