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more congestion news
Apr. 12th, 2011 10:35 pmAfter my visit to the doctor on 3/28, I didn't have noticeable improvement. In fact, my left nostril became worse, to the point that it's totally blocked. I have trouble sleeping at night because I keep closing my mouth and then I can't breathe and then wake up. So I'm exhausted most of the time. And today I have a sinus headache that's killing me.
This morning I went to see an ear-nose-throat specialist, Dr. Baker at Greater Knox ENT. I liked her very much. She's very smart and had pleasure in explaining the CT scan to me. (3-d imaging is awesome.) It turns out that I have a giant polyp growing out of my left cheek sinus. It totally fills the sinus and is stretching back down toward my throat. It's almost the biggest that Dr. Baker has seen; she calls it "classic." I guess that's something to be proud of.
I've scheduled surgery for 4/21. I'm not happy about going under the knife, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to breathe again. I'll be having endoscopic sinus surgery as well as straightening my septum, which is deviated toward the right and partially blocks my one good nostril, and reducing the size of one of the turbinates, which when it swells blocks off my right nostril. The doctor also wanted to use a balloon treatment on the sinus at my left temple that's been blocked by the polyp, but my insurance won't approve it because the treatment is "experimental." She hopes that once the polyp is gone that the sphenoid sinus will start to drain normally again; the balloon would've guaranteed it, but there's a good chance it isn't necessary. Let's hope so, because I'd rather only do this once.
Polyps are growths that occur in mucus membranes in different parts of the body. When a membrane becomes irritated, as with infection or allergic rhinitis, the walls of the blood vessels become more permeable and allow water through. Somehow this becomes a polyp. Polyps aren't cancerous; they're just growths. That's the good news. The bad news is that polyps are likely to return. After I heal from the surgery we're going to test me for allergies and consider what treatment plan to follow. Shots may be involved.
I always thought I was a bit of a whiner about my allergies. I suspected that I just wasn't tough enough to deal with what everyone else seems to manage. The polyp pretty much justifies my complaints. Did I mention how huge it is? It started in the sinus, totally filled it, then grew into the nasal passage and kept going. I mean, wow. Seriously.
This morning I went to see an ear-nose-throat specialist, Dr. Baker at Greater Knox ENT. I liked her very much. She's very smart and had pleasure in explaining the CT scan to me. (3-d imaging is awesome.) It turns out that I have a giant polyp growing out of my left cheek sinus. It totally fills the sinus and is stretching back down toward my throat. It's almost the biggest that Dr. Baker has seen; she calls it "classic." I guess that's something to be proud of.
I've scheduled surgery for 4/21. I'm not happy about going under the knife, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to breathe again. I'll be having endoscopic sinus surgery as well as straightening my septum, which is deviated toward the right and partially blocks my one good nostril, and reducing the size of one of the turbinates, which when it swells blocks off my right nostril. The doctor also wanted to use a balloon treatment on the sinus at my left temple that's been blocked by the polyp, but my insurance won't approve it because the treatment is "experimental." She hopes that once the polyp is gone that the sphenoid sinus will start to drain normally again; the balloon would've guaranteed it, but there's a good chance it isn't necessary. Let's hope so, because I'd rather only do this once.
Polyps are growths that occur in mucus membranes in different parts of the body. When a membrane becomes irritated, as with infection or allergic rhinitis, the walls of the blood vessels become more permeable and allow water through. Somehow this becomes a polyp. Polyps aren't cancerous; they're just growths. That's the good news. The bad news is that polyps are likely to return. After I heal from the surgery we're going to test me for allergies and consider what treatment plan to follow. Shots may be involved.
I always thought I was a bit of a whiner about my allergies. I suspected that I just wasn't tough enough to deal with what everyone else seems to manage. The polyp pretty much justifies my complaints. Did I mention how huge it is? It started in the sinus, totally filled it, then grew into the nasal passage and kept going. I mean, wow. Seriously.