A New Year!!! Yay!!! Normally I begin the New Year by writing, reflecting, and setting my personal and professional goals for the entire year. I love doing this exercise. I post my lists (body/mind/soul/environment) on the bathroom mirror and take stock at the end of the year as to what items I integrated in to my life and which got left behind. Not this time. I just didn't have it in me to even write the list. I had a single focus, get healthy. I was doing okay until about January 7th, and then another volcanic eruption occurred.
I embarked on a journey to explore alternative methods to cure my sinus plague. I was even going to call a healer. I know a healer, I even put his number in my phone. Of course, I never actually got around to making the call.
Instead, I turned to Dr. Patricia Bragg and the seemingly magical powers of apple cider vinegar. I swear the instructions said add 4 tbsp raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar to a cup of warm water with a little raw honey. I spent a few days drinking this concoction, which was brutal in both taste and aroma. I actually thought it helped a little, even though the massive acidity was tough on my body. As it turned out it was only supposed to be 2 tsp of the vinegar, which maybe would have been a little easier on the stomach and the teeth. I may actually have a hole in my stomach now, but, maybe that is not so bad.
In addition to my "vinegar tea", I came up with the brilliant idea of making a soup chock full of all roasted power foods: kale, sweet potatoes, fennel, garlic, spinach, beets, cabbage, parsnips, peppers, onions, carrots, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. I thought between these two natural remedies, and eliminating anything that could feed the infection (like refined sugar and all gluten), I would have this thing beat. It didn't work. Although I will say that the soup, while it looked hideous after a few cycles in the blender, tasted great, and is going on my food blog (tdfoodacity.blogspot.com OR www.arugulainc.com. Yes people, I am taking this opportunity to self promote, is that so wrong ?)
I tried crazy holistic bathsalts in the tub. I did a facial steam of aromatic oils: tea tree, peppermint, and rosemary (and almost blinded Herbie by doing so). I was even considering ear candling, but then I remembered they candled the infant version of Robert DeNiro in Godfather II, and suddenly I realized that I was potentially turning myself in to a freak.
By Tuesday of that week, I was in so much pain I went to the dentist. I thought maybe all these issues were caused by an abscessed tooth or maybe a root issue. My dentist was skeptical, but kind enough to take an x-ray to see if perhaps there was something wrong. Nothing, except, he noted emphatically, "you have really badly occluded sinuses". Sh*&! Another expert opinion confirming sinus problems.
And then, two days later, things got worse. I was at work, feeling almost like myself (relative to the fact that my "self" is now someone who is constantly stuffed up and has headaches all the time), when all of a sudden at about 5:00pm I had this crazy coughing fit. Came out of nowhere. Suddenly I had blood in my throat, and it felt like a tonsil had erupted. I had to bail on a dinner with my boss and headed straight for urgent care. Sure enough, I had burst a blood vessel in a tonsil. I'm not sure why this happened, but I knew it was all related and I had to deal with it, I was out of options.
I had to go back to the ridiculously good looking yet extremely dismissive ENT. I even went and got a second opinion from another well known, not so good looking, less dismissive, well respected ENT. His opinion: " Your sinuses are small. You need surgery. And your ENT is really good".
The following week things got worse, and, as usual, my timing is amazing. Remember that meeting I mentioned in October ? This was the follow up to that meeting, where we make major decisions which impact all of 2012. I made it through the first hour to do an overview for the group, and then I had to leave. I didn't even know if I could make the forty minute drive to the doctor. The ENT's office was kind enough to make room for me that morning. Actually, the ENT was a little nicer this time, well, if the following can be considered nicer:
ME: Doctor, this thing doesn't seem to be getting any better, and now I am getting crazy headaches as well.
ENT: Well, are you going to keep talking about it or are we going to do something about it this time.
I really wanted to hate this guy, then it would be much easier for me to justify not having surgery. However, it was impossible because he clearly was an expert in his field. I gave in. I decided to schedule the surgery. I did however, have a lot of questions, which, over the course of the next month would be met with all sorts of different answers.
He told me what he was going to do was called Balloon Sinuplasty. It was minimally invasive, quick, no cutting, and I would be out of the hospital the same day. Recovery would be fast. No nosepacking. I could get on a plane after a week, work out after a week, and probably be feeling well in two days, but should give my self some time in the event it took longer. He said it would not change the shape of my nose or face at all, which was important to me, because I happen to like my nose, and my face. He said it was a simple procedure and I should not be worried.
I spent a lot of time researching this procedure. I am not sure if the amount of information available on the internet is a blessing or a curse. For the most part, people who had this procedure made it sound like it wasn't that horrible. Certainly better than for those who had undergone standard sinus surgery. I was able to read bits and pieces, then would stop. I don't have much of a stomach for reading about surgical procedures, all I was looking for was some sort of reassurance that I was going to be okay and not enduring massive amounts of pain. The post about it being dangerously close to the brain scared me a bit, although, there are some who might say that a version of me with a lobotomy might be pretty awesome. Either way, I had made the decision to move forward, and now I had to schedule the procedure.
Since I was going to be traveling until the end of January, I was going to have to schedule the procedure for early February. I had a very small window in which I could have it completed and recover, as I would be traveling again mid month.
In the meantime, I still felt horrible and my sinuses were killing me. I had to call the ENT's office the very next day after my last visit and ask for some sort of additional medicinal help. He had told me the prior day to take Mucinex and Ibuprofen, but I was badly infected, so I needed something else to get me through the month.
The people at the ENT's office seemed generally inconvenienced by me and my desire for a little attention. I don't know why the lack of compassion or interest in this particular patient (me). I can't say I have ever experienced anything like it before from the medical community. Maybe I was being oversensitive, or maybe I actually was an unbearable bitch because of all the steroids, and they just didn't want to deal with me.
Anyway, it was on to round four of antibiotics, and maybe more steroids. I can't even remember now. This time it was Cipro. It helped to the degree that I was able to function like a relatively normal person. I was still stuffed, but that had become standard, so I suppose the fact that I was not hacking up giant green chunks of phlem should have been sufficient enough to make me happy.
My next step was to make the call to the "surgery coordinator" to schedule the procedure. Definitely the most difficult phone call I have ever made. February 3rd would be the day. It seemed simple enough, she said would send a surgery packet, and that I would need to contact the hospital to get a pre-op done. She advised quote me what the cost for the surgeon would be, based on my insurance, but not for the hospital, I would need to do that myself. I was a little annoyed with this part. You would think that they could coordinate the whole event, but, not working in the field of medicine, I suppose I have no business judging their processes.
When I receive the surgery packet, it didn't say "balloon sinuplasty". It says "bilateral sinus surgery", and the box "nasal polyps" is checked. So I, concerned citizen, called the office, and said "I have some questions for the doctor because there seems to be some inconsistency". The surgery coordinator told me she could answer all the questions. She did. But apparently not correctly. By the time the call was over I thought I was going to have a fully packed nose after surgery and that I had to go in for pre-op no later than January 21st.
From about January 10th-January 20th was pretty much a blur. Honestly, I don't even remember it. I know I was really busy at work, and I know I felt crappy all the time.
I then headed to Florida for a sales meeting and the PGA show. For some reason, and maybe because I knew I could possibly be dead, or worse, horribly disfigured by this surgery, I was bad all week. I ate too much, I drank a lot of wine, and I didn't work out. I couldn't wait to get home.
And then January came to a close, almost.
No comments:
Post a Comment