One of my goals is to update you on all the adventures this small town girl has. I know that living in one town my whole life may have kept me a little sheltered, but trust me, I am tring to throw myself out there more and more. One of the best things I've done with my life has been my latest adventure. Which is one I have had to deal with most, if not all of my life.
On the 8th of January I went under the knife for my first time. I had Sinus Surgery. I'm sure for most that might not seem like such a big deal. But this is coming from a girl who had never had stitches up until last year. Who had never had a serious injury her whole life. Someone who has a tattoo but is truly scared of needles.
Many of my friends I'm sure didn't even realize that I had sinus trouble. But in fact, I have had chronic sinus infections most of my life. They really didn't seem to start bothering me until my Senior year of High School. At which time I actual thought that the asbestos removal was causing me severe allergic reactions. In fact, it was so bad that I would break out into strange rashes and my eyes would swell shut. And when I say swell, I don't just mean my eyes became swollen; I mean the white membrane around my iris became "bubbly" and would even protrude out away from my iris. It was so bad that I had to take allergy medicine to be able to see while in class.
I had made an appointment for an allergy test and ended up having to choose between taking my finals or taking the allergy tests. I elected to take my medicine and reschedule my allergy test. Eventually I was tested, and discovered I was not allergic to anything; minus a very rare type of mold. After school, my family was making plans to make a trip down to the lower 48 for a family reunion. After my parents had left for the trip and a couple days prior to my own departure I broke out into another all body rash including my itchy "bubbly" eyes as well as asthma. The ER could not do anything for me. And because they were worried they issued me an inhaler as well as an Epi-pen for while I was at my family reunion.
It wasn't until later that I realized that I was getting sick about once a month; if not more. And so my doctor visits started to become more frequent. The prognosis was always the same; Chronic Sinus Infection. So I'd get a big dose of antibiotics and I'd be "on my way" to better health. That is until the next month where I'd come in again with the same symptoms. This went on for so long at one point in fact that I became unable to keep myself healthy. And I was at the time no longer able to take any more antibiotics.
After another year and a half or so of dealing with my sinus infections it got to a point where I would feel the sinus pressure/pain way before my doctors could see that I had a sinus infection. I felt as though my doctor's thought that I was making it up, that I was just wanting the prescription; why, I had no idea. .So through my pain, I would wait it out until more of the symptoms would come into view. At that time I'd make another appointment for my doctor. At this point my doctor would then issue me my antibiotics.
The last time this happened I was on a 14 day dose and after those 14 days I felt no better then i had before. Frustrated, and upset with my doctor and my body I skipped seeing him altogether and went to see the local Ear, Nose and Throat doctor (ENT).
After my first appointment, the ENT wanted me to have a sinus CT (or CAT scan) to get an idea of what was going on. Now, I have only been in the hospital a handful of times sense my birth and all but perhaps 2 of those visits were not about me. So, i was still a little nervous in regards to this simple Sinus CT I had to have done. But the nurses were all very professional and nice and I was very relieved. A couple days later, the ENT had me come back in to look at the results. (At this point, you have to remember that I had just been on a long dose of antibiotics prior to the CAT scan ) We sat down and he flipped open his laptop and poped in cd that held my results. And he flipped through the pictures we all suddenly became very aware an what my problem was.
All of my sinus cavities were if most mostly, completely clogged with "gunk". And with that is first words were "well... you aren't crazy; there really is something wrong". And I felt a sudden form of relief wash over my body, the other thing that happened was the thought of, well if I had gone in on a "good day" for my sinuses then what would the scan have looked like if I were to have had the scan done on a "bad day"? He then started talking about my options. I could continue to take antibiotics and use the netti pot, and all sorts of other things that hadn't seemed to had worked much in the past or I could have sinus surgery.
Due to the planning around work I had to last another month and a half or so before I would feel alright with doing under the knife and taking time off of work. Not to mention family farther up North wanted to see "the Juneau K's". So the weekend after Christmas my family hopped on a plane and we headed up towards Anchorage for 2 weeks. Once I got back I had my pre-op.
