These Pipes are Clean!

I can't believe how open my sinuses and the like are post surgery (2.5 weeeks.) Immediately after the surgery I was very open, but by the second night the expected congesion/bloody grossness kicked in (they do cut into your sinuses, after all.) At the hospital I was given saline spray and a spray nasal decongestant -- hell, I even used a nasal steroid that I'd been prescribed pre-surgery (after asking my doctor first) to help open everything up. There was some limited sucess, but mostly I did a lot of snorking and light coughing and spitting up of bloody mucus that was being slurped around.

When I got home from the hospital I tried to keep up with the regimen - when I was awake, that is - to try and clear all that stuff out. I found myself breathing a lot throug hmy mouth, which was just drying all of that out. Besides, I felt even less attractive *having* to walk around with my mouth hanging open on top of all the regular swelling and whatnot. Tried a netti pot during a few showers; that was probably the most helpful thing I did that whole time. Not surprisingly the surgery changed the shape of the inside of my nose a well just by proximity to all the real action, and I found that the saline/netti pot/whathaveyou shot around much easier. Sligtly unnerving the first few times, to tell you the truth. But effective. To a point.

Well, I made it all the was to that first Sunday night before I had my first real, full-blown breakdown about the surgery. For an hour I sobbed all over Husband, oh-poor-me and it-isn't-fair, blah, blah, blah. Must've gone through about half a box of kleenex, what with all the snot dripping onto my sensationless chin. Very colorful stuff, too. But you know what? It totally did the trick. Since then, for the last week and a half, I've had almost no nose congestion. Having that insane bawling session really emptied my sinuses. No more random minor bloody noses, either. I've almost entirely stopped using saline spray or decongestant, and haven't had to go anywhere near the steroids. Its been pretty cool!

I know that my turbinades (sp?) are still reallyhuge, and I may need surgery of some sort to reduce their size at some point in the future. But for right now, I'm really enjoying just being able to breathe.