One thing I didn't know would be happening when I posted my first blog entry of the year was that I would be undergoing surgery! Many of you (I'm not even sure how many "of you" are reading this) know that I've had breathing issues for about seven years now. In very early January 2012, during the Christmas break of my freshman year at Truman, I had a cold. The weird thing was that I never seemed to get over it--ever since then, for every single night I've needed to use Breathe Right strips on my nose to help me sleep. Every night for seven years, otherwise I would get very little to no sleep. A trip to my PCP didn't help, as he didn't have the right equipment to give my nose a good look to see what was going on. And then I didn't have insurance for a long time, so I tried to just deal with it. And let me just say: Breathe Right strips are expensive. To get the brand name ones, often the only ones that work, they're about $12 for 26 strips. So that's just over a dollar for two strips, so let's round around and say that it's $14 for a month's worth of Breathe Right strips every night for seven years.
Y'all. That's approximately $1,176. I have spent over a thousand dollars in breathing strips over the past seven years. $14 a month doesn't sound like a lot until you add it all up, especially when you realize that for the majority of those seven years, I was making barely any money and was in school. Bruh.
So what changed, you may ask? Well, in January of this year, I noticed that my general congestion was getting much worse. I tried everything: allergy meds, cold meds, you name it; nothing worked. It got to the point where I couldn't be on the phones occasionally at work because I was so clogged that the person on the other end couldn't understand me. I couldn't sleep at night, even with the strips. I started getting nasal spray, but I didn't want to become dependent on it. So, finally, one day I made the decision to find an otarhinolaryngologist (say that ten times fast) in Brentwood, where I work. I knew it would likely be weeks before I could get in, but I knew I had to get the process started. So imagine my surprise when they said they'd had a cancellation for the very next morning!
I visited Dr. Huber (whom I totally recommend), and he knew from the very moment he looked up my poor, exhausted nose that I had a very badly deviated septum. He used a special camera to look for polyps and things, but he knew immediately that I would need a septoplasty: surgery to correct the deviated septum. A look online told me that the recovery would be brutal, but I was willing and ready to be able to breathe again.
The surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, February 5. It went by extremely quickly: one minute I was scooting onto the surgical table and the next minute I was waking up in recovery. Theo took very good care of me and stayed home for the rest of the day to help me and keep an eye on me. The next couple days were no fun, but my mom helped me out immensely, as well. It's now Day Four after the surgery, and I'm still not back to normal, but I'm a hell of a lot better than I was. I can't wait until I'm able to breathe freely! There's still some congestion, and I constantly have to drown myself with saline irrigations, but it's all worth it! I'm so stoked to feel better. I have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Huber on Monday, and then I'll be back at work that day. Until then, I'm still trying to take it easy! WOO for breathing!