Having never had any kind of pre-op before I was not sure what to expect and when it came time for my blood to be drawn I was feeling a little dizzy and a little nauseous.
The only thing I could think about was the first time I had to have my blood drawn and how horrible it was. It took the nurse 2 tires; one try in each arm to finally switch over to a "child size" needle. Now, living in Alaska my whole life and being just about as translucent as a German/Irish decent gal can be, it really should not have been that difficult to draw my blood. Further more, I had informed them I wasn't so good about needles to begin with. With that going through my mind I felt as though I'd need to use my inhaler again for the first time in months.
Luckily, the lady in Lab was a complete pro and even though I had tears streaming down my face from being in a state of panic she had finished before I even knew she had started. Again the wave of relief came to wash over me.
Not even an hour after leaving the hospital I because to feel even more sick. I got home and then with another passing hour realised that I had gotten the flu (thanks Dad; love you). Not the best thing to have the day before your surgery trust me. And I had until 8p the night before my surgery to cancel. 4pm rolls around and I'm still a little shaky but am feeling normal. The next two hours pass and I figure I have a 24 hour bug. Thank goodness! The next morning I go in for my surgery as scheduled.
At the hospital I found the book that they recommended I bring in to help pass the time became very difficult to read. First because I was constantly inerupted by the nurse, the anesthetist, the doctor and my mother (bless her heart thought it would be a good idea to take a couple photos of my time spent in short stay). The other thing that made is very difficult to read was the fact that the anesthetic was starting to kick in and as I'm told I started to become very silly and loopy.
I don't recall them "supposedly" moving me onto a different bed, however, I briefly recall being taken from my room (if you'd call it that) into surgery. I can't remember anything after that until I woke up in recovery to a nurse or doctor (I think it was a guy) asking if I was awake, that the procedure had gone well and that I needed to sleep. The only words I could get out where a very scratchy "I'm cold". And as he got me a couple more heated blankets I did notice the room to be a very white (although I could not tell much else because my glasses were off) and there were a TON of lights everywhere.
The next time I wo
ke up I was back in my so-called room my mother was watching the news and a nurse somewhere was talking about lunch. I became suddenly aware that after my 24 hour flu bug I really hadn't eaten all that much and I wanted food. So I opened my eyes and was cold again and by the time my mom had uncovered my face a little bit and the nurse was back with more blankets I was passed out again. I don't know how much time was passed but I do know that lunch was still being served and I was grateful I hadn't missed out. Their ended up being so much food I had to share with my mom. But the soup and blue berry pie were to die for! It also soothed my throat which I thought was either from dehydration or the tube that was more then likely shoved down my throat (although, they hadn't told me that was going to happen, I guess I should have assumed). After lunch I passed out again. And in the early afternoon I was awake enough to be sent home.
I remember that I called my Dad and boss very drugged up to tell them that it went very well and unlike the ENT originally thought I did not have to have a nose bridge because my septum was fairly straight to begin with. I told them that they did have to remove some bone as well as scrap out all the gunk in my sinus cavities but also I informed them that I had yet another sinus infection going on while the surgery was going on and the ENT took care of it for me. Not that they could really understand me too much because my words were all slurded thanks to the pain medication.
To my surprise I didn't really even have any swelling to bruising. And I felt very odd being able to breathe so clearly that I was dizzy from all the oxygen I was getting. I then passed out in recovery for the weekend. My faithful Aspen right beside me the whole time.
A week later the ENT removed the packing in my sinus cavity which was not nearly as horrible as everyone told me or my parents it would be. In fact it was nothing in comparison with a severe nose bleed. On the way home I just about yacked as we drove my the land fill. I could always smell the dump prior to my surgery, but now, it was more then 10 times worse then it was before. That was the only down side I could find to the operation. In fact another week after that I went in for my follow up appointment and was told that I didn't need to ever come in again unless I felt I was having complications. Another week or so I was back up to my almost normal workout routine and I hopped back in the pool in what seemed like several months. To my surprise it felt as though I had never left. I could run longer, and swim just as fast if not faster then I could before hearly even being a little winded. I was n almost complete shock and I so glad that I had my sinus surgery. Not to mention, it really wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be.
