I can breathe! I had sinus surgery almost three weeks ago. It is so nice to breathe through my nose. Many people have commented on how different my voice sounds. I was thrilled when singing at church recently to find my range had increased. I used to love to sing, but found being congested made it hard to sing and not being able to breathe through my nose often made me feel light headed.

I can’t smell yet, but I’m hoping with time that will come back. I’m taking allergy drops (which are an alternative to allergy shots) to hopefully get rid of my allergies and prevent the polyps from coming back.

Polyps had over-run my nose and sinus cavities. I couldn’t breathe through my nose and was constantly getting sinus infections. I felt like I had a cold all of the time. I learned to just push on – only giving in when I would get a high fever (I haven’t figured out a way to keep going when I have a fever).

The surgery was same day. I checked in at 6am and left around 11am. I had a nice gauze under my nose to catch any drainage (yuck!) and an ice pack to put across my eyes. I was swollen, but I didn’t have any bruises. I was told no bending over and no lifting anything over 10lbs for 2 weeks (reduced to one week at a post opt visit). A hard thing to do when you have small children. I also was given a NeilMed Sinus Kit to rinse out my nose and told to use it three times a day. It was a little weird at first, but now I think I will continue doing it after everything has healed from surgery. It is really good for rinsing out allergens. It really does feel good to wash everything out of your nose. I really never thought I would ever hear myself saying something like that.

Pain medicine became my constant friend for the first few days. It was strange how the left side of my head would throb and I would fill like I had a tooth ache. I knew I had waited to long to take another pill when the right side would start throbbing too. It wasn’t a sharp pain just an uncomfortable throb that made it hard to focus on anything, add the pain medicine and I couldn’t do a thing. Luckily I had my husband to take over. I spent the next week resting. After the first few days I started getting up more, but found doing too much made my head ache and I would end up needing more pain medicine.

I’m still battling headaches. I’m hoping with time this will lessen. I’m more sensitive to noise and can’t seem to focus as well as before, but I’m still recovering and just need to give it time – a hard thing for me to do. I’m just not very patient!

I’ve been asked if sinus surgery is worth it. I would say definitely! I feel so much better. I can breathe!