The worst part is how its so stuffed I just can’t breathe half the time…and waking up with my mouth all dry and stuck together. But a humidifier helps that (:

I’m on my 10th or so day after surgery. I had my deviated septum corrected, as well as the “sausage bones” inside (they were emptied out a bit from the inside, as my doctor explained). I also had my sinuses scraped out. All this was done with new instruments that are very presice and doesn’t cause the external bruising as previous types of the surgery (no black eyes for me).

I’m using a neti pot to rinse with, as was recommended to me by my doctor (from Sacramento ENT, btw). The surgery was a breeze, though I woke up really tense in my shoulders (I blame work related stress, and I was fine 20 minutes or so later). However, one has to remember to keep very still right after surgery so as not to cause bleeding. I didn’t get the gauze stuffing, I got some plastic pieces rolled up that pressed against the insides of my nasal passages to stop the bleeding and keep it under control.

Anyway, I was on Vicodin (perscription) for the first 5-6 days until I ran out, and I found that I needed it for pain control. On a scale from 1 to 10, I was probably at a constant 3, so that makes it tough to relax and recover. When the Vicodin ran out, I went over to the over-the-counter Ibuprofen. This is now enough to keep me in a good condition, and popcicles also help a lot (and tastes great, to boot ). The pain is a slightly annoing throbbing between my eyebrows. Again, the neti pot is very helpful. I was quite a bit constipated from the pain medicine, so you’ll want to offset that by drinking fennel tea several times a day (do it before you think you need it, that’s how herbs usually work the best, as a preventive). I wasn’t wise to do it upfront, but believe me it helps, and you’d be better off with that than more pharmasutical drugs, no?

So, if you’re going to have this surgery, have the state-of-the-art version. It’s not bad, but hey, you’re being cut into and stuff… it’s not like your body won’t have no trauma at all, heh. Also, people react differently to pain, and please remember that people may refer to one type of this surgery and not a combination of things, and there’re different versions of the surgeries, too.

Hope this helps – and if you’re in Sacramento, I’d definitely go to Sacramento ENT. Very professional, but I still wish they’d done a better job of removing a couple of the stiches when the plastic pieces came out (that was a rather icky experience, hehe).

OK, I’m going for another popcicle! Good luck to all, and remember to educate yourselves on whatever you or loved ones are doing.