HI
I have to have a sinuplasty with a possible FESS tomorrow. I am wondering what I can expect recovery wise. Thanks

Sorry, I don't have any advice on that, but good luck anyways. :)

Thanks for the well wishes. It went well and recovery has been pretty easy

I may have to have my 6 yr old son have that surgery. What was the level of pain after wards? what was the reason for you're surgery? My son has recurring sinus infections he's on antibiotics every 4 - 8 weeks was your situation similar. Do you feel the surgery was worth it?

I'm sorry for all the questions I've never had surgery except oral and I'm frightened about the possibility of my son having surgery.


Thanks

I'm not the one who originally posted but have had the surgery and can tell you that the level of pain is not that bad - kind of a persistent headache for a couple of days but that's about it.

Before you worry too much about that though has your son had a CT scan? And, has he had any other possible underlying causes (like allergies) treated?

The surgery itself will only help if physical blockages of his sinuses are causing the sinus infections - if there's something else going on surgery won't make much difference - the doctor will have to get a CT scan to see if his sinuses are blocked or excessively narrowed.

If it does come to surgery I would strongly recommend that you find an ENT who deals with chronic sinus disease (which most office based ENTs don't) - probably at a university medical center or teaching hospital to do the surgery - the surgery is much less invasive and conservatively done now than it was even 10 years ago - finding a doctor who is very current with the latest techniques will make a huge difference.

I have found the sinus procedures to be very painful and took me awhile to recover. However, each surgery is different and most of it depends on how extensive the surgery is. A simple rinoplasty isn't bad ....A headache for a couple of days and some black eyes.

Sinus surgery is a different matter. I had polyps (upside down mushroom shaped) removed and a re-routing of drainage areas. The polyps are cut off with a laser or a cutting tool and can't be stitched....They just have to scar over and this is why you see people with "drip pads" under their noses. The wounds will bleed for about a week or so. Very, very painful.

The re-routing of sinus drains aren't as painful as the polyps. Depending on your situation, they drill and cut new paths. This procedure can usually have a big effect (positive) in breathing, drainage & etc. I would advise against the polyp removal unless they are blocking key areas. All that new scar tissue creates problems down the road and of course, cutting all the polyps exposes nerve endings & etc.

As a general rule, I think anytime you get your head operated on, it's more painful than other parts of the body. Pain control following nose/sinus surgery is crucial and I'd be very open with the Doc about his/her philosophy. Blood flow to the head, and especially the sinuses, is poor, thus, healing takes much longer. It's VERY IMPORTANT to not try to do too much for a couple weeks after surgery to avoid bleeding & etc.

Good luck.

My experience with surgery to remove polyps was very different from what Executor describes. There was very little bleeding after the surgery (my doctor uses some packing that he removes before I leave the hospital to stop the bleeding), and I only had to wear a drip pad until the morning of the day after surgery.

My ENT doesn't let the place where the polyps are removed "scar over" - just the opposite in fact, I had to go back 4 times after the surgery so that he could remove the scabs that formed to prevent scar tissue from forming and make sure that the mucus membranes in my sinuses healed correctly.

As for the pain, polyps are fluid-filled sacs that develop in the mucus membranes of your sinuses so they're not very deep - and there are very few nerve ending in your sinuses, so the pain was minimal. I took Tylenol 3 (with codeine) for the first 48 hours and then regular Tylenol after that for a couple of days and was fine (I did miss 5 days of work because they want you to take it easy and minimize the risk of getting a cold).

Unfortunately, I've had the surgery 4 times over 15 years because polyps don't resolve themselves (and leaving them would be a huge mistake), it's not much fun but it's really not that terrible.

Hi Smith- Yes, it sounds as if yours was vastly different from mine. My ENT also packed me and did the scab removal as you described. However, my sinuses bled on and off for about a week. My ENT said all polyp removals scar over (pulling scabs helps cut down on scaring, but any cut you pick the scab off over and over will scar) because it can't be stitched. He said one reason that it is so painful is because you have an open wound exposed to air and contaminants. Whereas a regular cut with a scalpel is stitched afterwards and the wound is sealed. I had a lot of surrounding tissue removed, thus, my entire sinus cavity is very sensitive. I even had a "embeded" infection that had to be "peeled" out. Ahhhhhhh!

