Feeling a little better

A quick update on post-[sinus]surgery recovery.

I’m up and about… able to eat or drink just about anything now. I started back with half-days at work, and now I’m working full-time again.

No more gauze needed… no more active dripping blood.

I’m still having pain (swelling, scabbing, soreness etc.) so I’m still on the painkillers.

I’m actually able to blow my nose (lightly) now. Over the next month or two, I’ll see the doc a few more times to make absolutely sure the scarring clears away this time.

I’m not quite able to breathe through my nose “full-time” yet. I expect to see that within a week or two. The doctor says the swelling should go away in another 6 weeks or so, at which time my nasal/sinus passageways should reach their maximum “openness.”

So in the meantime I’m just trying to take it easy (which isn’t easy for a guy like me!) Getting some rest, taking my meds and hoping I’ll start seeing some sleep improvements.

Sleeeeeeeeeep…

(Beardless after the sinus surgery)

Catching-up

Yesterday was up and down. I thought I was doing well, but then had to endure hours of undulating temperatures. My fever got up to 103 at one point, I was drowning in sweat, breathing heavy and started getting almost delirious. I called the doc. He had given me an antibiotic Friday morning, so he told me to double-up on the dose, force fluids, and rest. Thankfully, that seems to have helped… either that or the fever just ran its course. Matt has been so awesome and helpful through all of this. I am one lucky guy.

In general, I think I’ve had more pain than I expected post-[sinus]-surgery. It’s not acute, but rather a subtle, nagging pain. I’ve been taking my prescribed Vicodin, and that’s kept things somewhat tolerable.

I’ve been able to go for a few hours without seeing blood, which is promising. Also, I went to my second follow-up appointment on Friday, and the doc says things are looking good. He was able to suction-out a lot of crud. (Sorry for the visual.) I got a brief inkling of how things will be once my nasal passages heal… I was actually able to breathe for a few glorious minutes. I go back for another follow-up on Tuesday.

I thought I’d use my recovery time to catch-up on a bunch of movies, but I just haven’t been in the mood. Just been cranky, and I don’t want that to taint anything. Maybe that will change soon.

The fever still hasn’t returned, but I still feel drained. I’m starting to feel more pain in my throat (because of the breathing tube they had to use during surgery)… moreso now than before. I can’t stand-up for very long periods of time before I have to lay down again.

Sadly, I won’t be able to march in the AIDS Walk event tomorrow morning… which really bums me out. (Just know that everyone’s generous donations will still go to the designated charities.)

I was also hoping to return to work on Monday, but I’m not sure that will happen. My boss is very cool about this sort of thing… the only catch is that I don’t get any paid sick days or vacation. Hopefully I’ll be alert enough to work on Tuesday.

Thanks for allowing me this lament. Despite the setbacks, I am very thankful that the surgery was successful and that the healing process is coming-along.

I’m gonna try to start posting “other” stuff on my journal again (non-surgery related). (You’ve been warned!)

THANKS to everyone for your thoughtful posts, e-mails and TXT’s. Big hugs to all of ya!!!

Home, resting, beardless

I’m home from [sinus] surgery, resting. I think I’m having a little more pain than I expected. (Thank Doc for vicodin.)

They asked me to shave my beard, so they’d get a good seal when they put an oxygen mask on me during the surgery. Meh.

maverick1303 has been so awesome and helpful and amazing and patient. Matt, I love you so much.

Having 24 inches of gauze pulled out of your nose is a surreal experience. It reminds me of clowns piling out of a clown car… it just keeps going and going and going…

At this point I’m in and out of sleep, taking my meds, resting.

Many thanks to all for the well wishes.

Big hug.

FW: Mikey Update

—–Original Message—–
From: maverick1303 – LJ Comment
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 12:46 AM
Subject: Mikey Update

maverick1303 replied to your LiveJournal post:

Hey all….

Mikey is good. The [sinus] surgery went well and he is sleeping now. We got to the outpatient surgery place at 10am and after bein there for a bit the Dr came in around 1 (surgery was supposed to start at 12) and said that the surgery was going to have to be done at the hospital due to the severity of Mike’s apnea. They said that the hospital was a safer environment for his situation and that he would have to stay overnight so they could monitor him.

This meant that there was a possibility for it being pushed back a week to a month. Luckily, they were able to get him in today at 6pm. This was good, but also bad since he hadn’t eaten for 14 hours by that point. So we left and went to catch a movie (Resident Evil: Extinction…typical video game movie). After that, we went back because we had to be back by 4 to get prepared.

The surgery started at 5:30 and Mike had to have his whole beard shaved off (he will post pics of that I imagine). Around 8:30 (after many cigarrettes and pacing) the Dr finally came out and said he was in recovery and gave me the full scoop on what he did etc…

I went back to see him and he was pretty much lucid. There was guaze under his nose to catch the blood and drainage from his nose. The Dr. said that he “more than doubled” the amount of space behind his palette and that if it all heals correctly with no large scarring (like before) then it would be a success.

