Septoplasty for me tomorrow

Thanks J.A.

France

I know Sharon1965 was also told to bring hers to the surgery back in April and they didn't use it but I believe she uses a nasal interace mask. Perhaps a full face mask makes it easier after the surgery?

frapilu
i do use a nasal pillow interface so there was no way i could use it in recovery...i had to wait a whole month after surgery though, too, as per ENT's instructions, so a ff mask sounds like the way to go

I don't know if he'll be putting in gauze or what since the instruction sheet didn't say anything other than an appointment a week later, then a month later. They didn't even splints but since everyone I've seen on cpaptalk.com has had splints, I'm assuming I will too. I know Sharon had packing but I don't think anyone else did and I know she had a lot of bleeding so I'm hoping I won't either.

i didn't have gauze packing, i had gel packing that dissolved gradually over 2 weeks, pretty gross and gooey, but not horrible...i did have the stents in and mine were there for TWO WEEKS unlike everyone else i read about here...but i found out that my ENT's partner leaves them in for THREE WEEKS!!! can't imagine that, two weeks was bad enough, but now, after a few months, it's all just a dark, dim memory and i'm breathing freely and so grateful that i did the surgery...as far as the bleeding goes, i don't know that i had so much, it's just that i swallowed a lot of blood and that made me vomit for the entire first day which made me bleed more and vomit more...vicious cycle, but by the second day that was all overwith...
i read above about everyone getting bumped in the nose and sure enough, the day before my final re-check with the surgeon my hubby cracked me a good one in his sleep...saw stars for an hour and was really freaked out that damage had been done...but no, the ENT said all was well...i'm still a little over-sensitive about anything too close to my schnozz

frap, you'll be so glad you did it! it's the best thing i ever did and i'm thrilled about it every day!

hope you get this before you go, wanted to wish you well but i was out celebrating...thanks for the birthday wishes....it's just like you to remember! so kind and thoughtful

so i hope all goes well--i know it will--and please post as soon as you're able and let us know how you're doing...you were so supportive of me after my surgery; if there's anything i can tell you to make your recovery it will be my pleasure...

take care...see you on the other side of recovery

sharon1965

France,

My "good wishes" for your smooth surgery and speedy recovery, are one the way. I hope all goes even better than planned.

Nodzy

Good luck with the septoplasty, I just had one on Thursday along with two other procedures. I couldn't use the CPAP for a couple of nights but I went back to it on Saturday for a little while at least. Using nasal pillows too.

I didn't have splints but I had the horrible long strip of gauze type packing, and I tell you what that stuff HURTS. They put it in there with so much pressure. Pulling it out is fun too

Once you get to the second day you can start using saline spray. Use it...the saline is very soothing and will help get the junk and blood out of your nose easier. Later sinus flushing will help too.

I'm gonna tell you what they keep telling me, it will be worth it once you heal

Hi all,

I'm home and ok. I got home a few hours ago but had to have a nap.

So, believe it or not, I have no splints, no gauze, no packing, nothing. I didn't even bleed or drip enough for a moustache bandage! The bottom half of my nose, especially and tip and outside edges are a little tender but that's it. I'm truly amazed. I'm a little freaked out that they've told me that I might end up with a septum perforation but I hope it doesn't happen. Someone on this site was warned about that too -- are you out there? Did it happen?

So my story:
I had warned the anesthetists (regular one and intern or something like that) about how sick I get so they did something because I didn't get sick. As with my cpap mask, they chose an oxygen mask that was too big so it was leaking all over the place. Deja vu! I mentioned it, they changed it and it was fine. They told me they'd be putting me to sleep and next thing I knew, I was being waken up and didn't feel anything at all at my nose. I was positive that the surgery hadn't happened and that I was being bump so I demanded "Why are you waking me up?!". They informed me that the surgery was over, I was in the recovery room and I had to wake up. Wow.