How often do you have to have the polyps removed? I'm assuming they are the result of allergies.

Thanks.

These are both very different from my experience as well. I had Tonsilectomy, endoscopic sinus, and septoplasty at the same time. I had a fair amount of bleeding in the first post-op hours, but went home within 3 hours of waking up. My ENT's instructions were to inhale saline solution into the sinuses every few hours to flush out the blood and other nasties to prevent them from crusting up and blocking drainage etc. I did this religiously and after a few days, what came out was basically clear. No packing was used at all. Free to breathe and drain out.

7 days after surgery, I went back to him and he removed the stents used to keep the newly created sinus drainage open during healing. I asked him how things looked during surgery and he said I "had polyps up the ying-yang" and he removed them all. He did give me a black left eye during the surgery because he said the bone was thin there from chronic inflammation/sinusitis etc. That was almost 5 years ago and have not had another problem at all. My breathing is 200% improved. Should have done it years earlier.

Overall, the pain was nowhere near as bad as some have made it out to be. But it seems the difference is which and how much pain meds the doc is willing to give. If you have a conservative one who is worried about the DEA, then you are in for a rough time. Request some liquid oxyfast or oxycontin every 12 hours for the first week and it should take the edge off pretty quick. Vicodin is a joke for this procedure.

I would agree that Vicoden is a joke this kind of surgery. For what it's worth, I have a woman friend who had this procedure and she said her sinus and nose surgery was MUCH worse than childbirth. In fact, her words were "childbirth is a walk in the park compared to sinus surgery." As a male, I obviously haven't had any children, but I can say that it was two weeks of h*ll. I had to stay one night and had to have shots of Demerol ever 4-6 hours. Once I got home, 2 percs every 4 hours took the edge off. My head hurt so bad, that the air coming out of the AC ducts was too loud! Had headaches for upwards of a month. Nasty stuff, that's for sure. As I said earlier, anytime you have your head operated on, it's not easy.

Wow. That sounds really bad. I can't believe they sent me home that soon. I guess I was either really lucky, or my surgeon did things much different. He was supposed to be one of the best, but I guess it really depends on what the find when they get in there. He knew it was ugly from the CT scan, so I was prepared for the worst. He did not do turbinate reduction, so maybe that is why it wasnt so bad. I can understand how it could be like childbirth if they actually remove large amounts of tissue along with the polyps. Luckily, they didnt do that to me.

hello all,
I am scheduled for sinus surgery friday. this will be my second in 5 years. First one was awful they had to correct my deviated septum etc. However i had 5 blissful years of no headaches. Now the headaches are back I always feel like i have a cold. Now they say let's do surgery again. This time to remove polyps, tissue remove envolving the maxillary, sphenoid, frontal and ethmoid. also resection of inferior turbinates and last but not least the new pillar implant for my horrific snoring. Has any one had anything close to this the procedure sounds scary ex. bilateral endoscopy total ethmoidectomy, bilateral endoscopic maxillary antrostomy with tissue removal. I have researched it online but it is so hard to really get to the grit of it . Any replies will be appprecitated./
helgadog

Yes, I have. I've had 3 surgeries overall, and I don't mean to scare you but you asked the question....Wished I hadn't had ANY of them. Started out with a deviated septum and some minor sinus stuff. Then, had polyps removed a couple years later and some drainage modifications, as well as turbinate reduction / elimination. My third surgery was more polyp removal, more drainage modification, and the removal of an embedded infection that wouldn't really heal....Felt good on antibiotics and then once off them, the infection slowly returned.

I know every case is different, and maybe I'm just very unlucky, but now I'm in a pain mgt program and take heavy doses of meds due to chronic face / sinus pain as well as very bad headaches. IMO, once they start drilling and taking tissue out, things are never the same. In my case, they peeled too much tissue out and did some minor nerve damage. Of course, when they start peeling tissue out and etc., you invariably become much more sensitive to things such as allergies, colds, perfumes, cold air, & etc. You also develop scar tissue which leads to all sorts of complications down the road. For me, a normal cold or flu feels like someone cuts on me with a scalpel. The headaches sometimes can be unbearable.

