- Apr 18, 2001
- 15,708
- 5
- 56
I go into the hospital for surgery on mine this Wed.
They're going to snip out some of my septum, pull the remaining ends together and stitch them up. While they're doing that they'll be shrinking my turbinates.
This is just freaking me out... MESSING WITH MY FACE!
ugh.
----------------------
Update 6/23
Well, my little surgery turned into some scary sh!t.
I just got home about an hour ago. I smoked my first cig in a couple days and it took a little bit to get over the massive headrush.
The surgery in and of itself seemed to go well. The surgeon was pleased with the results. My septum is straight. My turbinates are shrunk. All is good. I'll find out Monday eaactly what work was done. Whether any bone was mofied, etc.
The problems began later.
In the recovery room, my nose kept bleeding. I drank 6 pints of blood (measured by how much I threw up.) I was weak, kept passing out, and had several panic attacks because I couldn't breathe. It didn't get better. The idiots at the "surgical center" kept replacing my blood with saline. Sorry, but saline != blood! No wonder I couldn't sit up!
I was too weak to get up to go pee. My attempts at using a urinal in bed failed. I finally asked for a catheter. Ugh. The pain was horrendous. I've had surgeries before and had catheters, and never has one hurt like that. I heard someone ask the nurse if she needed the analgesic lubricant and she said, "No, I'm done now." WTF? And to make matters worse, when the nurse at the hospital removed it at my request she said, "Oh my god... Why did they use such a large catheter?" Sigh...
I even asked at one point if I shouldn't be getting blood instead of water. "Well, there is always risk with using blood, so we have decided to let your body make its own blood." But they insisted on keeping me there until the 23 hour limit was up.
Except my body was so flooded with this water now that it didn't realize it needed to make any blood. I had gone into anemic shock. They finally transferred me to a real hospital instead of the stupid surgicenter.
****Don't go to a surgical center if you can avoid it. They milked the insurance for every dime they could. Keeping me that full 23 hours delayed my recovery by at least that long.****
20 minutes after I got to Littleton Adventist Hospital they had me on blood (type A-negative, BTW.) Shortly after that I was feeling much better. I ate a turkey sandwich and kept it down. Got a cup of coffee, went to the bathroom,etc. My stool was jet black from all the blood I'd been drinking. Nasty.
They kept me one more night waiting until it was obvious my body was back on its own making blood. For breakfast I had a Denver omlette and a cinnamon roll. Lunch was a chicken ceaser salad (Lots of greens until my blood is back to 100% normal.)
BTW: I've gotta give props to Littleton hospital. I got a private room, good nursing staff, and a great menu. Here's a sample of my ROOM SERVICE menu (really! That's what they called it!)
Here's a sample:
Breakfast: Belgian Waffle, Denver Omlette, Breakfast quesadilla
Lunch/Dinner: Sirloin Steak, Stir Fry, Baked Salmon, Chicken Bruschetta, Lasagna
In addition to normal stuff like mashed potatoes, oatmeal, etc.
All covered by my insurance! Woot!
---------------------
Update 6/26
Just got home a couple hours ago from the doctor's to get all the scabs scraped off from my nose. The doctor had to tell me to stop screaming. I'm such a little girl when it comes to my nose.
(OUCH!!!!OMG!!!!!OUCH!!!!STOP!!!!!OUCH!!!ARRRGGHHHH!!!!)
I'm told the first time is the worst.
My blood pressure is still flaky, but it's staying over 110 standing or resting, so we're calling that good. Hemoglobin count is at 11. Not perfect, but still ok. No work this week though.
I'm still feeling weak but no more tingling in my fingers and toes. I should be able to drive myself by Wed. (I miss my bus!)
They're going to snip out some of my septum, pull the remaining ends together and stitch them up. While they're doing that they'll be shrinking my turbinates.
This is just freaking me out... MESSING WITH MY FACE!
ugh.
----------------------
Update 6/23
Well, my little surgery turned into some scary sh!t.
I just got home about an hour ago. I smoked my first cig in a couple days and it took a little bit to get over the massive headrush.
The surgery in and of itself seemed to go well. The surgeon was pleased with the results. My septum is straight. My turbinates are shrunk. All is good. I'll find out Monday eaactly what work was done. Whether any bone was mofied, etc.
The problems began later.
In the recovery room, my nose kept bleeding. I drank 6 pints of blood (measured by how much I threw up.) I was weak, kept passing out, and had several panic attacks because I couldn't breathe. It didn't get better. The idiots at the "surgical center" kept replacing my blood with saline. Sorry, but saline != blood! No wonder I couldn't sit up!
I was too weak to get up to go pee. My attempts at using a urinal in bed failed. I finally asked for a catheter. Ugh. The pain was horrendous. I've had surgeries before and had catheters, and never has one hurt like that. I heard someone ask the nurse if she needed the analgesic lubricant and she said, "No, I'm done now." WTF? And to make matters worse, when the nurse at the hospital removed it at my request she said, "Oh my god... Why did they use such a large catheter?" Sigh...
I even asked at one point if I shouldn't be getting blood instead of water. "Well, there is always risk with using blood, so we have decided to let your body make its own blood." But they insisted on keeping me there until the 23 hour limit was up.
Except my body was so flooded with this water now that it didn't realize it needed to make any blood. I had gone into anemic shock. They finally transferred me to a real hospital instead of the stupid surgicenter.
****Don't go to a surgical center if you can avoid it. They milked the insurance for every dime they could. Keeping me that full 23 hours delayed my recovery by at least that long.****
20 minutes after I got to Littleton Adventist Hospital they had me on blood (type A-negative, BTW.) Shortly after that I was feeling much better. I ate a turkey sandwich and kept it down. Got a cup of coffee, went to the bathroom,etc. My stool was jet black from all the blood I'd been drinking. Nasty.
They kept me one more night waiting until it was obvious my body was back on its own making blood. For breakfast I had a Denver omlette and a cinnamon roll. Lunch was a chicken ceaser salad (Lots of greens until my blood is back to 100% normal.)
BTW: I've gotta give props to Littleton hospital. I got a private room, good nursing staff, and a great menu. Here's a sample of my ROOM SERVICE menu (really! That's what they called it!)
Here's a sample:
Breakfast: Belgian Waffle, Denver Omlette, Breakfast quesadilla
Lunch/Dinner: Sirloin Steak, Stir Fry, Baked Salmon, Chicken Bruschetta, Lasagna
In addition to normal stuff like mashed potatoes, oatmeal, etc.
All covered by my insurance! Woot!
---------------------
Update 6/26
Just got home a couple hours ago from the doctor's to get all the scabs scraped off from my nose. The doctor had to tell me to stop screaming. I'm such a little girl when it comes to my nose.
(OUCH!!!!OMG!!!!!OUCH!!!!STOP!!!!!OUCH!!!ARRRGGHHHH!!!!)
I'm told the first time is the worst.
My blood pressure is still flaky, but it's staying over 110 standing or resting, so we're calling that good. Hemoglobin count is at 11. Not perfect, but still ok. No work this week though.
I'm still feeling weak but no more tingling in my fingers and toes. I should be able to drive myself by Wed. (I miss my bus!)