I drifted in and out for a while. An hour or 2 later, a guy around my age called Paul was put in the bed across from me in the recovery room. Eventually, he and I got to talking and it seems the same doctor did a septoplasty to both of us. He ended up having to use a moustache bandage that had to constantly be changed whereas I never needed one at all. We both had our cpaps because our doctor had told us we'd be using them in the recovery room but the nurses refused for both of us. They said that the air pressure would cause bleeding. I tried arguing that the doctor might have known what he was talking about but they weren't having anything to do with it. So Paul and I kept taking turns having our oximeter monitors constantly screaming and having the nurses running over to tell us to breathe.

By late afternoon, he & I were pretty much awake so we kept chatting. We were both informed that we would be spending the night in the recovery room. Hubby & my parents came to visit me in the recovery room when they allowed visitors as of 6:30 pm. Mom swears that the outside of my nose is straighter now even though I told her that they didn't work on that. I think it's just that my nose is a little swollen so it looks straighter. We'll see.

The doctor training with our doctor came to see us late afternoon to see how we were doing. She told us that she'd be back around 7:30 am and that we'd be released then.

The recovery room nurses decided that Paul & I were on a liquid diet so we got ginger ale, broth and jello for supper. That's ok since we weren't very hungry anyway. We were both pretty tired of the oximeter monitors and annoyed they wouldn't let us use our cpaps so we decided we weren't going to sleep that night. We chattered away until the nurses got annoyed at us and told us we had to stop (there was only one other person in the recovery room and she was snoring away so who knows what their issue was). Paul was in a bit of pain so he had been taking the tylenol 3's as they offered them. I had no pain so I hadn't taken anything. They finally convinved me to take some tylenol 3 to try to go to sleep, swearing that the oxygen would help replace the cpap. I tried I couldn't put the oxygen in my nose -- it hurt. When I tried putting the oxygen in my mouth, I couldn't exhale enough through my nose so I had to stop using it. The oximeter monitor finally decided me that I wasn't doing this silliness anymore so I had them turn the light on in my curtained-off "pod" and I read all night. I drank lots and lots of water so I got lots of exercise walking back and forth to the bathroom down the hall. I really felt pretty good.

The same doctor who came the day before came to discharge us around 7:15 this morning. She told me that they had to remove a lot of septum (or was it cartiledge or is it all the same thing?) so I have a very thin septum and she wouldn't be surprised if I had a septum perforation (I'll have to look into that). I told her how we hadn't been allowed to use the cpap so she was pretty angry because the doctor had written in our chart that we should be allowed. She told me to start using it as soon as I next went to bed -- I use a full face mask so there was really no excuse! I asked her about NeilMed Sinus Rinse because the aftercare sheet just mentioned Salinex (which I consider to be far too dainty). She said NeilMed was fantastic but not to blow my nose until I see the doctor next week, just let the NeilMed drip out. She confirmed what Paul & I had speculated -- we do not have splints or anything. It seems she and our doctor don't see the value of them. Right on!! Since Paul had sneezed a few times, she warned us to sneeze with our mouthes open so as not to put pressure.

The only issue I had, strangely enough, was when they took out my IV. It came out ok and they put pressure on my hand then taped on a gauze and I headed off to the bathroom again. While I was there, I noticed that the gauze & tape were completely blood-soaked so I fantically worked at putting my underwear & pajama bottoms back on with just one hand while the other one dripped blood on the floor, in the sink. Then I one-handedly wiped everything down and piled paper towels on my hand, pressing down as much as I could. I rushed back to the recovery room, kind of breathless after all that exertion. They rushed to take care of me. No idea what happened. Now my hand has a bruise on it from all the pressing on it we continued to do and it's a little tender (less than my nose, though).

I had asked hubby last night to be at the recovery room to pick me up at 7:45 so he was there and I came home. I used 2 bottles of NeilMed for that first time. Felt so good to have all that guck come out and I can breathe better now. I wished I could blow my nose but I was a good girl and I resisted. I popped a couple of tylenol 3's, slipped on my Ultra Mirage Full Face mask and dropped off to a nice nap. I've since had lunch and I'll be going back for another nap soon.