I was having more sinus trouble last year, and the ENT sent me for an MRI just to make sure nothing major was going on and during the scan, the radiologist asked if I've had surgery before because she could see all kinds of scar tissue. Not a good sign, IMO.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you asked the question, so I thought I would reply. I'd make sure you know EXACTLY what's going on and I'd be very clear with the surgeon in terms of your questions & etc. Once they go in and do all those procedures, there is no turning back. Sounds like you have chronic sinus problems and probably will battle them your entire life. Some of it is hereditary....The rest is symptomatic of your area of the world (allergies, pollution, & etc)...some areas are much worse than others.

Good luck and please report back at some point on how the procedure(s) go. I'm probably just the unlucky one.

Sorry, but I forgot to mention that make sure you have a good understanding with your Doc about pain control, because you're gonna need it after surgery. My head hurt so bad, the air coming out of the air/heat ducts was too loud!! I wanted to get up and smash it with a baseball bat. I bring this up because some Docs are funny about this stuff. It took me about 3-4 months of pain meds....Can't exactly remember. I stayed overnight in the hospital for one night and was administered Demerol until I left....Then went on percs every 4 hours. You'll need to keep ahead of the pain....If you wait too long, you can't shake it.

The chronic headaches kicked in later and the ENT eventually referred me over to a pain clinic. He treated the pain for a while. Great guy and a caring Doc, but just a surgery (or two) gone bad.

Good luck and I hope everything goes ok.

Has any one had anything close to this the procedure sounds scary ex. bilateral endoscopy total ethmoidectomy, bilateral endoscopic maxillary antrostomy with tissue removal. I have researched it online but it is so hard to really get to the grit of it

I've had sinus surgery 4 times, including exactly the procedures you mention, and have a couple of thoughts. First of all, unlike Executor, I'm glad I had them and I never had any significant pain after any of the four - I took Tylenol 3 for 2-3 days then regular Tylenol as needed and other than missing a couple of days of work, had very few problems.

I'm incredibly fortunate to have found a truly world class ENT who did the last two and he sent me home the same day as the surgery with no packing after I left the hospital.

Executor does mention one of the key problems you have to be aware of - scar tissue. Ask your doctor what he/she will do in terms of follow up. If the doctor doesn't have you come back 3-4 times to remove "crusts" (scabs that form after the surgery) - the official name for the procedure is debridement - then FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR. Removing the crusts helps minimize the scar tissue that forms after the procedure but some office-based ENTs don't have the time to do the follow up (the follow up visits arent' fun, so save some pain pills and take them 30 minutes before the follow up - have someone drive you to the appointment).

I would also ask your doctor why he/she is resecting your turbinates and how much tissue they're going to remove - taking out too much turbinate tissue can cause problems and should be done conservatively.

The other thing that will be key is your follow up regimen. You'll need to do some kind of saline rinses for a while to help get the junk out of your sinuses - usually they have you start this a few days after surgery. If your doctor doesn't recommend some kind of saline rinse I'd consider looking for another doctor. I always recommend that people who are going back for a second round of surgery try to find a doctor who really specializes in treating chronic sinus problems (at a University or major medical center).

Conservative surgery and aggressive follow up are really important to having a successful long-term result.

Helgadog-

Just as a follow-up to my earlier post I pulled out a couple of ENT text books that I bought after my first surgery so that I could better understand what's going on. Here's a summary of what they say about recommended follow up after the kind of surgery you're having:

-Patients are instructed not to *blow their nose for 48 hours (or more) after surgery
-An antibiotic is typically prescribed for at least 1 week
-Sometime between the 1st and 4th days after surgery the doctor should carefully remove clots and crusts from the nasal cavity
-Healing requires at least 2-4 weeks - during that time patients should return weekly so that the ENT can remove any clots or debris from the nasal cavity using an endoscope

And most importantly, all of this is summarized by a quote that says (I'm paraphrasing): "Success depends not only on the skill of the surgeon but on careful, thorough surgical and medical follow-up".

