James Skinner surgery

[Guest]

May God bless you and the hands of the caregivers during your upcoming operation. And speedy recovery time. No complications. Thanks for all you have done for all of us.

Pastorgilbert

[Pad A Cheek]

I wish you the Very Best with your surgery. May the surgeons have God's guidance in their work for your health.

I will be anxiously awaiting your response after your surgery to let us all know that you are on the side of recovery.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and great sleep ahead for you.

Karen

[TxStarDiesel]

I pray the Dr's hands are steady, the pain in minimal and the nurses and loved ones soothe the body and soul!

[MissDozer]

Best wishes for successful surgery and uneventful recuperation!

[JeffH]

Hope all goes well, James. We are all pulling for you.

[linrey]

I thank you in my heart every time I use your software - it was such a generous contribution of your time and talent.

You have truly suffered, and we're all praying for the very best outcome.

[socknitster]

Good luck, James. Let us know how you are doing when able. I hope you feel better asap!

Jen

[golmos]

Good luck James

I am sending you positive vibes ^^^^^^^

Golmos

[jskinner]

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the well wishes. I have been meaning to post an update the last few days but just hadn't got to it.

Yes my surgery was scheduled for the 14th. I flew back to Ottawa from Nova Scotia just over a week ago. I came a little early before the surgery so that I could attend a Roger Waters concert (turns out I felt like crap on that day due to apnea but hey I can say I was there)

As you might remember I have now been off CPAP for 2 months. The hope was that my nose would recover if I stopped blowing air up there. Well nothing much happened the first month but then I saw some improvement. The constant alternative nasal blocking reduced a some. About 6 weeks into it there was starting to be quite a bit of improvement at least during the day. By the time I got to Ottawa I was starting to wonder if surgery was the right way go to. You might remember I was never really fully comfortable with it since no one was ever really able to figure out what was wrong.

So I decided that I should see the ENT again before the surgery date since he hadn't seen me since I was off CPAP. So I got a last minute appointment and saw him. After looking at my nose he felt that it had improved enough that it didn't make sense to continue with surgery.

This was a relief for me in a way as I never really felt comfortable with it from the start. Its always seemed to melike a mucusal issue of some sort and reducing the turbinate seemed like treating the symptom rather than getting to the problem.

However its has left me with a problem. I still have the nasal swelling problem at night. A while after I lie down I start to get it. Of course I get the normal blocking when lying on either side but its much stronger than usual. It continues to be very problematic. I have started sleeping with my head elevated with seems to help some with the congestion (and helps my untreated apnea too) However the best elevated sleeping position seems to be on my back to stop nasal blockage but thats of course if the worst for apena control...

I told the ENT about still getting the problem when lying down and he gave some explanation but said he didn't have anyway to treat this. My nose also continues to be hypersenstive. It can block up on one side very quickly and for seemingly no reason.

Lastly CPAP is still a big problem. I would think that after 2 months of being off CPAP it would be fully recovered *if* the problem was caused by CPAP use. It is not and it only takes 30-60 minutes to swell up again. Given that I now don't think what ever happened way back in November was caused by the CPAP use but that is was just aggravated by it.

Anyway the ENT seemed content that things looked better in the daytime and sent me on my way. This was frustrating since there is still a big problem during the night and if I try to use CPAP.

After seeing the ENT I was feeling kind of desperate since now no one was working on finding me a solution. Thats when I decided to try getting an oral device. My sleep doctor had suggested this as something that could be tried. I decided that it was worth a shot. Even if it only gives me a little relief it will be worth it.

So I guess my hope now is that with time the nose will recover on its own. I certinaly have seen some improvement but its slow. I really think there is something going on that no one has found but currently no one is investigating more.

More worrysome is that I really feel ill when I get up ever day and sometimes all say. After I wake up I feel like there has been an elephant sitting on my chest all night. I think all those months of suffocating with the nasal swelling has taken its toll on me. I never felt this way before starting CPAP.

Anyway I am thankful that the nose is some better. I just hope it will somehow cure itself in time. I just really hate the suffering in the mean time. Its really horrible. I'm grumpy and tired almost all the time. I have my fingers crossed that the dental device will provide a bit of releif (although my expectations are low)

Sorry I didn't give an update sooner. Thanks Mary and everyone for thinking of me.

[DivinMercy]

Sorry I didn't give an update sooner

James, that is quite all right. You still got to see how many people are thinking about you and are with you in spirit

The prayers will just have to be transferred to success with the oral device and diagnosis of your problem. You have suffered for so long with this. God Bless you! Wish I could do something for you.

My offer of a bed for you (head elevated, of course ) still stands, should you ever come to the States for any kind of testing/diagnosis/treatment at one of the "big" clinics.

Keep in touch when you feel like it, James.

Blessings and hugs....Mary

[socknitster]

James,

I joined recently, so I don't know your whole history, but I have some thoughts for you. Maybe they have already been suggested by others, I don't know, but I usually have a pretty unique perspective

My first thought was dust mite allergy. If you haven't already addressed this: go out today and buy a new pillow and a special cover to go over it that is an allergen barrier. This is available at Target for less than $10, I believe. After a few years usage your pillow can become 30% by weight (or more) live and dead dust mites (and their droppings which are highly allergenic). That would explain the congestion after lying down.

I would also cover your mattress and possibly box spring with an allergen cover and wash any drapes in your bedroom that are near the bed. But that is just me! And vacuum wearing a dust mask--do your symptoms flare up with vacuuming? Carpet is full of the nasty beasties!

I was allergic to dust mites (and got the allergy shots for years, so now cured) but had the same symptoms upon lying down. If you haven't already, you could see an allergist to be tested (simple skin prick) for dust mite allergy. If your nose was inflamed, the cpap 'breeze' was probably very painful.

My second thought was food allergy. I am one of those weird people with food allergies that present a bit weird. The only doc who really believes/suports me is my ent. The rest (including an allergist) think my symptoms must be caused by something else, but it has been reconfirmed by accidental ingestion of certain foods on so many occasions over the years that I am CERTAIN of it without a doubt and so is my ent.

I am allergic to milk. It is the number one adult onset food allergy. I got it at about 27. My reaction to consuming milk is part normal and part weird. I get tummy upset, of course--the diahrea, cramping etc. (We call it the Big D around here). But I also get intense sinus/nose/upper respiratory symptoms. I have INSANE amount of mucous coming from my nose, out the front, down the back of my throat. I sneeze and cough from all of this, as though I have hayfever. My nose swells shut and I get sinus infections.

Now, in my opinion it isn't so weird because when I spend a modest amount of time on the stage in my youth I was always warned not to drink milk before a performance because it will thicken the mucous and make a clear performance more difficult. In my case, the mucous response is 100 fold compared to others!

It took years to figure out what was causing my symptoms, but within weeks of completely eliminating dairy from my diet I was normal. No more sneezing, swollen nose and sinus infections.

Occasionally i will make a mistake--for example when I wasn't feeling well a while back I was craving some kiddy comfort food and bought capn crunch with crunch berries. I thought it was safe, having eaten it before, but they must have changed the formula--now it had one of the dastardly milk ingredients: milk powder, casein or whey protein. I had the symptoms back within 24 hours. I hadn't had symptoms in a long, long time so at first I thought I caught a cold. But on a whim I checked the only different food I had consumed and there were a few milk ingredients! I started taking an antihistimine to help and with a little time (and cautious label reading) I was ok again.

I have no idea if this will help, but I thought it might. Have you tried a daily antihistimine to help with the swelling?

Sorry so LONG.

Jen