He was moved outta recovery and up to a room. He finally got to have some food and water (by this time, he had gone without either for over 24 hours).

I go back to the hospital tomorrow around 8am so he can be checked out and I can take him to the Dr’s who did the surgery. He will then look at it and take the guaze out of his nostrils and repack it with new stuff.

The next few day’s should be fine. He has pain pills and what not, so he will probably be sleeping a lot. There will just be a lot of blood (words outta the Dr’s mouth).

Mikey has his phone and I’m sure he’ll be posting soon and checking LiveJournal when he wakes up and also while he is recovering at home.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes!

HUGS!

Rescheduling [sinus] surgery

Had to reschedule [sinus] surgery so we could get better operating room/equipment cuz of my apnea. Going back for procedure at 6pm.

I wanna be sedated…

My [sinus] surgery is 12 hours away. (The ENT is going to do a roto-rooter on my nose.) I am really liking the prospect of being able to breathe through my nose. Yay.

Other than the actual needle/IV in my arm, I am not nervous. In fact I can’t wait to get into the operation room; I am looking forward to soaking-up the “happy drip” before going under. (Benzodiazepine, is it? I’m not sure.)

Last time I went in for surgery, the doctor was about 20 minutes late. In the meantime, the anesthesiologist let me enjoy the happy drip, fully conscious. I didn’t have a care in the world. Lucky me… I was basically given a little medically-supervised drug trip, and Aetna Healthcare was kind enough to foot the bill!

The happy drip is further evidence that our moods and emotions are not only determined by our thoughts and personalities… but also driven by body chemistry (among other things.)

More on that another time. For now, I’m off to sleep. Tomorrow, as I drift-off into comfortably-numbness, I shall have the new Minus the Bear song White Mystery playing in my head. Bliss.

See y’all on the other side of consciousness!

Can’t sleep?

An interesting article…

To Have, Hold and Cherish, Until Bedtime
Dilip Vishwanat for The New York Times

Lana Pepper, 60, of St. Louis, sleeps separately from her husband, Ted, 67. “It was more than snoring,” Mrs. Pepper said. “He cannot have his feet tucked into any of the covers; I have to have them tucked in.”

Not since the Victorian age of starched sheets and starchy manners, builders and architects say, have there been so many orders for separate bedrooms. Or separate sleeping nooks. Or his-and-her wings.

In interviews, couples and sociologists say that often it has nothing to do with sex. More likely, it has to do with snoring. Or with children crying. Or with getting up and heading for the gym at 5:30 in the morning. Or with sending e-mail messages until well after midnight.

In a survey in February by the National Association of Home Builders, builders and architects predicted that more than 60 percent of custom houses would have dual master bedrooms by 2015, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president of research at the builders association. Some builders say more than a quarter of their new projects already do.

What could be called the home-sleeping-alone syndrome is not limited to the wealthy. For middle-income homeowners, it may be a matter of moving into a spare bedroom, the recreation room or the den. In St. Louis, Lana Pepper, a light sleeper who battled for years with her husband’s nocturnal restlessness, reconfigured the condominium they bought recently, adding walls to create separate bedrooms. Mrs. Pepper said the advantage to separate rooms was obvious: “My husband is still alive. I would have killed him.”

Full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/us/11separate.html

Updates

Lots going on. I am way behind. Over 600 e-mails in the Inbox, including a slew of LJ responses I need to get to. I’ve been meaning to catch-up, really I have!  Just lots going on.

Posts forthcoming about:

• The new bed (I got one!  Not a SleepNumber tho…)
• The new bicycle (it’s rad!)
• The fabulous weekend in LA, and the delightful midnight screening of Showgirls
• Some health-related stuff  (Carpal Tunnel.  And I can’t stay this fat much longer.)
• A surprise or two.

Pillows

So, I took a cue from Dan (HryGuyinSD), who suggested that my pillows might actually play a larger role in my arm/circulation issues than my actual bed.

That makes a lot of sense. So I did a little research.

Just doing a Google search for “side sleeper pillow” turned-up a surprising number of results. Just look at all the products available, which claim to improve circulation and reduce numbness for side sleepers:

Sobakawa

Better Sleep Pillow

Comma Pillow

Brookstone

L-Shaped Pillow

Sleep Posture Pillow

The pillows all look neat, but which one will actually work? In most cases, you can’t return them. They range in price from $20 to over $100 each.

Someone else suggested that the tossing and turning happens because I don’t fall into deep sleep. This jives with the symptoms of sleep apnea, so seems logical.

I wondered if I’d be better-off with a big, round, elongated pillow. So I picked-up this baby:

Only $15. Sadly, it wasn’t solid enough. By morning it had scrunched into half its size. And now I can’t return it (because they don’t allow returns of opened/used bedding items.)

Maybe I should open it up and drill a hole through it… and insert something solid!?

*sigh* I’m lost.