I share all of this so that you have time to check with the surgeon to see what he/she has planned in terms of follow up - if the doctor isn't planning on this kind of follow-up I would definitely be concerned.

gcsmith- I think you have provided some excellent information. I think to summarize all of this discussion, these type of procedures are very complex and vary greatly patient to patient. I am also 100% convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that a large part of this type of surgery depends on the skill of your particular surgeon. I don't think there are really and "bad" surgeons out there, but certainly, there are some world class ones and the line between success and failure is a short one.

Scaring can be minimized through careful after care as you describe, but it's also important to note that individuals vary in that degree also....Some people scar more easily (in general) than others, and some have bigger wounds. One will usually know depending on the overall condition of their skin on arms, face, & etc. I had all the typical after care appointments, but for some reason, developed all sorts of issues. In my case, I also think I probably had one surgery too many....Was following the advice of the Doc, but in hindsight, just too much was done. As you describe, one needs to be careful with turbinate reduction, and my doc was aggressive in that regard. As I've indicated before, once a lot of cutting, drilling, and peeling is done, things just aren't the same. I think one (maybe two) sinus procedures would be prudent, but would be very skeptical beyond that point.

Good luck to all who has this procedure. I'm shocked that you got by with just Tyl 3s. Everyone I've talked to took Demerol, Oxy, Percs, or Tylox.

hello all,
It is 147am and i am awake. The surgery went fairly well i think. Minimal pain right now probably due to tylenol 3. But i can't sleep. Still having to wear drip pad. Not overly congested but wish i could blow my nose. I know not to however. I can actually breath through my nose with little difficulty. I think this surgery so far was better than my first. My first one I had more issues like deviated septum, etc. I start my saline rinses tomorrow and i go back on wednesday to see the ent. By throat and soft palate a little sore i got the pillar implants done while i was there. Hoping all this goes well because once my sinuses are cleared up the discussion will turn to my severe conductive hearing loss. Ent is recommeding surgery for it. Will keep you posted.
helgadog:(

Hang in there - once you start the saline rinses (and get ride of the annoying drip pad) the desire to blow your nose should ease up 'cause the saline will help get all of the junk out of there.

I do remember my body being confused about sleeping after the surgery - probably a combination of the anesthesia and the Tylenol 3...I watched a lot of movies at weird hours for the first few days.

Keep us posted.

Yes, the combination of the meds in your system, the overall trauma and stress, and probably some napping here and there, your biorhythms are out of sync. The worst is over, and take it easy....Many patients have a false sense of security and try to do too much too soon and regress (bleeding & etc.).

Good luck.

Hi peeps, was having a look round when i came across this post about sinus op, i had the same op last year after having infection for a year, the worse part was the headche i had when i woke up, once again im seeing the consultan next week as i have another infection that will not go, my doc said i might have to have the op again, i hope not coz now i know what its all about. i do hope the poster that had the op is feeling alot better now, hope it cures the prob

hello,
five days post op. Surgery went well. follow up appt. went well. No headaches minimal congestion no bleeding. Almost back to 100%
helgadog

Hello all.........I typed out a huge message for this board and I lost it UGH Anyhow I have completely and totally enjoyed reading your messages in regards to Septoplasty and sinus surgery.

I will start like this : On 2-15-08 I had my septum repaired, and my sinuses reemed out. I am on day 9 right now, and not to scare anyone, but at this point I feel like getting it done was the worst thing I have ever done EVER. Prior to surgery, for about the past 7 years I have been dealing with sinus infections and everything that comes along with them IE stuffyness and headaches, but most were easily cured after buying pseudofed and some afrin. Either way, I had a bad headache a couple of weeks ago. My mother works at a docs office where they have an ENT that practices there. So, one day I stopped by and he checked out my nose and within 5 minutes he had me scheduled for a CT. He seen immediately that my septum was deviated to the point to where my left nostril had only a 5% opening. After he seen that, he told me he was going to fix that and depending on my CT he may do my sinuses during the process.....2 days later I took him the disc of my CT and again within 5 minutes, his nurse was on the phone with the hospital already scheduling the surgery. Hell, it all went so fast......Anyhow last Friday was the big day....I was soooo nervous because I fear being put under but I wasnt going with a local so I took being put under. Well, before you know it, im lying naked with a crappy blue gown on in this hospital bed with like 20 nurses asking me 50 questions. Well, they started an IV which wasnt too bad but then I had to lay and wait for 30 minutes before they took me to the OR. Ok, im there now in this semi big but seemingly modest room and im just staring at the ceiling. They move me from one bed to another and put these warm blankets on me because it was freezing in there.

