<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>sidekickj</b></i>
CFkitty-
I know what you mean by people having different definitions for what "sinus surgery" actually is. My initial understnading was that it's a piece a cake...one day ordeal...and my docs let me believe that. ALL of my sinuses were full of infection, mucus...I believe my ENT even used the word "puss". YUCK, RIGHT. So as far as I know...all they had to do was clean everything out...I didn't even have packing! Doc used some sort of clear seals to keep clean and keep from bleeding...and I still woke up feeling like I couldn't breathe. Doesn't make sense to me. And I did have a nose bleed the first night I coughed after surgery. Also, I too have a deviated septum but he didn't feel the need to fix it. Weird huh.
24/F/CF</end quote></div>
Ok, that makes sense why your recovery wasn't too crazy.
When you have your septum fixed and have your smaller chambers cut open into one large chamber, you have bone and tissue that has to heal, on top of clearing the infection and removing polyps.
There is bleeding for several days, packing and/or splints, pus/blood/clots/mucous drainage/headache/eyeache/internal pain/pain on the outside of the nose/stuffiness for 4-6 WEEKS. When I had my packing removed, the doctor cleaned out the junk way in the back, with a vacuum. This is painful experience.
At 4 weeks, my nose still aches, my eyes are still sun sensitive, I am still stuffy, and am still passing blood clots and goo. This stuff is a good 3 inches long and a good 1/2 inch or more wide. My ENT told me this is common and could happen for another few weeks.
So yes, there are different procedures done during "sinus surgery". When people say they have had it done multiple times, it's usually a cleaning out, vs. cutting tissue and breaking bones.
If your deviated septum wasn't fixed, it's likely that it wasn't blocking the airway too much. When the septum is more to one side, that side is smaller, and on the OTHER side, it allows the turbinates to grow larger, effectively blocking that side as well.
Image: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.obstructednose.com/onose_septoplasty_large_im.html">http://www.obstructednose.com/...toplasty_large_im.html</a>
CFkitty-
I know what you mean by people having different definitions for what "sinus surgery" actually is. My initial understnading was that it's a piece a cake...one day ordeal...and my docs let me believe that. ALL of my sinuses were full of infection, mucus...I believe my ENT even used the word "puss". YUCK, RIGHT. So as far as I know...all they had to do was clean everything out...I didn't even have packing! Doc used some sort of clear seals to keep clean and keep from bleeding...and I still woke up feeling like I couldn't breathe. Doesn't make sense to me. And I did have a nose bleed the first night I coughed after surgery. Also, I too have a deviated septum but he didn't feel the need to fix it. Weird huh.
24/F/CF</end quote></div>
Ok, that makes sense why your recovery wasn't too crazy.
When you have your septum fixed and have your smaller chambers cut open into one large chamber, you have bone and tissue that has to heal, on top of clearing the infection and removing polyps.
There is bleeding for several days, packing and/or splints, pus/blood/clots/mucous drainage/headache/eyeache/internal pain/pain on the outside of the nose/stuffiness for 4-6 WEEKS. When I had my packing removed, the doctor cleaned out the junk way in the back, with a vacuum. This is painful experience.
At 4 weeks, my nose still aches, my eyes are still sun sensitive, I am still stuffy, and am still passing blood clots and goo. This stuff is a good 3 inches long and a good 1/2 inch or more wide. My ENT told me this is common and could happen for another few weeks.
So yes, there are different procedures done during "sinus surgery". When people say they have had it done multiple times, it's usually a cleaning out, vs. cutting tissue and breaking bones.
If your deviated septum wasn't fixed, it's likely that it wasn't blocking the airway too much. When the septum is more to one side, that side is smaller, and on the OTHER side, it allows the turbinates to grow larger, effectively blocking that side as well.
Image: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.obstructednose.com/onose_septoplasty_large_im.html">http://www.obstructednose.com/...toplasty_large_im.html</a>