Be sure to check out part 1 here to see see how I wound up needing this surgery.
This morning I had a check-in time at 7:45 for my septoplasty with turbinate reduction surgery. Thankfully I’ve had a couple of procedures at this same surgery center, so I was pretty familiar with it. (Of course, everything is a little different with Covid. John couldn’t go in with me at all, so he went to Menard’s!)
Surgery pre-op was basically like normal. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Since I’m under 50, I had to have a quick urine pregnancy test, and then I changed into the uncomfortable hospital gown and no-slip socks. Shout-out to my nurse! She was great and super friendly. She attached the heartrate monitor, pulse ox, blood pressure cuff, and started my IV with electrolytes/fluid. She also gave me a warm blanket–yay for warm blankets! I was even happier when she turned on some kind of heat-blowing device (I was already on some kind of relaxer medicine at that point, so I can’t really say what it was exactly…but it was different than anything I’d had before). I stayed toasty warm the whole time. Usually I’m freezing, so that was quite nice.
It’s the little things… 🙂
After talking to the anesthesiologist and my ENT, they wheeled me into the surgery room. They started my”PlasmaFlow” sequential compression device (SCD) cuffs to keep me from getting blood clots. Then, I took a few deep breaths of oxygen (and whatever else) and was out. The surgery was done under general anesthesia and I was told it took about 45-60 minutes. After that, I was wheeled into the recovery area. It took me a while to wake up (and all of that is pretty fuzzy), but John was given my discharge instructions. By 1 PM, I was on my way home.
I was pretty drowsy the rest of the day. They started me on pain pills before I left the surgery center, and then I also had to add an antibiotic this evening. I didn’t really feel nauseous thankfully, but I also didn’t really feel like eating because my throat was sore from the tube I’d had during anesthesia. I did have a couple of pieces of toast this afternoon, so I could take my pain pills. This evening, I was able to eat part of the meal with my family.
Overall, the surgery went pretty well. The worst part so far has been changing the gauze every hour or so. I have a lovely gauze moustache (or nose sling)! The bleeding has started to slow down a little bit this evening, and I find if I don’t tilt my head forward too far, I don’t have to change it quite as often. Bloody drainage is expected the first several days, so I guess I’m just going to have to get used to it. One of the hardest things so far is that I can’t blow my nose. I have so many allergies, and I’m used to blowing my nose regularly…so I have to remind myself not to blow my nose!
Oh, my temperature was up just slightly, but they said that was normal. My directions said to call if my temp was greater than 101 degrees or if it lasted more than twelve hours. I’ll check that in the morning and see how I feel.
Tonight, I’m sleeping with several pillows so my head is elevated. They recommend that to reduce swelling. I’ll let you know how it goes in tomorrow’s update.
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