Yesterday I awoke at 3:33 am. I needed to be up at 5 to shower and head to the hospital. Anxiously I paced, lied in bed thinking, and awaited for the alarm to go off. When it did, I suddenly felt very sleepy. After my shower, the dogs and I sat on the front porch smelling the morning dew and watching the sun rising higher in the sky. The energy was clear and calm. So was I. But it was time to go.
I arrived for my check-in at 6:30 am and was finally taken in at 7. Not a long wait, I guess. The woman at the out-patient desk confirmed my birthday and said, "I'm the 22nd! Happy Birthday." Later on the anesthesiologist would also ask to confirm my birthday and say, "Mine is the 23rd, Happy Belated Birthday!" I took these as good signs that I was in the hands of competent, multi-tasking Gemini folk like myself. In fact, the entire staff at Aria Hospital, Torresdale were very nice people on top of their game. My entire experience with the staff was very good. They seemed to be people who enjoyed their job, each other and cared about their patients. BONUS!
My step-daughter, Alexis, came in with me for the procedure. She doesn't like the sight of blood. When they stuck me for the IV she had to walk away. Later when I spit out blood she nearly fell over. I was grateful to have her there with me. She is another Gemini, of course, so she is also quite trustworthy and caring. I packed her a snack bag to which she ate most of before 7:30 am. She's an athlete, so she eats a lot, thankfully all healthy. In fact, the only thing she didn't eat was the chocolate chip cookie. All the fruit and granola were gone. Good kid.
My doctor, William Henry, is a great guy too. I didn't ask his sign, but he is very approachable and interested in making sure that you understand what is going to happen, and open to any questions. I particularly like when he presses his nose down with his index finger and squishes it around while explaining things. It's goofy and funny and it puts you at ease right away. I asked him if I was having any cuts or sutures, to which he explained that in the process of moving the septum, he would have to put in a stitch that would dissolve on it's own. Other than that, shouldn't be a big deal, 20 minute procedure, and there could be a possibility to have to add a stint if the septum doesn't stay in place, but that I wouldn't feel it if he had to.
I should show you the drawings he made for me:
As you can see, a normal septum goes straight down the middle of the nose. Mine deviated to the left quite a bit causing about 90-95% blockage in that nostril. The effects were that the right side took on more fluid and that drained into my ear, causing constant issues as well. You can also note that the septum in my picture is not sitting in the little troth at the bottom, but completely missing it. So in the procedure he had to move that over too.
My daughter said that I was only gone a total of 30 minutes so the procedure was quick. The only real problem coming out is always the swallowing - or not being able to - because the numbing agent in the nose drains down the throat. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that first 20 minutes was rough. Once that was over, I felt pretty good. Well, they had me on numbing agents and pain killers, so who wouldn't really?
By the way, I did not have to have a stint put in.
As soon as I could eat the ice cubes and swallow some ginger ale, they released me to go home, gave me instructions to rest, take the nasal medicine to reduce swelling and stop the bleeding, and wrap gauze around the bottom of my nose to catch any blood. With my scripts I headed home, stopping right at the CVS to fulfill them.
Now, I am not a fan of having to take proscription pain medicine, so my plan of action was, if at all possible, to go with extra strength tylenol instead. I also didn't want to have to pay a ton of $ for the prescribed Vicodin either. This was my brief conversation about that with the pharmacist:
Me to Pharmacist: I want to get some extra strength tylenol in case I don't want to take the Vicodin.
Pharmacist: Oh, you're gonna want to take that Vicodin, cause it's gonna hurt.
For the extra $20, I got the Vicodin.
By the time I got home and ate my first food of the day it was about 1pm. Not too bad, really. My nose was bleeding enough to get caught in the gauze but not needing to be changed very often. That is, until I caught a sneezing fit. This was the one thing the doc warned me about: not to sneeze hard out of my nose. And here it was, a full on uncontrollable sneezing fit. I must have sneezed 20 times, trying my best to direct it out of my mouth instead of my nose. I thought I did ok, but the bleeding started to get worse, going through the gauze. I changed it 3 times in 10 minutes and called the doctor. I was starting to freak out a little...Lexi may say a lot.
He said it was ok. He calmed me right down and said the bleeding was normal. By the time he called it did seem to slow down again, although not entirely. I used the nasal spray and tried to lay back and relax. Once that passed, about 2:30, I think I finally started to rest...well, I watched a few episodes of Ellen, which is rest to me. About then I realized that the pain was starting to come back. I guess things were wearing off. I sat with it for about a half an hour, going over in my head and listening to my body about which drug to take...the over the counter, or the Vicodin. In the end, I chose the prescription meds.