Ok, so maybe 10 minutes later, the male anastesiologist asks me " well, you ready to visit cloud 9" and before I could even answer, I was encountering the best 30 seconds of my life! lol And then, the next thing I know, im waking up post op in recovery, and I begin to panic! They had my nose covered and I was convinced I couldnt breathe....I kept trying to rip it off my face but the funny nurse kept grabbin my wrist. Either way, I was awake and alert and I had very mild pain which was cured by some pill they give me. Surprisingly enough, I felt fine that day.....In fact I had my mother take me and my kids to go rent some movies and stuff. On day 2, I was able to take off the bandages that I must have changed 85 times the previous day. I still couldnt breathe though because he put stints in and these things he called "small gel packs" which I guess were for a double use.....1st use was to absord drainage and the 2nd use was to keep my passages open so that they would heal and stay open. But still, aside from being mildly achy, the pain was at maybe a 1 out of 10 so no big deal.......the 3rd day was about the same pain wise but for you all that have had this done, I dont want to leave out the horrible nights and the major dry mouth that ensued.

Ok, brace yourselfs.....this is where it starts to turn dark and rapidly start progressing on a downward spiral of sleepless nights and levels of pain that at times seriously made me think over 100 different ways I could end it all. I know I used a little bit of humor, but trust me...at this point its because I am 30 minutes into borrowed darvocets.

Ok, since about mid day on the 4th day, I have had this excruciating headache!!! And it will not go away. I called the doc and he told me to take more pills, and come in on day 5 and he would remove the stints and my headache would go away and that I could even breathe through my nose. YAY, I was soooo excited but hes definately not a psychic and thats for sure! Yeah, he took them out pretty easy....and for like a brief minute I could feel cold air going up my nose, but no longer than I could breath, that went away and low and behold, here creeps up the pain a few notches ( headache wise ). He told me that I would be 100% in 3 days MAX........I also want to say that after reading some of your messages, I am concerned here because my doc didnt mention anything about a saline rinse or even coming back in for a debriding ( which you guys taught me about ). He then only gave me a prescription for 10 of these super horrible Vicodins.....He only gave me 10 because he asured me that they pain would be very mild and only last a few days if that. WRONG AGAIN!!!!

Ok, now its day 5........Oh yeah, not to give you my whole life story, but I forgot to mention that General Motors called me for a job! Which I started that Wednesday morning at 6am for orientation....I didnt sleep the night before and I sat through that thing with a splitting headache. Well, since GM doesnt care, I had to start work on the line the next night. I was shocked and terrified because I thought they werent going to start line work for a week.......So, after the orientation, I called my doc panicking because there was NO way I could work 10 hr shifts in this condition so he told me to come the next morning and he would take a look and remove only a few of the gel packs from where I said the pain was the most. Guys and Gals....Listen up......HIm taking those few things out hurt sooooo bad! In fact, I would rather take 10 kicks to the jewels as opposed to doing that again....I promise you all that.

