I’m goin’ under the knife on Friday for correction of a severely deviated nasal septum. For the last 50-some years, I’ve been breathing out of solely one nostril and decided it was time to get this fixed.
I’m just curious if anyone here has had this common procedure, and what the outcome was. How was your recovery? When could you resume vigorous physical activity? Any and all information would be welcome. Thanks
I have never had exactly that surgery before but if it improves your breathing it has to be a good thing. I did have a pituitary tumor removed and for that they go in behind the nose and through the sphenoid sinus cavity. It took about a week before they could remove the nasal stints. After that I had no problems of any kind.
Have fun
Ron
Had it done about five years ago, like you I was breathing almost through one nostril.
I was off work for fifteen days. Came out of surgery with my nostrils packed with guaze (this is gross and will last for about six days), face swollen, two blue eyes going black. Slept sitting up almost for the two week and half, if you lie flat, it doesn’t help it, everything drains down your throat and the last thing you want to do is cough or sneeze. As the swelling goes down the gauze gets looser and slides out and this is really gross.
But since that operation breathing has been great
Oh and you talk really funny.
I hope it goes well for you.
MarkB
Best wishes on surgery and blessings.
I know what sinus problems are like. All these years, I’ve had almost no sense of smell and just recently discovered a sinus medicine that brings it out. But the medicine is too expensive and also I discovered that a sense of smell is very distracting - I don’t know how people deal with it day-by-day - it needs an off switch. Also, I don’t know what the various smells are - I haven’t experienced them before and have no point of reference.
And I also forgot the plastic form that they put there after the operation to keep everything in place,it eventually slides out also as the wound heals.
MarkB
Mark,
You forgot to mention that the yellow stuff keeps the gray matter in as well!!!
Have heard of a serious … side effect …resulting if the “yellow stuff” falls out too soon. It is said to trigger a life long case of WHOA … any truth to that??? 
Jim
Forgot about the gray matter bit Jim 
I didn’t lose anything I think.
WhOA didn’t happen but the strangest desire to play the didgeridoo and attempt cirucular breathing did. 
MarkB
My septum is fine, but I did recently have surgery to remove polyps and other tissue related to the infection they caused. I actually was stopping breating at night beause the polyps would block my air passages. It really worried my wife.
My left sinus was 3/4 full of fluid and there was a fungal infection. Fortunately I had the surgery before any bone got involved.
No gause packing here, only out of work for two days, surgery on Thursday and back on Monday. It was actually more painful after a follow up removal of one he missed. I am now on daily sinus rinses and perioding steroid spays to keep things under control.
I could post pre and post surgery pics that the doc took. Kinda neat to see what he did, really.
Good luck and happy breathing!
Best of luck to you Paul.
I’ve got the same problem, due to having my nose broken several times as a youth in kung fu class…I’d be interested in knowing how it all turns out.
Best wishes. Paul.
I had the surgery nearly twenty years ago, to correct a deviated septum and to deal with chronically infected sinuses.
The surgery was done under ‘twilight sleep’ type anaesthetic which left me aware, able to hear and process sounds but unable to actually DO anything. I won’t go into detail about that part, other than to say that if I had to do it again I’d demand a general anaesthetic.
There wasn’t much pain or swelling, although there was lot of bruising. The worst part was that I apparently swallowed quite a bit of blood and had a bit of a panic when I regurgitated the whole lot a few hours after surgery. As I recall, I only lost about a week of work (at the time, systems analysis stuff).
Thanks, Chuck, I had forgotten about that part. That is pretty gross too.
Now my entire nasal passage hurts, just thinking about it. It’s good that Paul can get all this pleasant reassurance. This board provides such great support!
By the way, Paul, you aren’t gonna let a little thing like this slow down production are you? After all, I’ve got that Delrin on order… 
After all, I’m sure you can build whistles while regurgitating blood. 
[quote="DarwinBy the way, Paul, you aren’t gonna let a little thing like this slow down production are you? After all, I’ve got that Delrin on order…
After all, I’m sure you can build whistles while regurgitating blood. [/quote]
As soon as I can wear a dust mask, I’ll be back in the shop!
What a stud!
Hubby (the scary looking guy) had a similar surgery done about 10 years ago. It was day surgery, and if I recall, he was not in a whole lot of pain and went back to work within a day or two. The splints stayed in a week or two, and after that he seemed to be all set. He had the septum repaired and enlarged turbinates dealt with (don’t know the specifics of what they did to them). Overall, it seemed to be a whole lot less traumatic than I expected it to be, I think I was more worried about it than he was. The only thing I wish is that they had kept him in recovery longer, since he was kicked out pretty much as soon as he could walk, and then he babbled in a drug haze in the living room for hours after we got home. He didn’t seem to swallow any blood, so you might want to ask your surgeon if there are ways to prevent that problem. I think his worst problem was breathing the dry air, as the nasal cavity is wide open until they remove the splints. Maybe a vaporizer would help that.
Good luck with your surgery, and may you and Charlene have many snore-free nights to come!
Robin
My dad had similar surgery done several years ago. He had not only a deviated septum (he broke his nose once in the monastery and once in a bar fight), but also a hole in the septum. Unfortunately, my dad had a bad ENT doctor and not only was he absolutely miserable afterwards,( he said it was worse than the surgery he had to remove half of his lung) it didn’t fix the problem. He had the surgery done again a couple years later by a much more competent doctor and, while it wasn’t really fun, it was much easier the second time around (and this guy actually fixed the problem).
So I guess the moral of my little story is, make sure your doctor knows what he’s doing…
Oh, and my sister also had sinus surgery done earlier this year and for her it was a breeze. Missed a couple of days of work and now breathes much easier and hasn’t had a migraine since the surgery.
Beth
Ouch. When I was younger I broke my nose really badly so I’m supposed to have had that surgery, but it’s too expensive (I’m deathly afraid of being put to sleep anyway so I don’t plan on having it).
Anyway, good luck and get well soon!! 
Thanks for everyone’s input.
On a funny note, when I went to take a look at this message board this morning, I foun this thread about my deviated septum, and right after it was a thread called “clogging issues”. funny cooincidence!
My dad had it done a couple years ago. For decades he had trouble sleeping and breathing. He also had constant sinus problems. Now all that is gone. Tis amazing.