So, last Monday, I had sinus surgery. My doctor opened up and cleaned out three of my four sinuses. According to him, it went as perfectly as possible.

And, it was not fun. At.All. Joe had one sinus cleaned out and had a septoplasty done last year, and I saw how miserable his recovery was. Mine, while completely different, was just as miserable. I was off work and in bed all week, and some people commented that they didn’t think the recovery was that bad. That’s because they’ve never gone through it. You just can’t understand unless you’ve been there.

All week, I had this horrible pressure in my head, and I felt like I had the WORST sinus infection ever. It was awful. I took two Lortabs a day to help me sleep, but all that really did was knock me out. There wasn’t any relief while I was awake. And, I couldn’t sniff or blow my nose, which I reallllllly needed to do. I did cheat a couple times and blow my nose very gently. I also had to sleep with my head elevated, which means I now have a horrible muscle ache on the left side of my neck. All in all, a pretty miserable way to spend a week of vacation.

Yesterday, I went in to have the packing taken out. Luckily, my doctor only used two pieces of packing, unlike Joe’s, who filled his sinuses with packing. My post-op visit took 5 minutes; Joe’s took 30 minutes. They told me to take a Lortab on my way to the office, but that really didn’t do any good since it didn’t kick in until after I got home. Thank goodness it wasn’t TOO painful. There were two spots where it hurt. Other than that, it was just very uncomfortable. However, once the packing was out, it was like a 360-degree change. The pressure was suddenly gone. It was amazing.

I still have a sinus headache, which I’ve read is normal if you suffered from those before sinus surgery. However, I’ll probably call my doctor’s office on Monday just to be sure. I go back in a month to make sure everything has healed well. I’m expected a good report.

And, I hope to never, ever have sinus surgery again.