When I had spoken with the doctor just before the surgery I mentioned that at my office, they are having major renovations (pulling down & putting up walls, pulling up and putting down new carpets) and I'm responsible for the fileroom so my staff & I have about 10,000 files to pack for moving into the renovated area (they split the floor in half - we're currently on the unrenovated side and will be moving to the renovated side in a few weeks, then they'll renovated the unrenovated side and we move back). He told me that when I see him next week, to remind him because he doesn't want me going back right away to that dust & work. Good. That's what I wanted. So I'll be off this week and all next week. Then I'm on vacation the first week of September. My employees will take care of the packing without having my underfoot I'm seeing the doctor on Tuesday next week. I thought it would be Monday since the aftercare sheet said a week later so I thought a week after the operation. No, it's a week after I get out.

So, sorry to be so long-winded.

lilsheba: Hope you're feeling better. Wow, 3 surgeries! I'm sure it'll be worth it. Right now it's still a little new but I can see that it'll be good.

Nodzy: Thanks for the good wishes. You were right - it was better than planned.

Sharon: I really didn't expect to hear back from you Sunday because of your birthday. Hope it was fantastic. So good of you to remember last week that my surgery was coming. So far, so good, as I mention below. It really helped that I had been able to follow your septoplasty and the other guys earlier this year so I knew what kinds of things to expect and what questions to ask. I'm glad you're happy about the surgery you had. I have that to look forward to.

Take care, all.
France

WOW!! france, that is so great! sounds like you had a pretty easy time...now continue to be a good girl and don't over do...just do as little as possible for the next couple of weeks and you'll be golden...and DO NOT blow that nose, at least for one week!!

i'm so glad to hear it went so well, and you must be feeling pretty good to be able to lay that big post on us!

take good care and please continue to update

sharon

p.s. it was cracking me up that you were updating yours AND paul's experience! lol

CONGRATS on a successful surgery!

Lucky you for not having splints or packing or anything else. I hope you continue to have an uneventful recovery!

Now, DON'T OVER DO IT! Especally with the thin septum. Believe me, you don't want the nose bleeds I had. TAKE IT EASY.


JeffH

Sharon,

Yeah, it was funny that Paul & I really hit it off all day. Then today we went our separate ways. It occurred to me later that we should have exchanged email addresses to see how each other was doing but I guess it didn't occur to either of us. In any case, we'll both be seeing the doctor next Tuesday so who knows, perhaps we'll be one after the other again I guess in a way the recovery nurses kind of started it in that as soon as he & I started chatting, they started calling us the twins -- except that Paul had the moustache bandage and France didn't have one

But you know that it's so hard not to blow my nose!! I just used NeilMed again and a bunch of guck came out again. Then I just wiped as it dripped. I think it would hurt to blow my nose anyway since wiping it is tender anyway.

In a way, it's a little hard not to overdo too because I just naturally do stuff. I just forget but then when I go to bend down, it feels a little funny, almost a bit lightheaded or off-balance so it reminds me. Luc was following me around (when I wasn't sleeping) and when I would go to bend down or pick something up, he'd try to jump ahead of me. He's off tomorrow too but back to work Thursday.

My throat is pretty sore, I guess from the breathing tube they put there? Do you remember how long that lasted? It's annoying.

Thanks
France

Hi marymoon,

Yes, uneventful is good and the best recovery I could hope for.

Thanks.
France

Hi JeffH,

Most definitely I don't want the bleeds. Earlier today when I was talking with my mother, she told me she had been speaking with a brother of hers and he reminded her that he had a septoplasty some years ago. He explained to her that I really have to be careful not to lift too much because he had carried his desktop computer & monitor around because it was having problems and he ended up with a nosebleed that he had to go to emerg for. He says that all these years later, he still has congestion on that side. I told her that I had already been warned by you and was going to truly take it to heart.

Thanks
France

frapilu wrote:Hi JeffH,

Most definitely I don't want the bleeds. Earlier today when I was talking with my mother, she told me she had been speaking with a brother of hers and he reminded her that he had a septoplasty some years ago. He explained to her that I really have to be careful not to lift too much because he had carried his desktop computer & monitor around because it was having problems and he ended up with a nosebleed that he had to go to emerg for. He says that all these years later, he still has congestion on that side. I told her that I had already been warned by you and was going to truly take it to heart.