By 10pm I was falling asleep watching TV with my husband. When we went to bed, the bleeding seemed to have almost stopped. I propped my head up on the pillows, as instructed, and feel fast asleep...
To Be Continued...
I arrived for my check-in at 6:30 am and was finally taken in at 7. Not a long wait, I guess. The woman at the out-patient desk confirmed my birthday and said, "I'm the 22nd! Happy Birthday." Later on the anesthesiologist would also ask to confirm my birthday and say, "Mine is the 23rd, Happy Belated Birthday!" I took these as good signs that I was in the hands of competent, multi-tasking Gemini folk like myself. In fact, the entire staff at Aria Hospital, Torresdale were very nice people on top of their game. My entire experience with the staff was very good. They seemed to be people who enjoyed their job, each other and cared about their patients. BONUS!
My step-daughter, Alexis, came in with me for the procedure. She doesn't like the sight of blood. When they stuck me for the IV she had to walk away. Later when I spit out blood she nearly fell over. I was grateful to have her there with me. She is another Gemini, of course, so she is also quite trustworthy and caring. I packed her a snack bag to which she ate most of before 7:30 am. She's an athlete, so she eats a lot, thankfully all healthy. In fact, the only thing she didn't eat was the chocolate chip cookie. All the fruit and granola were gone. Good kid.
My doctor, William Henry, is a great guy too. I didn't ask his sign, but he is very approachable and interested in making sure that you understand what is going to happen, and open to any questions. I particularly like when he presses his nose down with his index finger and squishes it around while explaining things. It's goofy and funny and it puts you at ease right away. I asked him if I was having any cuts or sutures, to which he explained that in the process of moving the septum, he would have to put in a stitch that would dissolve on it's own. Other than that, shouldn't be a big deal, 20 minute procedure, and there could be a possibility to have to add a stint if the septum doesn't stay in place, but that I wouldn't feel it if he had to.
I should show you the drawings he made for me:
My daughter said that I was only gone a total of 30 minutes so the procedure was quick. The only real problem coming out is always the swallowing - or not being able to - because the numbing agent in the nose drains down the throat. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that first 20 minutes was rough. Once that was over, I felt pretty good. Well, they had me on numbing agents and pain killers, so who wouldn't really?
 |
| Like to booties? How about that groovy cap? (Ignore the little snowy cabin and trees on the bottom right, I didn't realize that was there when I made this last night in my Vicodin induced state of relaxation). |
As soon as I could eat the ice cubes and swallow some ginger ale, they released me to go home, gave me instructions to rest, take the nasal medicine to reduce swelling and stop the bleeding, and wrap gauze around the bottom of my nose to catch any blood. With my scripts I headed home, stopping right at the CVS to fulfill them.
Now, I am not a fan of having to take proscription pain medicine, so my plan of action was, if at all possible, to go with extra strength tylenol instead. I also didn't want to have to pay a ton of $ for the prescribed Vicodin either. This was my brief conversation about that with the pharmacist:
Me to Pharmacist: I want to get some extra strength tylenol in case I don't want to take the Vicodin.
Pharmacist: Oh, you're gonna want to take that Vicodin, cause it's gonna hurt.
For the extra $20, I got the Vicodin.
By the time I got home and ate my first food of the day it was about 1pm. Not too bad, really. My nose was bleeding enough to get caught in the gauze but not needing to be changed very often. That is, until I caught a sneezing fit. This was the one thing the doc warned me about: not to sneeze hard out of my nose. And here it was, a full on uncontrollable sneezing fit. I must have sneezed 20 times, trying my best to direct it out of my mouth instead of my nose. I thought I did ok, but the bleeding started to get worse, going through the gauze. I changed it 3 times in 10 minutes and called the doctor. I was starting to freak out a little...Lexi may say a lot.
He said it was ok. He calmed me right down and said the bleeding was normal. By the time he called it did seem to slow down again, although not entirely. I used the nasal spray and tried to lay back and relax. Once that passed, about 2:30, I think I finally started to rest...well, I watched a few episodes of Ellen, which is rest to me. About then I realized that the pain was starting to come back. I guess things were wearing off. I sat with it for about a half an hour, going over in my head and listening to my body about which drug to take...the over the counter, or the Vicodin. In the end, I chose the prescription meds.
 |
| It really doesn't make me feel loopy, but I thought the picture was funny. |
To Be Continued...
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