As anyone who has read Mike’s post in the last week now knows, he’s finally getting married. Getting the chance to know, and watching Michael fall more in love with his soon-to-be wife has been a great pleasure over the last 6 months. My own wife and I look forward to getting to know her more over the rest of our lives.
I can’t even begin to express the elation I felt when Michael and Melissa showed up on our doorstep last Thursday night with the news. That news made my week. As my wife and I went out for dinner that night (they were making the rounds telling family… otherwise they would have been with us), we talked about that and how happy we were for Michael for most of the dinner. And Melissa, too. 
Michael and I have been friends for about 13 years now. We’ve been best friends for about 8+ I’d say. I consider him family. And it just thrills me to no end that he has found someone that makes him feel the way my wife makes me feel. No word seems grand enough to confer this feeling to you adequately. But if I had to use just one word, it would be this: Happy.
The other topic of conversation was the surgery I was having the next morning. Finally, after nearly 17 years of waiting, I was having surgery to correct the sinus issues I’ve been dealing with for more than two-thirds of my life. I was nervous, excited, scared, etc., all at the same time. A complete jumble of emotions.
It’s now been a week since the surgery, and things have not gone as great as we were hoping.
I have one of those noses that doesn’t like to do anything but what it wants. It doesn’t respond to antihistamines, decongestants, or even pain medication all that well. I’ve been on percocet (oxycodone + acetaminophen) since I got out of the hospital, and while I can tell it helps with much of my other pain, my nose-specific pain it doesn’t do much for. My nose is yelling bloody murder right now, and its not going to let some little ole pain medicine stifle its voice.
So, the surgery:
Amy and I woke up at 5 AM. I had to shave my goatee and beard. One of the hardest things I’ve done in the last couple years. Totally sucks.
We arrived at the hospital at 6:30 AM. Went into surgery about 8:45 AM I think. May have been closer to 9 AM, not positive. I just remember that we were running late.
I remember the anesthesiologist putting this mask over my nose and mouth that wouldn’t let me take a whole breath. And considering I was starting to panic a little, that totally sucked. Then, they gave the anesthesia. Didn’t work much. So they gave me more. I was still conscious, though not entirely with it. I would find out later that the IV in my right arm had perforated… meaning it fell out of the vein. So, they had been pumping medicine and saline into my right wrist, arm, and hand. Evidently, my right extremity swelled up quite a bit. I wasn’t even aware of it, but they switched the IV to my left arm… which is what I asked for in the first place. Trying to protect my bowling arm (the right one) and all.
The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery. Mind you, I can barely see anything as my contacts have been removed, my glasses are with my wife, and I’m blinder than a bat without them. While I’m in recovery, the morphine is evidently relaxing me too much, as I keep having someone push me and say “Breathe.” So danged annoying.
What we realize later is that my body is trying to breathe through my nose when I pass out. It tries for about 20 seconds. Then it starts to switch over to my mouth. However, the alarms monitoring me go off every 20 seconds, so they wake me every time I finally start to breathe on my own. Unfortunately, this realization won’t come until after an outpatient procedure turns into an overnight stay in the hospital. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep as the alarm went off most of the time I fell asleep. Thank God for my wife, though. At one point, she turned the monitor off and simply watched me to make sure I was still breathing. This allowed me to get some much needed rest.
Fast forward to today. The surgery was 1 week ago tomorrow. I’m still in lots of pain. I haven’t been to work or school for over a week now. In fact, the doctor’s note I got today on my follow-up doesn’t want me to return until the 7th of November. I’m going to definitely have to play that one by ear.
So, anyway, the appointment. He took this long needle-like suction device (sounds like the suction thing at the dentist… only longer and scarier) and drives it way way up into my head to suck out all the mucous and post-surgery gunk. Hurt. Like. Hell. I can’t even describe what that felt like. It was kind like the Roto-Rooter guys coming to suck out your brain through your nose, only it hurt more. My nose has been bleeding for 3 hours since then. Grr.
Don’t get me wrong, though. This is the best ENT (Ear, Nose, & Throat) I have EVER been to. Roger Wobig, M.D. is my ENT’s name. I highly recommend him. Note that my experience has been atypical, and mostly my own body’s fault. Well, the IV thing was the short-stay nurse’s fault. She obviously did not do a great job.
So, I should be able to breathe through my nose by Monday. If not, I’m to call him. However, I do have a 2nd follow-up appointment next Thursday, so hopefully I will have some better news then.