On the 8th of January I went under the knife for my first time. I had Sinus Surgery. I'm sure for most that might not seem like such a big deal. But this is coming from a girl who had never had stitches up until last year. Who had never had a serious injury her whole life. Someone who has a tattoo but is truly scared of needles.
Many of my friends I'm sure didn't even realize that I had sinus trouble. But in fact, I have had chronic sinus infections most of my life. They really didn't seem to start bothering me until my Senior year of High School. At which time I actual thought that the asbestos removal was causing me severe allergic reactions. In fact, it was so bad that I would break out into strange rashes and my eyes would swell shut. And when I say swell, I don't just mean my eyes became swollen; I mean the white membrane around my iris became "bubbly" and would even protrude out away from my iris. It was so bad that I had to take allergy medicine to be able to see while in class.
I had made an appointment for an allergy test and ended up having to choose between taking my finals or taking the allergy tests. I elected to take my medicine and reschedule my allergy test. Eventually I was tested, and discovered I was not allergic to anything; minus a very rare type of mold. After school, my family was making plans to make a trip down to the lower 48 for a family reunion. After my parents had left for the trip and a couple days prior to my own departure I broke out into another all body rash including my itchy "bubbly" eyes as well as asthma. The ER could not do anything for me. And because they were worried they issued me an inhaler as well as an Epi-pen for while I was at my family reunion.
It wasn't until later that I realized that I was getting sick about once a month; if not more. And so my doctor visits started to become more frequent. The prognosis was always the same; Chronic Sinus Infection. So I'd get a big dose of antibiotics and I'd be "on my way" to better health. That is until the next month where I'd come in again with the same symptoms. This went on for so long at one point in fact that I became unable to keep myself healthy. And I was at the time no longer able to take any more antibiotics.
After another year and a half or so of dealing with my sinus infections it got to a point where I would feel the sinus pressure/pain way before my doctors could see that I had a sinus infection. I felt as though my doctor's thought that I was making it up, that I was just wanting the prescription; why, I had no idea. .So through my pain, I would wait it out until more of the symptoms would come into view. At that time I'd make another appointment for my doctor. At this point my doctor would then issue me my antibiotics.
The last time this happened I was on a 14 day dose and after those 14 days I felt no better then i had before. Frustrated, and upset with my doctor and my body I skipped seeing him altogether and went to see the local Ear, Nose and Throat doctor (ENT).
After my first appointment, the ENT wanted me to have a sinus CT (or CAT scan) to get an idea of what was going on. Now, I have only been in the hospital a handful of times sense my birth and all but perhaps 2 of those visits were not about me. So, i was still a little nervous in regards to this simple Sinus CT I had to have done. But the nurses were all very professional and nice and I was very relieved. A couple days later, the ENT had me come back in to look at the results. (At this point, you have to remember that I had just been on a long dose of antibiotics prior to the CAT scan ) We sat down and he flipped open his laptop and poped in cd that held my results. And he flipped through the pictures we all suddenly became very aware an what my problem was.
All of my sinus cavities were if most mostly, completely clogged with "gunk". And with that is first words were "well... you aren't crazy; there really is something wrong". And I felt a sudden form of relief wash over my body, the other thing that happened was the thought of, well if I had gone in on a "good day" for my sinuses then what would the scan have looked like if I were to have had the scan done on a "bad day"? He then started talking about my options. I could continue to take antibiotics and use the netti pot, and all sorts of other things that hadn't seemed to had worked much in the past or I could have sinus surgery.
Due to the planning around work I had to last another month and a half or so before I would feel alright with doing under the knife and taking time off of work. Not to mention family farther up North wanted to see "the Juneau K's". So the weekend after Christmas my family hopped on a plane and we headed up towards Anchorage for 2 weeks. Once I got back I had my pre-op.
Having never had any kind of pre-op before I was not sure what to expect and when it came time for my blood to be drawn I was feeling a little dizzy and a little nauseous.