Well, after it was all said and done, and after me literally almost fainting, I had a glimmer of hope.....there was no more pressure on my left cheek just to the side of my nose, and I could again feel cold air going up my nose. I was ecstatic because I was going to be able to go to my $22 an hour job and actually enjoy doing it......la la la, im all walkin around happy when about an hour later SCREEEECH! BAM!! My headache was back and in FULL FORCE.........Not only that but im soooo nasaly that I sound like Willy Nelson if you can understand that comparison. Well since I went to the doc early and I didnt have to be in to work until 5pm, I got the chance to sit around and fight with myself about whether or not I could make it to work. Ok, due to the fact that I am a single father of 2 girls, and this $22 an hour would help in sooooo many ways, I had to go because me being new, I have NO sick days, and they would simply tell me not to bother coming back.......Um.....rock and a hard place......So needless to say, I went and worked everyday including yesterday but I promise, I had to give it my all to not walk out......I in fact had to hide the fact that I had tears in my eyes numerous times. I know, a grown man crying......I am not usually a wuss so to speak, but these headaches break me down in ways I could have never imagined! They arent going away, and I am only maybe getting 4 hours of sleep a night. Even though I take 2 Ambien at night, I will get rudely awaken by this headache. The doc told me I could now blow my nose....um...sounds kinda not fun but I gave it a try.....nothing....nothing.....nothing.. ...then UGH out of the left side of my nose came a huge clot....not to be gross but you all can relate......It still didnt help......But the messed up thing is that now the stuff that comes out is SUPER thick and goopy kinda like glue.......They arent blood clots because although some are dark red, the others are light red..........My theory is that the gel packs that he put in have done their job, but now they are goopy and refuse to completely come out.

I know I have gotten fairly dramatic on you guys here, but thats the best way for me to get my point across. The pain is CRAZY and I have NEVER felt anything like it in my life. And dont let me leave out the fact that I am convinced I have a hobbit living inside of my mouth and for whatever reason he is mad at me and it feels like he is beating the top of my mouth with a sledgehammer......Im not crazy lol You guys know what I mean....basically the top of my mouth and ALL of my teeth hurt. The biggest problem I am having here aside from the pain is the fact that I am truly struggling here because I am scared. I cant afford to lose this job, but the pain is horrible......we are working 50 hours this week and its soooooo damn noisy in that place! And to top alllll of this off, I just found out that my doc and his wife will be in Jamaica all this week! Dude, I almost just broke down again lol Im not trying to be funny, I just dont know what to do......He pushes me away when I ask questions.....Ive taken all of my antibiotics, the pain pills arent helping ( aside from this loopy feeling ), ive tried hot showers.....cold packs.....hot packs....heating pad.....tylenol....motrin.....Afrin..... .a hopped up prescription version of pseudofed, laying down, sitting up, Ambien and so forth.........Either my head will explode or my liver will deteorate.................I just dont have any answers and no one to relate to with this.......Anyone been through this? What helps? Please, I am past desperate. Thank you

Based on a couple of things you mention, I would strongly recommend that you find another ENT right now to see if you can get some more aggressive follow up care - your ID mentions that you're in KS - are you near Kansas City?

my doc didnt mention anything about a saline rinse or even coming back in for a debriding ( which you guys taught me about )

This is probably the biggest concern I have from your post - you probably saw my note earlier in the post about the standard surgical follow up (here it is again) - if your doctor didn't instruct you to do this you should try to find a doctor who will get you on a more standard follow up regimen to help avoid any scar tissue:

-Patients are instructed not to *blow their nose for 48 hours (or more) after surgery
-An antibiotic is typically prescribed for at least 1 week
-Sometime between the 1st and 4th days after surgery the doctor should carefully remove clots and crusts from the nasal cavity
-Healing requires at least 2-4 weeks - during that time patients should return weekly so that the ENT can remove any clots or debris from the nasal cavity using an endoscope

Part of your problem may also be the fact that you went back to work so soon - your doc probably should have told you to take at least a week off - being on your feet and active is probably slowing down the healing process, but seems like you should be doing better than you are - I'd recommend that you find another doc and get ahead of this thing.

If you're in the K.C. area let me know - I can recommend a couple of docs.

I actually am in the Kc area. Thank you for replying as well. As far as recovery, my surgery was on that Friday and they told me I would be fine to return to work on Monday. I didnt think anything of it because I just assumed from the ENT's take on the procedure that it was a fast and uncomplex surgery and that I would be fine but I guess thats just not the case. Thinking back, my mother told me that the ENT told her when I was in recovery that he had to work extra hard on my sinuses because they were severly blocked by scar tissue ( which I still dont know how I had any scar tissue unless its from the years of infections?). Either way, I woke up this morning with a smile on my face because I didnt have a headache, but once again its back and in full force. Listen, I dont know if I am just being a big baby about this or if I should actually pursue finding another doctor ASAP.........But at this point I think it would be a good idea if I at least called another ENT and ask questions. But yes, I am in Kansas City and any reccomendation would be great.....Thank you

Going back to work on Monday seems a little crazy - my ENT told me to take it easy for a week and insisted that I not go back to work until after my first follow-up visit on day 5.

