Monday, May 18, 2009

ENT consult

So I got in to see the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today. He was nice enough to see me during his lunch time. Apparently they want to see you asap. The downside is I have to go back on Friday at 3 p.m.  He think by then the swelling will have gone down enough for him to see how well the broken bone sits in there and whether I have a deformed nose now.  (although I can say my nose was never a perfect, perky nose, it's sort of a indian head nickel kind of nose).  

The possible first surgery depends on whether the broken bone is twisted or not.  If it is he'd prefer to do within 2 wks of the injury.  

The second possible surgery is because there is a septum deviation to the right inside my nose.  He can't tell how bad the deviation is based on todays exam.  He says there is an enormous amt of swelling inside and it's pretty well mashed inside there so he can't tell yet.  

I go back on Fri. IF I need surgery (for a possible twisted bone) he likes to do it within 2 wks but the deviated septum part might have to wait 3 to 6 months. The bone surgery needs to be done quickly because otherwise it's too hard to move the bone once it's healed. The pushed over septum must be healed completely before he'll do surgery on that. And it will depend on how difficult it is for me to breath.  At the moment I can breathe fine (and he says that's a good sign).  

Personally I don't think the swelling looks to be that bad but I can't see inside my nose.  But my nose is running (which is common) and there is blood in the snot. It's harder to breathe if I lay down so I'm staying as upright as I can at all times. How very nice is that?

btw, he thinks the cut and abrasion will heal ok, but I have to keep it moist for the next month or so!  Great, in about a week I have to keep vaseline on it at all times so it's always moist.  Gross. 

The upside to all of this is my swollen nose is keeping my glasses up on my nose above the lacerations.  The downside is as the swelling goes down my glasses might fall down where it really hurts.  

Well, I'm chalking this up to lessons learned.  

4 comments:

Donita Curioso said...

Good god, are you sure it was a sapling that got you? I hope things heal up nicely, but if you do have to have surgery have him give you a cute little Michael Jackson nose.

VO said...

gawwwwwwwk, I don't want a no-nose!

Ya know if you look at the xray, it's just a teeny little bit of the nose bone that is broken.

Weird because I know most of the nose is just cartlidge but when I saw how small the bone of the nose is really (as compared to the length of my nose) I was surprised. It's just the very tip that is broken off.

The front-facing xray showed my septum to be straight. So maybe it's just the swelling that is making it seem pushed over so when all the swelling goes down I'll have my normal nose.

Otherwise I might have to let an ENT guy do surgery...not a plastic surgeon (bummer). I wonder how good those guys are at fixing noses cosmetically?

susan m hinckley said...

owie owie owie! Although I must admit I've been known to secretly hope for a broken nose so that I could get a nose job without shame -- my nose is, shall we say, less than ideal. I hope you're on the mend and that things heal up without too much additional help from the surgeons. Oh, and thanks for the Elizabeth Gilbert link -- I LOVED IT!

VO said...

LOL, I'm not opposed to plastic surgery, I'd do with without shame. But the cost!

Either get a broken nose by accident (that is still a cost) or pay outright.

the good thing is I've never had my nose done so I'm not out of any pocket money (or beauty either, come to think of it).

That Gilbert thing was pretty good huh? It spoke to me.