My Experience

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a couple of years ago and have found it difficult to sleep with a CPAP machine. My sleep doctor referred me to an ear/nose/throat specialist who said I was a good candidate for a septoplasty. I also have felt congested and wasn’t able to do anything to help the situation. I couldn’t breathe if I laid on my right side so I knew there were other reasons to have the surgery.

Preparation for the surgery was mostly mental. This was elective surgery, so I knew I didn’t have to have this done and that it was my choice. That involved a lot of questioning myself about whether this was the right thing to do. Was I becoming a “medical consumer”? The doctor is a surgeon, so of course he thought surgery was a good idea – that’s what he does. Ultimately, I felt that I had enough reasons to go through with it. I heard about other people who had the procedure with good results. My mother had the procedure when she was about my age. The physical preparation for the surgery was just not eating after dinner the evening before.

My husband went with me to the hospital. I then met, in another room and by myself, with an anesthesiologist who started an IV. After awhile my husband joined me in the surgery prep room. A couple of nurse practitioners asked me questions about allergies to drugs and took my vitals. The surgeon and anesthesiologist wheeled me into surgery and that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up.

My eyes were uncomfortable when I was coming out of anesthesia: not pain exactly, but uncomfortable. I put pressure on them with my fingers for about an hour and that helped. I was in one room on a stretcher and then I sat in a recliner chair and was wheeled into another room with different nurses. When I was in the second room, my husband was allowed into the room. The surgeon had talked to my husband and told him how things went. I remember seeing the surgeon in the first recovery room briefly, but I don’t think he really said anything significant to me. In the second recovery room, I mostly tried to wake up, drank ginger ale and got discharge information and then went home.

I expected to feel a little better every day but I really didn’t, maybe because my nose was full of tubes and dried blood and I couldn’t sleep for 2 or 3 nights. At about 5 days I thought I had made a terrible mistake and was afraid I wasn’t going to feel better. I wasn’t prepared for that. I had heard about other people who went through this procedure and they had good results, but that didn’t seem to be happening. On day 6, I had energy and felt pretty good.

On the seventh day I had a post-op appointment with the surgeon. He removed the tubes and I was amazed at the difference in how well I could breathe. He said to irrigate my nose for 2 weeks. I still had dried blood and mucus for a week or so and still, at 2 weeks, had a little mucus, but I felt much better. Still, I don’t feel like a new person. There’s definitely an improvement, but not as good as the “wonderful results” I heard other people have had.