All clear on the nose blow February 11, 2009

Today I blew my nose for the first time since my operation.  Weirdly, I was really conscious of it, as I’ve been banned from blowing since Monday 5 Jan, the day of the operation.

 

I went for a follow up post-op with the nose man last Thursday (trudging in the snow – the waiting room was empty and I was seen early; bliss!) – he was really pleased with the result and practically leapt off his chair with glee when I said my sense of smell was now amazing too.  I feel he hadn’t had the chance of much patient interaction that day.

 

Anyhoo, 2 weeks ahead of expected schedule, my nose got the all clear and I am ok to play rugby again (whooooop!) and blow the aforesaid nostrils.  Very exciting on all fronts non?

 

So the nose blow went fine, anyway. 

 

Have yet to try rugby again cos the snow has scuppered training and games. Hoping we’ll play on Sunday and doubly hoping I don’t crack and break my nose in my first tackle!

 

To anyone who’s thinking of having septoplasty done – DO IT.  It’s one of the best things I’ve done in a long time and the benefits have been amazing.

The smell of septoplasty success? January 14, 2009

It’s now 9 days on from my nose operation, and the swelling – which was minimal – has all but gone.  I spent 10 mins last night looking in the mirror at my new nose, which I’m convinced is a bit more wonky than it used to be.

My nose was never perfect but it was straight-ish.  I’m sure it leans to the left now, possibly an upshot of the surgeon trying to correct all the deviated crap in my left nostril during the operation.  I still have stitches in one nostril so perhaps that’s skewing it a bit, but still  -  it’s a bit wonky.  The Boy says so too, but then I looked at his conk properly (for the first time?) and saw that his snozzer was well off a straight and even course.

 

Vanity aside, as it’s probably only noticeable to me, I am now feeling the benefits of the surgery.  My sense of smell has really suddenly picked up.  In my best bud’s house the other day her hyacinths on the windowsill were nearly overpowering my senses, and the marmalade yesterday smelt intense – Fantastic!  That was, until The Boy ate a big veggie curry and the inevitable windy after effects kicked in.  Sense of smell not so good in that situation!!

 

Another benefit I’ve noticed is that I’m starting to breathe through my nose a lot more. Last night in bed I was reading with my mouth shut, breathing like a normal person, which is a complete change from my usual Darth-Vader sounding breathing.

 

Both these indicate that the op has been a success, even if I’m a bit wonky still.  I’m getting into the salt-spray as well, it’s very effective at clearing things out and a lady I know has kept up doing this months and months after the operation. I might follow suit.

 

Onwards now, I’ve got batch number 2 of marmalade on the go today so must go stir!

Last day at work before Nose Job. Do I post pics? December 5, 2008

Last day in the office today before I head off for a couple of days of leave and then my nose operation (long awaited). It’s already been cancelled once and I’ll be dead cross if they pull the plug again on me. I have SATC DVDs lined up, Mum has booked time off to pop over with Pride and Prejudice on video, and there’ll be good Christmas telly on so I’m pretty sorted for amusement. Trouble is, I’ll look like shit – so best to stay holed up at home with the box on.

I’m debating whether to put a picture up of how i look after my operation. It’ll probably be gruesome, but in the interests of sharing (good sharing?) I’m willing to go public. Question is, do you folks wanna see it?

Vote now, and I’ll be guided by you:

This is my first poll btw, so I’m excited – so vote, please!

Gotta dash, bits to tie up and things to sort before I scoot off until January from work…

Nose consultant man: he say ‘yes!’ November 25, 2008

Having had my nose operation cancelled at the 11th hour by Northampton General, I’ve been ringing every day to see when I might be scheduled back in. The poor receptionist is no doubt sick of the sound of my voice, which she knew off by heart when I rang this afternoon…:

Me: “Hello, it’s Kath”

Receptionista: “Yes, hello again. We have a date for you!”

Hoopla! After a week’s worth of the consultant being on leave, or in theatre and being told to call back, today was the lucky day. So, I’m now going in on 10 December, touch wood. This is a Wednesday, and I have the Monday and Tuesday booked off as leave – Monday = Spa day (nice facial), Tuesday = shopping day (nice dress), Wednesday = op day (smashed face!!). What a combination, and it means I’ll be off work until after the Christmas break. Blimey.

Got a humungous to do list with three articles to finish and place, a podcast to edit, and a raft of meetings. Time to start cracking on in earnest…

who knows when my nose job will be? November 14, 2008

Following yesterday’s optimistic post about my nose job, I’ve just been told by Northampton General Hospital that Monday’s operation is cancelled as there’s no beds.

It’s good they’ve contacted me today rather than Monday but I am still mightily pissed off.  For one, I was psyched up to go under.  For two, I’ve been doing a big handover document for work. I’ve also held off meetings and booked them in my diary for when I was to be due back at work.  Now all this might change.

They have no idea when it might be rescheduled in for, but said they “hope it will be before Christmas”.  Nice! Thanks! So now, my op might be the day before my Christmas do, say, or a couple of days before I’m due to go to Gloucester to watch the rugby. It’s just Soooooooooooooooo inconvenient!!

Still, can’t do anything about it, so I can’t worry about it I guess.

Looking forward to going under the knife November 13, 2008

This coming Monday, I’m going under the knife for my long awaited nose surgery.  I’ve never had an op before, so I am a bit nervous, but mostly I’m really looking forward to it – not least because:

- I get 2 weeks off work, hoopla!  I know, I’ll be in pain and probably sneezing blood, but work has been ridiculously busy and having a break will do me the world of good.