Thanks
France

That's how mine started, bending over to pick something up that I shouldn't have.

[quote="frapilu"]Hi all,

I'm home and ok. I got home a few hours ago but had to have a nap.

So, believe it or not, I have no splints, no gauze, no packing, nothing. I didn't even bleed or drip enough for a moustache bandage! The bottom half of my nose, especially and tip and outside edges are a little tender but that's it. I'm truly amazed. I'm a little freaked out that they've told me that I might end up with a septum perforation but I hope it doesn't happen. Someone on this site was warned about that too -- are you out there? Did it happen?

So my story:
I had warned the anesthetists (regular one and intern or something like that) about how sick I get so they did something because I didn't get sick. As with my cpap mask, they chose an oxygen mask that was too big so it was leaking all over the place. Deja vu! I mentioned it, they changed it and it was fine. They told me they'd be putting me to sleep and next thing I knew, I was being waken up and didn't feel anything at all at my nose. I was positive that the surgery hadn't happened and that I was being bump so I demanded "Why are you waking me up?!". They informed me that the surgery was over, I was in the recovery room and I had to wake up. Wow.

I drifted in and out for a while. An hour or 2 later, a guy around my age called Paul was put in the bed across from me in the recovery room. Eventually, he and I got to talking and it seems the same doctor did a septoplasty to both of us. He ended up having to use a moustache bandage that had to constantly be changed whereas I never needed one at all. We both had our cpaps because our doctor had told us we'd be using them in the recovery room but the nurses refused for both of us. They said that the air pressure would cause bleeding. I tried arguing that the doctor might have known what he was talking about but they weren't having anything to do with it. So Paul and I kept taking turns having our oximeter monitors constantly screaming and having the nurses running over to tell us to breathe.

By late afternoon, he & I were pretty much awake so we kept chatting. We were both informed that we would be spending the night in the recovery room. Hubby & my parents came to visit me in the recovery room when they allowed visitors as of 6:30 pm. Mom swears that the outside of my nose is straighter now even though I told her that they didn't work on that. I think it's just that my nose is a little swollen so it looks straighter. We'll see.

The doctor training with our doctor came to see us late afternoon to see how we were doing. She told us that she'd be back around 7:30 am and that we'd be released then.

The recovery room nurses decided that Paul & I were on a liquid diet so we got ginger ale, broth and jello for supper. That's ok since we weren't very hungry anyway. We were both pretty tired of the oximeter monitors and annoyed they wouldn't let us use our cpaps so we decided we weren't going to sleep that night. We chattered away until the nurses got annoyed at us and told us we had to stop (there was only one other person in the recovery room and she was snoring away so who knows what their issue was). Paul was in a bit of pain so he had been taking the tylenol 3's as they offered them. I had no pain so I hadn't taken anything. They finally convinved me to take some tylenol 3 to try to go to sleep, swearing that the oxygen would help replace the cpap. I tried I couldn't put the oxygen in my nose -- it hurt. When I tried putting the oxygen in my mouth, I couldn't exhale enough through my nose so I had to stop using it. The oximeter monitor finally decided me that I wasn't doing this silliness anymore so I had them turn the light on in my curtained-off "pod" and I read all night. I drank lots and lots of water so I got lots of exercise walking back and forth to the bathroom down the hall. I really felt pretty good.

The same doctor who came the day before came to discharge us around 7:15 this morning. She told me that they had to remove a lot of septum (or was it cartiledge or is it all the same thing?) so I have a very thin septum and she wouldn't be surprised if I had a septum perforation (I'll have to look into that). I told her how we hadn't been allowed to use the cpap so she was pretty angry because the doctor had written in our chart that we should be allowed. She told me to start using it as soon as I next went to bed -- I use a full face mask so there was really no excuse! I asked her about NeilMed Sinus Rinse because the aftercare sheet just mentioned Salinex (which I consider to be far too dainty). She said NeilMed was fantastic but not to blow my nose until I see the doctor next week, just let the NeilMed drip out. She confirmed what Paul & I had speculated -- we do not have splints or anything. It seems she and our doctor don't see the value of them. Right on!! Since Paul had sneezed a few times, she warned us to sneeze with our mouthes open so as not to put pressure.

