Sinus Surgery: Pre-Surgery

I used to suffer from something called "chronic sinusitis." What this means is that I used to get sinus infections on a VERY frequent basis with beautiful, yellow discharge from my nose, never-ending sinus headaches and fatigue. I have to admit, this was getting old and my body was tired of living on antibiotics that didn't seem to work. I decided to go see an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor. After trying one more intense antibiotic (I had previously tried many from my primary care physician), my ENT doctor decided to do a CT Scan on my sinuses.

This is what he found:

Yes, that is my face.

The ENT found many things wrong (please note that these descriptions are my summary of his medical examination and not his exact words) :

A. Sever sinusitis in the right maxillary sinus, with almost full blockage. Do you see that giant dark spot on the left-side of the screen labeled "B"? That is what my sinus is suppose to look light. Black is good, it means my sinus is clear. As you can tell on the right side, I have no black.

B. Left maxillary sinus with mild to moderate mucus thickening. You can see the gray part near the bottom of that section.

C. Deviated nasal septum to the right. The line that you see in the middle of the screen should be straight and not curved as it is shown here.

D. Large left concha bullosa. That black spot should match the size of the black spot on the other side of my septum. Mine appears to be large and filled with air.

E. Mild ethmoid sinus mucus thickening. The enthmoid sinuses are located near the upper nose next to the eyes. This problem turned out to be a whole array of severally inflamed polyps. A polyp is an abnormal tissue growth within the sinuses, mine just happened to be inflamed. Polyps can be evidence of other underlying issues, but thankfully mine weren't! :)

After completing the CT Scan itself, my doctor and I waiting patiently for all the pictures to load  (about 400... I didn't realize the scans were so thorough!). The loading finished and a picture of my sinuses popped up on the screen. My doctor said something similar to "Woah! You need surgery!". We talked about a couple other options besides surgery, but surgery seemed to be the best one to me!!

We scheduled my surgery for two weeks later during my spring break at school. I only had to miss one class period for the surgery - this was such a blessing!!

My surgery was in the form of Endoscopic Sinus Surgery. Thank you!

I am so grateful for doctor's that listen to patients when they complain and then promptly find a solution to their problems. I am grateful for modern technology that enables people to have quick solutions to problems. I feel so blessed that I was directed to my wonderful doctor* and that I my surgery went smooth and my recovery was quick.

*My doctor and surgery was all through Peak ENT. I have honestly had no complaints about the service or about my doctor. If you are looking for a great ENT doctor, I can give you my doctor's info or you can visit Peak ENT's website at http://www.peakmedical-ent.com/ . Everyone has a different experience with doctors, so please do additional research besides just my recommendation :)