Monday morning I am scheduled to have sinus surgery. I have been asked what this consists of so I went looking to get visuals to help. The images should be able to be clicked to enlarge in a new window.
This was one of the pages in the book the surgeon gave me explaining how they go about the surgery. I will be completely knocked out, he promised! He did not say anything about polyps. Mine are just swollen shut and congestion is trapped. It has been just about a year since I noticed any of it starting.
If you look at where the arrow is (I took this screen shot from the video below) He explained that is the part of the brain where smell is found. Since nothing can get up there that is why I lost my sense of smell (about 6-8 weeks ago now) and why I am loosing my sense of taste also. I made molasses cookies the other day for the kids and while they were cooking they went on and on about how good they smelled and that they tasted delicious. I hope they leave me some and hopefully in a few weeks I can taste at least one of them. I washed the floors with pine-sol and all of them were crying about how strong it smelled...not even a glimpse of the smell for me.
I found this great video that shows what the sinuses look like on a CT scan...unfortunately this is not what mine looks like...where you see black in the video is where the air can fill, I have no black at all.
Well, I hope that helps you understand what this surgery is about. If you have any questions ask and I will do my best to answer. I appreciate all of the prayers!!!! (My other surgeries are scheduled for the 26th and I am on limited activities for at least 6 weeks after then.)
I forgot to mention that I will have to sleep sitting up for the first few days. I am not to blow my nose for at least 10 days and try to avoid sneezing for the first month. I can't imagine that since I must sneeze 30-40 times a day and go through a box of Kleenex in about 3 days by myself..
