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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

As requested: Beak Update

Hello friends!

Well, the surgery went well, mostly. They said my problem was more intricate than they had anticipated, so I was in surgery longer than they wanted. I guess they actually use liquid cocaine in nasal operations to keep the swelling down and whatnot... Unfortunately that spiked my blood pressure to 240 over 210, so they had to keep me in recovery for three hours rather than the usual 20 minutes.

That was all on Monday. Since then I've been home, trying to stagger through the days until Friday when they take the stints out of my nose. They had to sew these big plastic things inside my nose to help shape the cartilage as my nose heals.

It looks and feels exactly like I snorted a ping-pong ball halfway up my beak.

Between the ping-pong ball, blood clots and regular ol' mucus, I can't breathe at all through my nose. I've got a constant headache from the pressure the stints put on the nerves in my face, and I feel like I've got the worst head cold of my life. The stitches itch; it's hard for me not to pick at 'em. I'm all clogged up but blowing my nose isn't productive -- it just makes a pretty whistling sound from the plastic stints. "Nasal irrigation" isn't working much, either. I'm simply too clogged up for that to even make the slightest difference.

But, all that is expected -- they told me that I'd be pretty miserable this week. They also told me that when I get the stints out Friday I'll feel instantly better and will be mucho happy (though the swelling might not go down for another week after that). So I'm just kinda trying to get from minute to minute until then.

The worst part is not being able to sleep. Every time I doze off I wake up gasping for breath -- which is exactly what I had the operation to stop in the first place! But that'll go away along with the stints.

8 Comments:

Blogger SkylersDad said...

Thanks for the update Chris, I can't imagine how bad that must feel!

Hang in there, and I hope you have a Merry Christmas despite the nose.

3:02 PM  
Blogger Dale said...

How sexy you must look mouth breathing under the mistletoe. Poor Dagmar. :-) Hope you feel instantly better any instant now. Merry Christmas.

3:47 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

ye gads, what a way to spend a holiday...i would recommend a hot toddy but it would probably not mix well with the pain meds that i hope of which you were prescribed copious amounts...
...may friday come quickly...

peace...

4:19 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Just praying that you don't have the complications you had with your ... ahem.. um... other recent surgery.

Sucks that they had to do this over Christmas, but that's life sometimes.

Maybe you'll be breathing better by New Years eve and sleeping well enough you can crash on the couch around 10 pm.

5:05 PM  
Blogger KatzeKitty said...

Murray Crapmas!

8:30 AM  
Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

Yikes - I guess no amount of Merry Christmasses are going to make you feel much better, but I'll say it anyway: Merry Christmas and many a good night's sleep when they unplug you!

9:47 AM  
Blogger Virginia ("Ginn") said...

You may be happily sleeping the New Year in - a great way to celebrate once the swelling goes down and the stints are removed...

"Ginn"
Watching the Wicked Winter Winds
www.pulverpages.com

11:08 AM  
Blogger paperback reader said...

This is why I try to avoid barfights.

Well, that, and the fact that I'd lose.

Hope you're feeling better. I suppose I could have read that post first to find out, but - hey! Quit telling me how to live my life.

8:13 PM  

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