The only thing I could think about was the first time I had to have my blood drawn and how horrible it was. It took the nurse 2 tires; one try in each arm to finally switch over to a "child size" needle. Now, living in Alaska my whole life and being just about as translucent as a German/Irish decent gal can be, it really should not have been that difficult to draw my blood. Further more, I had informed them I wasn't so good about needles to begin with. With that going through my mind I felt as though I'd need to use my inhaler again for the first time in months.
Luckily, the lady in Lab was a complete pro and even though I had tears streaming down my face from being in a state of panic she had finished before I even knew she had started. Again the wave of relief came to wash over me.
Not even an hour after leaving the hospital I because to feel even more sick. I got home and then with another passing hour realised that I had gotten the flu (thanks Dad; love you). Not the best thing to have the day before your surgery trust me. And I had until 8p the night before my surgery to cancel. 4pm rolls around and I'm still a little shaky but am feeling normal. The next two hours pass and I figure I have a 24 hour bug. Thank goodness! The next morning I go in for my surgery as scheduled.
At the hospital I found the book that they recommended I bring in to help pass the time became very difficult to read. First because I was constantly inerupted by the nurse, the anesthetist, the doctor and my mother (bless her heart thought it would be a good idea to take a couple photos of my time spent in short stay). The other thing that made is very difficult to read was the fact that the anesthetic was starting to kick in and as I'm told I started to become very silly and loopy.
I don't recall them "supposedly" moving me onto a different bed, however, I briefly recall being taken from my room (if you'd call it that) into surgery. I can't remember anything after that until I woke up in recovery to a nurse or doctor (I think it was a guy) asking if I was awake, that the procedure had gone well and that I needed to sleep. The only words I could get out where a very scratchy "I'm cold". And as he got me a couple more heated blankets I did notice the room to be a very white (although I could not tell much else because my glasses were off) and there were a TON of lights everywhere.
The next time I wo
ke up I was back in my so-called room my mother was watching the news and a nurse somewhere was talking about lunch. I became suddenly aware that after my 24 hour flu bug I really hadn't eaten all that much and I wanted food. So I opened my eyes and was cold again and by the time my mom had uncovered my face a little bit and the nurse was back with more blankets I was passed out again. I don't know how much time was passed but I do know that lunch was still being served and I was grateful I hadn't missed out. Their ended up being so much food I had to share with my mom. But the soup and blue berry pie were to die for! It also soothed my throat which I thought was either from dehydration or the tube that was more then likely shoved down my throat (although, they hadn't told me that was going to happen, I guess I should have assumed). After lunch I passed out again. And in the early afternoon I was awake enough to be sent home.I remember that I called my Dad and boss very drugged up to tell them that it went very well and unlike the ENT originally thought I did not have to have a nose bridge because my septum was fairly straight to begin with. I told them that they did have to remove some bone as well as scrap out all the gunk in my sinus cavities but also I informed them that I had yet another sinus infection going on while the surgery was going on and the ENT took care of it for me. Not that they could really understand me too much because my words were all slurded thanks to the pain medication.
To my surprise I didn't really even have any swelling to bruising. And I felt very odd being able to breathe so clearly that I was dizzy from all the oxygen I was getting. I then passed out in recovery for the weekend. My faithful Aspen right beside me the whole time.
A week later the ENT removed the packing in my sinus cavity which was not nearly as horrible as everyone told me or my parents it would be. In fact it was nothing in comparison with a severe nose bleed. On the way home I just about yacked as we drove my the land fill. I could always smell the dump prior to my surgery, but now, it was more then 10 times worse then it was before. That was the only down side I could find to the operation. In fact another week after that I went in for my follow up appointment and was told that I didn't need to ever come in again unless I felt I was having complications. Another week or so I was back up to my almost normal workout routine and I hopped back in the pool in what seemed like several months. To my surprise it felt as though I had never left. I could run longer, and swim just as fast if not faster then I could before hearly even being a little winded. I was n almost complete shock and I so glad that I had my sinus surgery. Not to mention, it really wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be.