You're far enough out from the surgery that you can probably start saline rinses on your own - I'd recommend buying a SinusRinse bottle at CVS/Walgreens and following the instructions exactly a couple of times a day.

As far as calling another ENT, the trick will be getting in to see someone very quickly - I actually see a guy up in Omaha who's one of the best in the country but locally I've heard good things about Dr. Lynn Roh (she operated on a friend of mine who had a great experience with her). The other one you might try is Dr. Larry Hoover at KU Med - he's an excellent surgeon but I know sometimes it can take a while to get in to see him (and I'm not a huge fan of the whole KU Med experience).

Good luck.

Thank you again for all of your help. At this point I may just try to hack it because I called an ENT's office earlier and the soonest they could see me is next Thursday which is no help. I also called my ENT's nurse and she told me my ENT would be back from vacation Friday and he told her that he would meet me either Saturday or Sunday at his office ( which is closed on those days haha ). I pretty much told her that I was going to throw a fit real soon because I was not given proper after care instructions and I am suffering the consequences here.........All in all, I think where I made my mistake is that I chose an ENT that my mom knows because they all work together......You would think that the ENT would have been a little bit more helpful based on that, but nope.....Ohwell, at this point, I am just coping with this whole thing............My only concern at this point is that because the ENT didnt do the proper follow ups, that I am going to have to have this surgery done again in the future which is something that I soooo would not want to do.........I will stop by CVS and pick up some of the saline solution and see if that helps any, but thanks again for all of your help :-)

Well, I guess this is just a little update to the septoplasty and sinus procedure I had on the 15th of February. It has now been 17 days since the surgery, and with the exception of a small one here and there, the headaches are gone. Since the procedure, I have only gone to see the ENT once and that was so that he could take out a few of the gel packs he put in. I have not seen him since. He was actually on vacation all last week, but I was supposed to get a call from him so he could do that whole debriding thing over the weekend, but I never got a call.

I was actually waiting around to see if he called me in today so that he could do what you guys said they are supposed to do after the procedure. If I dont get a call soon, I will call myself. While there, I suppose I will ask him why he hasnt scheduled me for all of my cleanings if thats what you want to call it. At this point, I am very dissapointed with this whole thing. I was promised that if I got my septum fixed, and my sinuses reemed out, that I would be breathing 150% within a few days, but that is not the case. The fact of the matter is this......I am worse off now than I was prior to this whole thing. I am congested alllll day long! I use this nasal spray I bought and it seems to clear me up, BUT I still have this God awful nasaly sounding voice and its driving me nuts! Also, you can see that my septum is out of place at the opening of my left nostril big time.......My nose still appears to be crooked and it wasnt like that prior to this procedure. Either I am panicky and paranoid, or they did one hell of a hack job on me. I have read where it may take 6 to 8 weeks for this to heal, but honestly at this point I am not seeing that happening anytime soon. The tip of my nose is still very very tender, and the roof of my mouth as well as my teeth on the top still hurt quite often. Even more odd, I cannot open my mouth very far when I eat......my jaw bones actually hurt quite a bit when I try to open my mouth. Has anyone else had that problem??

Wow, it definitely sounds like you're getting a bum deal from the doc who did your surgery.

Two questions - 1. What is the nasal spray that you bought that is giving you some relief and 2. Did you ever try the saline rinses?

I would definitely try to find another doc at this point - I'm not sure the follow up would help after two weeks and you probably don't want to go back to someone who's done such a lousy job the first time.