The only issue I had, strangely enough, was when they took out my IV. It came out ok and they put pressure on my hand then taped on a gauze and I headed off to the bathroom again. While I was there, I noticed that the gauze & tape were completely blood-soaked so I fantically worked at putting my underwear & pajama bottoms back on with just one hand while the other one dripped blood on the floor, in the sink. Then I one-handedly wiped everything down and piled paper towels on my hand, pressing down as much as I could. I rushed back to the recovery room, kind of breathless after all that exertion. They rushed to take care of me. No idea what happened. Now my hand has a bruise on it from all the pressing on it we continued to do and it's a little tender (less than my nose, though).

I had asked hubby last night to be at the recovery room to pick me up at 7:45 so he was there and I came home. I used 2 bottles of NeilMed for that first time. Felt so good to have all that guck come out and I can breathe better now. I wished I could blow my nose but I was a good girl and I resisted. I popped a couple of tylenol 3's, slipped on my Ultra Mirage Full Face mask and dropped off to a nice nap. I've since had lunch and I'll be going back for another nap soon.

When I had spoken with the doctor just before the surgery I mentioned that at my office, they are having major renovations (pulling down & putting up walls, pulling up and putting down new carpets) and I'm responsible for the fileroom so my staff & I have about 10,000 files to pack for moving into the renovated area (they split the floor in half - we're currently on the unrenovated side and will be moving to the renovated side in a few weeks, then they'll renovated the unrenovated side and we move back). He told me that when I see him next week, to remind him because he doesn't want me going back right away to that dust & work. Good. That's what I wanted. So I'll be off this week and all next week. Then I'm on vacation the first week of September. My employees will take care of the packing without having my underfoot I'm seeing the doctor on Tuesday next week. I thought it would be Monday since the aftercare sheet said a week later so I thought a week after the operation. No, it's a week after I get out.

So, sorry to be so long-winded.

lilsheba: Hope you're feeling better. Wow, 3 surgeries! I'm sure it'll be worth it. Right now it's still a little new but I can see that it'll be good.

Nodzy: Thanks for the good wishes. You were right - it was better than planned.

Sharon: I really didn't expect to hear back from you Sunday because of your birthday. Hope it was fantastic. So good of you to remember last week that my surgery was coming. So far, so good, as I mention below. It really helped that I had been able to follow your septoplasty and the other guys earlier this year so I knew what kinds of things to expect and what questions to ask. I'm glad you're happy about the surgery you had. I have that to look forward to.

Take care, all.
France

Hi Snoredog,

I use an UltraMirage full face mask so I was supposed to be able to use it in the recovery room. In fact, this morning when I got home, I got myself settled and had a nice nap with it. It doesn't touch my nose at all, in fact it almost makes like a cage protecting my nose so it works out very well.

I hope the septum doesn't perforate but it's good to know that it's not that big a deal.

Thanks
France

That's strange. I wrote up a message and went to post but got a DNS error and my message is gone.

Oh well here I go again.

I've been using the NeilMed and it's fantastic but I find that not too long afterwards, the gunk comes back to clog up my nose. I hate not being able to blow my nose!! I guess it's not too bad since I don't have splints but I'll definitely be happy to blow my nose.

I'm finding that I get tired very easy and I need to sleep a lot. I guess that's normal after surgery but because I'm not in pain and I don't need a moustache bandage, I figured it would be easier.

My laptop died just before surgery so it's at Future Shop. They tell me the hard drive crashed (5 month old laptop!!!!) so they're sending it back to HP and I'll be without it for 2-3 months. Annoying!!! But it means that to connect to the net, I have to come downstairs from the 2nd floor to the desktop in the basement. I don't like feeling so unconnected!

Oh well, minor issues, really. Otherwise, things are going well.

France