I recently had septoplasty surgery in order to correct my deviated septum as well as a turbindectomy in order to correct my enlarged turbinates. Both of these issues were causing me to have trouble breathing through my nose. I had my procedure on February 2 and I am pretty much at 100%. The goal of this blog post is to inform you of things that I wasn't made aware of upfront. Fortunately, I was never in any pain, just a lot of discomfort.
So, here are the things that they didn't tell me that I had to figure out on my own through experience (bear in mind that people heal differently and may experience different things that I did):
1. The Cost
Be sure to have the surgery pre-approved through your insurance company to ensure that you will not have to pay for the entire ordeal out of pocket. Even with my insurance coverage, I still owed quite a lot. Certainly, it will all depend on the type of coverage that you have but when it was all said and done, I had to pay about $1,500.00, which wasn't too bad. Many people don't realize that for hospital bills, if you call and make a payment in full, they will give you a discount most of the time. I was able to get a discount on most of my bills since I paid them in full over the phone. I wasn't able to get a discount from my actual doctor because in order to get a discount from them, I had to pre-pay which I was never advised of. I would suggest checking into this method to save you some cost but be aware that pre-paying too much could cause issues with insurance coverage.
2. Defying the Odds of How Much You Can Fit in Your Nose
After my surgery, I arose with cotton based packing in each nostril (about three inches in length, about an inch to an inch an half in circumference) along with pliable, gel-based splints (at least four inches in length and just shy of an inch wide) in each nostril that were kept in place by a single stitch. Aside from that and once the packing is removed the next day and the splints about four days later (which is like giving birth through your nose) and the days and week(s) following, you have a tremendous amount of scabbing and boogers that get built up because you cannot blow your nose.
In the frequent follow-ups post-surgery, my doctor removed all kinds of scabbing and debris from my nose. Below is a picture of one of the larger scabs that the doctor removed from my nose after a ten minute battle at getting it out. Fortunately, I only experienced discomfort as he used his metal apparatus to remove everything (as pictured below).
3. The Discomfort
I was told that I would feel discomfort but I wasn't informed how uncomfortable it really is. It is very uncomfortable and difficult to sleep because you have to be on your back and you can only breath through your mouth. You cannot breathe out of your nose at all due to the swelling, packing, splints, etc.
4. Biotene is your best friend
You have to sleep in a propped up position so I slept on the chaise on my couch. Since your nose is plugged up with the packing, splits, and drip pad, there is absolutely no way to breathe through your nose so you are forced to mouth breathe. This is okay while you are awake but when you sleep it is horrible. Your mouth gets so dry it is kind of painful. The first night, this alone prevented me from really falling asleep at all. I had to get sips of water like every ten minutes. By the second day, I discovered Biotene and used this when going to sleep and this was the difference of me sleeping so much better.
You swish with it for about 30-45 seconds before going to sleep and it causes your mouth to stay moist. It eventually wears off but it certainly makes a difference. You can pick this up at any pharmacy or any store that has mouthwash.
5. You Will Get Constipated
I was lucky enough not for this to effect me too negatively but I wasn't regular for a few days (gross I know but definitely a reality of being put under anesthesia).
5. Someone to care for you
It is best to have someone be there to help you on four two or three days. Fortunately, my girlfriend took good care of me. You could probably get by on your own but it would be much more difficult. It is not my intention to scare people away from this type of surgery but merely to make you aware to give you a heads up as to what you have to go through. I didn't do much reading online beforehand because you always run across horror stories. People are more likely to write about their negative experiences online than positive. Now about three and half months out from surgery, I can breathe much better through my nose and I can say that it was definitely worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment