About 3:00 pm, I woke up to the most intense migraine I have ever had. Most of this was brought on by the fact that I hadn't eaten since 11:30 pm the night before. It was after 3:30 pm the next day and I was pumped full of pain meds, bp meds as well as full packing in my nose/sinuses. Even after a shot of dopamine and phenergran my pain level was off the charts. They discharged me to go home around 5pm. Once Dean got me home and in bed, I slept as much as I could propped up, but the pain in my head was excruciating. Dean did an amazing job of keeping up on my pain meds and trying to get me to eat, which I couldn't keep anything down until almost 4:00 am the following day. He really did so good, and I love you so much babe! Thankfully after I had enough food on my stomach along w/pain meds and my bp meds on my normal routine, my migraine subsided. That was by far the worst of the actual surgery.
The following morning, I had to go and get the packing removed, which was not fun at all, but having that out of my nose definitely helped with the pressure and I was able to breathe a little.
On Saturday, I felt a lot of pressure, burning and general pain and soreness from the surgery. A call to the doctor confirmed that it was normal, and another post op appointment was scheduled for Monday.
Today: I had my appointment this morning and learned just how extensive my surgery was. There was a lot more done than I originally thought and/or discussed with my doctor. Due to the first surgery (what surgery?) there was a lot of scar tissue that had to be trimmed away, as well as no original structure which had to be built and reconstructed. This included completely opening the front portion of my nose, to remove cartilage and build a pocket for my septum to sit in. I also had too much bone for my septum to align correctly on, so she trimmed the nasal bone down, which accounts for the pain and numbness in my upper teeth. There was also quite a bit of my turbinate tissue removed, which causes pretty significant swelling, which brings on the congestion and throbbing. The sinuses were scraped and completely irrigated and therefore I have constant burning throughout my nose/sinuses along with the salt water rinse which of course makes it worse.
Today she only suctioned and cleared out anything in my nasal cavity, and unfortunately just doing this was very painful. I felt like a huge wuss until she explained all that I had gone through, and that I did good. She also confessed that the lidocaine spray they use to numb the area really doesn't help or do much. (great!). On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst, I'm probably at a 7-8 on pain and discomfort right now. I hate taking pain pills, but have been, followed by extra strength Tylenol and my pain stays about the same. I've just been trying to rest as much as possible and take 4-5 hot showers a day to help loosen things up as well as saline sprays about every 30 minutes.
My next appointment is Wednesday and she will remove the sutures and splints. I know I will be in pain getting this done, so I was advised to double up on pain meds prior to my appointment. Definitely looking forward to being able to breathe 100% (I can't even remember what that feels like, and given I get lightheaded every time I do breathe out of my nose, I'll have to get used to all this easy oxygen!) I'm just hopeful this surgery works, and that I won't have to go through this again.
Seems to be a general consensus that nothing was really fixed with my prior surgery, so I was also told to quit comparing my recovery statuses!
The total recovery for all of this can range, but usually 6 weeks up to 9 months for everything to start feeling normal. The longest part is the turbinates shrinking back down, so I might be stuck with some of the congestion for longer than I'd like. Also removing the splints should allow me to have a full view of how well I will breathe without congestion. So if I can avoid from bumping, or having my nose hit for a good 6 months plus, Dr. Abernathy said I should have a fully functioning nose again! I don't plan on wearing Dean's creative "nose guard" for that long, but will definitely take extra precaution rough housing with the boys, and attending any sporting events where I could land one on the schnauz!
So that's where I am at on the recovery front as of now. The boys have been pretty gentle and understanding, I'm just really missing my hot nurse husband right now. :(
Will keep you updated as I go.
Love, Shylah