The nasal spray I am using ( pardon the spelling ) is synephrine.....It works like Afrin....basically it will clear me up for about an hour but thats it.....Also, your not supposed to use it more than 2 times a day so thats the downside......I actually bought 2 types of saline rinses.....One is a bottle that you mix a packet in with warm water and the other one is a sea salt water spray.........Neither one of them are giving any relief, they just make me bleed pretty bad for about 5 minutes after I use them. I think I will give another ENT a call in a bit. I dont know anything about this stuff other than what I have read on here and like webmd but so far after reading all the info, it seems that I should be further along than what I am...........I havent called my ENT nor have I heard from him........Sadly enough im kind of nervous to call him anyways because he is fairly crass and doesnt seem too concerned.

How long have you been using the nasal spray? If it's more than a day or two you need to stop now - it can actually cause something called rebound swelling that will make your sinuses worse. The basic problem is that the spray shrinks the tissues, but after prolonged use (more than 3-4 days) the tissues get used to the spray and actually swell to a larger size than they were before if you don't use the spray. It can be very addictive and can cause serious problems if you use it for more than a couple of days.

You might consider trying an oral decongestant - pseudoephedrine/Sudafed that works for 12 hours to see if that helps you feel clearer.

The other simple thing you should do is be sure to use a humidifier in your bedroom at night to help keep the air moist - this time of year the dry air may be contributing to some of the bleeding you're experiencing.

I'd definitely recommend contacting another ENT at this point.

Yeah, thats something else the ENT didnt bother telling me as far as the nasal spray goes.....This is my 3rd day using it but I think I will stop.....The crazy thing is that the ENT gave me a bottle at the hospital ( same stuff ) and told me to use it daily lol I thought about buying a humidifier but just havent because of the cost. I actually was using Sudafed ( the one you have to take to the counter ) and it wasnt doing anything for me.......My reg doctor gave me another oral med for sinuses called Guaniffe (? ) something and it doesnt help either.......After thinking about it, if I call another ENT, wouldnt they need to call my ENT to get the paperwork transfered to them? That kind of worries me because I dont want him knowing that I going to a new ENT......I guess its what I have to do though...........I dont know, this just seems like a big ole mess to me.........Hey, you seem very knowlegable about this.......you do a lot of reading about it??

Some reading but mostly personal experience (4 operations over a 15 year period) and an incredible ENT. A couple more thoughts:

1. Sadly, the fact that the ENT gave you a bottle of the decongestant spray without warning you not to use it for more than a few days is another red flag - most of the ENT docs I've seen warn patients that it's addictive and recommend that they avoid it like the plague.

2. The oral med that your regular doc gave you was probably Guaifen which is a decongestant (Sudafed) and expectorant - you may notice more benefit from the sudafed after you stop the spray but sometimes you have to try several things to figure out what works best for you.

Finally, at this point you shouldn't worry too much about what the doctor thinks, he's not doing you any good (and frankly probably won't even be aware that you requested your records), and won't even return your calls - doesn't seem like you have much to lose.

Well, today my ENT told me it "may" be time for a cleaning so he is having me come in Thursday. I will take that oppurtunity to start asking him a BUNCH of questions as of to why I wasnt scheduled for these cleanings routinely. I will also be asking him why my nose is crooked and why my septum is bulging outwards in my left nostril. Ive become quite obsessed with all of this sadly haha ( kinda not funny though ). I am guessing/hoping that my nose is out of wack because it is still swolen, but 3 weeks later I think it should have gone down by now. Depending on what he says, at that point I will go ahead and find another ENT....which by the way, it seems they are fairly scarce in this area

Good luck tomorrow - let us know what he says.

Not so sure about ENTs being rare in this area (but don't know what part of the city you live in) - it can take some time to find one you feel good about but there are 2 big ENT practices here in town - KUMed & ENT Associates of Greater Kansas City, and quite a few smaller ones that have 3-4 docs in one office - you'll just have to dig a little to find one you trust if you decide to look for another doc.

Well, I went to see my ENT today.......I wasnt there but 5 minutes and he pretty much made me feel like I was being a sissy about all of this.......He did not do anything except for decongest me with this spray and he used the suction thing for a couple of seconds........He told me to be patient and quit panicking basically.........He told me that in a few weeks I would be ever so grateful for all of this...........He did tell me that I was still quite swollen but aside from that he just told me to rub Vicks in my nose and blow my nose as needed.......I guess I have been overreacting or something? Either way, I guess time will tell