Nasally Stuff

Last October, I got a cold. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it hung on. Because we were getting married on Thanksgiving, I called my doctor and she put me on oral antibiotics. No biggee, except that I didn't really get over the cold. In fact, I was sick on my wedding night with a sore throat and extreme exhaustion. My honeymoon was spent sniffling and coughing and resting. :(

I sort of got over it but never 100%, and at the end of December, I got sick again. Went on antibiotics again. Sort of got over it but not 100%.

I got sick again in Jan. Went on antibiotics AGAIN. Sort of got over it but not 100% and at this time, had been coughing since October. I don't mean a light "cough cough" I mean a loud, honking "HACK HACK" kind of cough.

At the beginning of March, we headed to Yosemite for our annual trip and on Day 1 of the conference, I got so sick I missed the REST of the conference. There we sat, in a great hotel room, in one of the world's most beautiful National Parks, and I was sicker than I'd ever been.

At this point I was convinced I had lung cancer and Steve and I were extremely emotional. We got a hold of our doctor and scheduled an appointment with a CT scan and chest xrays - results showed a severely abscessed sinus cavity!

Surgery was scheduled. Thank god.

So they roto-rooted out my sinus cavity, and it helped quite a bit. The only part that sucked, and I mean SUCKED, was that after surgery, they packed my sinuses with a strange torture device known as a "nasal tampon". Not so bad, until they pull the darned things out!

Just imagine having your nose stuffed full of fully expanded tampons. Now imagine someone YANKING it out it right after having the sinus cavity scraped clean (read: raw and irritated and bleeding and painful) without giving you any good drugs to aid in the process.

Did I say it SUCKED?

So now I'm here, about 2 months since surgery, and I have to say that while I'm not totally normal yet, I do feel a LOT better. No more colds, headaches, coughing, etc. Hopefully this thing will work. I am a bit more "nasally" than before, which I think is due to the new holes they cut into my sinuses to facilitate drainage, but it is what it is... as long as I'm not sick, I'm happy. I'll give up my singing voice for now.

I just had to post this one because of the SUCKAGE of the nasal tampons. I just can't reiterate that enough. So let me know if you're going to need this procedure - I'll be sure to lie to you like my doctor did to me, and tell you "it's not so bad, just a little uncomfortable". :)