Day 4
Last night when I went to bed, I could feel the 12-hour-old bloody tampon pressing up against my moustache, the fibers slowly fraying. I started thinking, perhaps the nurse was right... that perhaps I should stop using these now, that perhaps I was just clinging onto them as a security blanket.
So I decided to take a leap of faith, and remove it. Instead, I placed a stack of paper towels by the bed (as I figured these were less likely than tissues to get stuck on blood), and laid back to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep has been in short supply lately, not helped by the instruction to elevate the head on at least two pillows -- which makes it very difficult to get comfortable enough to nod off. So I decided to cheat, and remove one of the pillows.
My un-elevated head allowed me to sleep almost the entire night, except for an intermission of around 20 minutes at 3:30am. Upon finally awakening at 8am, I realise that I feel very congested -- like in the midst of a bad cold, when your nose is completely blocked. I also still have a mild headache that's making it hard to focus. But, the good news is that my eyes seem to be watering less.
Facing the day
So far since the operation, all I've done is lounge around the house in my underwear. I figure that even if I don't make it outside today, I am at least going to have a shower and get dressed! So, after doing my morning douche in the shower cubicle, I take the opportunity to actually have a shower as well. The recommendation is to start with lukewarm showers, as if the water's too hot it could trigger a nasal hemorrhage ... and while I don't know what one of those is, it definitely doesn't sound good.
The shower passes off uneventfully, and for the first time in 3 days I'm now dressed! Seizing on the moment, I decide to take out the rubbish. Bearing in mind that no heavy lifting is allowed (nothing that would raise your blood pressure, or get your heart racing, is allowed for 2 weeks after surgery), I'm lucky that we haven't thrown away heavy stuff this week, and am able to easily complete this task. But then my nose starts running again and I dash back inside to mop it up with the paper towel.
Return to work?
When I was doing some pre-op googling of this operation, I found various advice on how long you should book off work, varying from 2 days to 2 weeks. I was advised to take a week off by my doctor, and I'm glad I did. Today is Monday but I'm in no fit state to be returning to the office.
Yes, I'm capable of doing some work -- I'm capable of sitting at my computer and typing this blog, so that must be true -- but, there would be a few major issues with returning to work at this point:
- I have to do a nasal douche three times per day. I could do it once before work and once after work, but the mid-day douche? It's pretty gross, nobody in the office wants to see you doing that in your lunch break, nor do they want your blood spattering over the office sink and/or shower!
- My nose is still leaking quite a bit. Although I'm no longer using the tampon, in its place I'm needing to dab my nose with paper towels quite regularly. Again, this is not a professional look in the office!
- The headache is making it hard to concentrate. I can focus on typing this blog for maybe 15 minutes at a time, but then I need to have a rest. Again, doesn't really work in the office environment.
- Finally and most importantly, one of the key drivers of healing from surgery is keeping your blood pressure down. High blood pressure could re-open the wound and set you back significantly, which is why you're not allowed to do any exercise for the first two weeks. And unless you're extremely lucky, it's reasonable to assume that being at work is going to cause you some level of stress. Even if your boss is a nice guy and you have a relaxed workplace, there are always targets to hit some deadline or another -- and those cause your blood pressure to rise. Avoid it, relax, and sit back on the sofa while your body does the rest.
Dryness of the throat
When I've read about other people's septoplasty experiences, a common complaint seems to be a very dry throat for the first week after the operation.
And it's true, my throat is dry, and it hurts a bit to swallow. But, my throat was dry before -- it's one of the reasons why I decided to have the surgery; years of having a deviated septum have lead me to breathe through my mouth a lot anyway. Is the dryness any worse now? Maybe a little bit yes, since at the moment my nose is almost completely blocked. But for me at least, it's not the most significant of post-surgery symptoms.
Next: Day 5
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