- I might be able to breathe properly out of two nostrils for the first time since…well, I can’t remember.  Not sounding like I’ve got a cold all the time will be fabulous.

- I will actually have a bit of time (see 2 weeks off) to catch up with stuff. There’s plenty to do for the rugby club at the moment with our fundraising effort and I need to clean out our website content.  Also plan to do some piano playing and painting.

- I’m intrigued as to how my body will cope. I’m good with pain (when I broke my leg I whimpered a bit tho) and I’m not fussed by blood. I know everyone will have different recoveries but I’m hoping mine will be speedy and I can soon be up and about, albeit bruised!

Anyhoo, Monday at noon is show time.  The Boy is going to pick me up from hospital after my face has been sorted, and thankfully he decided my nervous whimpering in the build up is legitimate and he’s taking Tuesday off to look after me.  That will probably amount to him being in the garage all day tinkering, but making me cups of tea every so often.

my nose job August 21, 2008

Going under the knife.eeeek!

That headline got your attention didn’t it?  No, I’m not going to try and turn myself into the next Jordan (much as i love ‘mysterious girl’ as a pop choooon!).  In fact, I’ve just returned from the hospital, where Nice Consultant Man told me I need a nose job.

OK. He didn’t actually say it like that.  The problem is that my sinuses are rubbish and I have nasal polyps (nice! glam! just what a lady wants!) – these together mean that at night my breathing is like Darth Vader with a touch of flu.  To add to all of that, apparently my septum is “grossly deviated”. Not a wee bit bent in the middle – the Nice Consultant Man practically boomed to the whole of the waiting room that it is “grossly deviated”, rolling his ‘r’s for extra effect.  Thanks matey. I’d always known my nose was a bit squiffy, but I’d brushed it off thinking “hey! I’m a crazy kooky chick, a duff nose don’t bovva me!”. It’s not like my nose is pointing at my left ear, but yeah, it’s a bit off-line you could say.

Nice Consultant Man’s conclusion anyway, is this nose job. In reality it’s one operation but three procedures: 1. scrape out sinuses, 2. pull out polyps and 3. sort out deviance (possibly by removing bone and cartilage. eeew!).  I am pooping myself.  I’ve never had an op before and the thought of someone scraping round inside my FACE fills me with horror.  The Consultant Man’s attempts to relax me by mentioning the risks in a light-hearted voice (brain fluid may leak out.  eyes might be affected.  septum might be left with a hole in it. but all these are rare…) did nothing to help and I felt I was sat stifling a massive fearful SCREAM for most of the time I was in the room.  I managed to contain myself though and dutifully signed consent forms, spoke to three nice nurses, blew into a contraption, gave my blood pressure, filled out form after form, replied ‘no’ to questions about diabetes, heart pressure, allergies, dvt and the like.  And I also had to ‘fess up to my alcohol consumption (cue raised eyebrows from nurse lady).

With that out the way, I’m now ready and waiting to go under the knife.  The lists are short and I should be done in the next six weeks.  SIX weeks? gulp. I have two weddings to go to in the next month so I pressed the nurse for info about what my face will look like after, and when it will calm down (don’t fancy attending swanky bashes with my face sporting five shades of purple and a swollen conk).  Apparently a week will do it, just about, but I need 2 weeks off work to let it heal up.

I think I’ll take before and after photos of my nose just for good measure, although I’m not convinced it’ll look different.  I might sound different though – I’m always asked if I have a cold (particularly if phoning people) – it would be great to get rid of this bunged-up-ness.  Just a shame the remedy is drastic, and rancid, and brings me out in a cold sweat.

Knee news is good news July 24, 2008

Yesterday was Knee-D-Day, with the consultant’s final (for now) verdict on the gammy knee.  It’s not been too bad lately and I have been a demon with my physio so feeling strong (although still wibbly when on heels – maybe that’s just me).

In anticipation of the worst, I’d psyched myself up for an operation as I figured some wobbling wasn’t right, right?  Apparently not!  Consultant man did a few tests, including one test where the upper and lower leg are moved in opposition.  The gammy knee was pretty bad on this but then the Prof moved to my (apparently) non gammy knee and found that although minor, this knee also slid around a bit on the test.  Conclusion? I have freaky knees.

The other thing that the consultation revealed is that my physio is a grass. I’d confided to him that I’d twatted my knee whilst moshing to ‘Baggy Trousers’ wearing high heels on rugby tour.  Physio man, lovely though he is, had actually written this (pretty much word for word) into his report so my Consultant read it out, put the letter down, sighed, raised his eyebrows…but then admitted Baggy Trousers was indeed a top tune. Whatta guy!

The upshot anyway, of all the prodding and testing, is that Consultant man wants me to keep on with physio and get back into rugby training. Good to have no op, but mixed feelings about this.

One part of me = Slightly scared by the thought of bundling, as I’ve not done any rugger since November 2007.  Gulp.

The other part of me = Ecstatic that I can go and KICK SOME ASS again.  Can’t wait to pile in.

So, I guess time will tell and come August, when we start contact training, the knee will be properly tested.  The Prof says I have to contact him again in September to let him know how I get on.  Here’s seriously hoping that the knee stands up to it – otherwise, it’s deffo operation time and that just freaks me OUT!