Day 5

Today is day five... if you count surgery day as day one... I have sneezed... a few times... and am relieved that they did not result in blood spattering all over the place...

I know there is light at the en of the dark sinus tunnel... and I am feeling pretty good... as far as lack of pain... which I guess is one way to measure success... I haven't taken pain meds since the day of surgery... and when I have been laying around I have been doing some online research, trying to see what other people have experienced... I have read that people experience a lot of pain... some say they needed their pain meds and that they felt like they had the worst sinus infection of their lives...

Maybe I feel like I have a bad sinus infection too.. I do feel pressure in my cheeks... and feel clogged up... and I have the same foggy feeling that I get when I have had sinus infections... the foggy feeling where it is hard to concentrate, feel tired, but also want to get something accomplished, but don't see that happening... I should be  looking at job applications right now, instead of blogging... but here I am... blogging...

I avoided napping yesterday because I had not slept well the night before... I thought the napping had made me unable to sleep... and it worked... I think... I slept well last night and for almost 12 hours.  But when I woke up I didn't have that desire to jump out of bed and start the day.  I felt like I wanted to stay in bed and just watch tv... so that is what I have done... between sinus rinses... have I told you how much I hate those?  Granted the first one was the worst... the stuff that I spit out after that ... gross... I think I already posted about that... since then it hasn't been as... productive as far as having things move.. but it does get things moving... and today I had snot come out... yes I said snot.  this is a bit significant because I do not remember the last time I had snot come out of my nose.  Seriously.  One of the things about all these sinus issues over time has been that when the sinus infection flared, nothing moved... ever... except some post nasal dripping... things are supposed to move... so I guess that's a good sign.. but then I think... if he drained all that stuff, why is it still there?  The neti pot experience... if you have not had it... is an interesting one... you take this tea pot looking thing... fill it with water and this saline solution mix and then you tip your head forward and to the side and put the spout of the teapot into one of your nostrils... and you wait... as you feel the water go in.. and hope that the crap does not leak into your throat... your nose begins, no surprise, to feel like you have water up your nose... that tingling burning feeling you get... and if your sinuses are open the water drains out of the opposite nostril... for me... it took a while to drain... and at some points feels like the water was going to come out of my eyes!  my eyes water most of the time when I do this... which causes my nose to run... which may or may not be what is supposed to happen... then you tip your head up and water drains from both nostrils...  then you have to repeat on the other side... I think this will probably become part of my regular routine... I had used it once in a while during sinus infection battles, but never got the water to come out my other nostril.... but I think at some point the doctor had said that I would be expected to rinse regularly... fun...

I feel unsettled though... not sure where that comes from... maybe I had told myself that I would be back to 100% by now... and am not... I do think I am breathing better through my nose than I have in ages, but also can tell that things are inflamed... inside... in some ways I guess I feel 100% if that means returning to how I have been feeling for the last several months... but in my head 100% means very clear sinuses and energy galore!  hopefully soon...

I have complained, briefly on facebook... (perhaps less winey)  and people have nicely reminded me that I just had surgery, to give myself a break, to take time to recover... which sounds good... and I know it is what I need to do... but I am impatient about this... perhaps about other things too, but I am just tired of being tired and run down...

so.. reading other people's accounts of sinus surgery has been part of my way to figure out if my recovery is 'normal'...and we all know how much I love the word normal... 

I guess that my recovery is not atypical... but I feel lazy... and I have time on my hands... and while it may sound unlikely that I can blog and not read, I can't seem to sustain my focus to read... other than snippets of other people's blogs... so a book or job applications which I should be reviewing isn't working... my mind wanders... oh.. and I have random thoughts, like this one... apparently they put cocaine into my sinuses!  The nurse said something about it in recovery... and I didn't know if I heard her right... but Betty confirmed that she had said they put some in there... strange!  My roommate in college had a massive nosebleed and they packed her nose with cocaine... but didn't know they still did that.  Hmm... that can be another thing I could research...

I see the doctor on Tuesday morning... hoping he tells me things are healing well... hoping he does NOT have to dig anything out of my nose... some people have said the doctor digs out all the dry crusty stuff on the first post op appointment... I have also been reading that more rinsing diminishes that digging... so I am making sure I rinse... and have decided to use all the water in the neti pot each time, instead of just waiting for it to trickle out... the directions on the neti pot say that you only have to pour in enough water for it to come out the other side.. but the post op directions say use it all... so.. using it all...
 

Anyway.. I have droned on enough... for now...