CF | My Sinus Surgery

Hey! How are you? Well whatta week! On Tuesday I finally had my long-awaited sinus surgery. I thought I'd do a big post on it as it's a fairly common procedure, especially for those with Cystic Fibrosis, so I thought it may be useful to some to read my experience! I'm going to be as honest as poss about things so if you're easily grossed out stop reading now haha.

Room with a view

CF produces too much mucus in the body (ew I know, but CF ain't sexy) which is why my lungs are constantly clogged up with crap and why I get loads of chest infections. This happens to other parts of the body too, in my case my sinuses got all clogged up so I was getting constant headaches, earaches etc and as CF mucus (sorry for that word again but I can't think of another!) is so thick the normal douching and things that most people to do treat it wasn't really working. So I had Endoscopic Sinus surgery where they basically get rid of all the gunk and also a Septoplasty to straighten out my septum as it was a bit wonky! This isn't going to stop to sinus problems but now they're clear and my septum is no longer blocking airways it's hoped that the same nebulised drugs I use to treat my lungs will prevent the sinuses from getting so bad. So I have to use face masks when I do nebs and I also have a sinus neb that I use, I'll have to show you one day...it's well attractive.

So onto the op. It's normally a procedure that people have as a day thing but obviously with CF you have to be more cautious, so I went in Monday to my Mulberry Ward to start IVs as a precaution. After lots of waiting on Tuesday (I was nil by mouth and hangry) they took me down to theatre at about half 2. I wasn't nervous until then, I was trying so hard not to cry because I was thinking how snotty I get when I do and that it would be so unfair for the surgeons to have to deal with an even snottier nose. So I was like Jay from The Inbetweeners with my wobbly bottom lip haha! They attached me to all these wires and I was just about to be put under when they had to stop so I could do a pregnancy test (standard for any woman before an op) as they'd forgotten to do it on the ward, so that was a pain! When that was done they gave me this gas, after that I just remember non-stop smiling and going 'This is niiiiiiice!' It was nice.

I woke up spewing into a bowl, how lovely. During the op the anaesthetists cleared out a lot of crap from my lungs as they'd had to clear the path so to speak to put a breathing tube down my throat as I was having a bit of trouble breathing on my own so that had just shifted a lot of stuff. My lungs felt so good, it'd be great if it was so simple to just clear the lungs like that but the procedure is quite risky and can cause a lot of infections which is why it's only done if it's really necessary. They wheeled me to the High Dependency Unit where my mama was waiting and they just dosed me up on every painkiller going which was wonderful. They offered me toast but no thank you, I devoured a family sized bar of chocolate instead. I was in no pain, I just felt a bit weird because they'd stuck what was basically two tampons up my nose haha! There was no bruising or cuts which was good and the dressings from my nose where removed after a few hours.

Most attractive selfie ever! To be fair though this was only like an hour after my op.

I had a good nights rest and everything was fine so the next day my doctor was happy for me to go home! All was fine until I started feeling a bit achy, by Thursday night my muscles were in so much pain I couldn't walk so I ended up in A&E for tests. I was worried because I was in too much pain to do chest physio and if I skip even one session my lungs start playing up which I really didn't want to happen after they'd had their little spring clean during surgery! A&E were amazing at looking after me, I got seen to straight away but I had to wait there in Resus all night for a bed to become available on Mulberry ward. Some kind of incident had happened so there was shouting and policemen (but this was Lewisham so it's to be expected haha) and most of the other patients were elderly and had senile dementia so they were afraid and upset which was horrible. I was in so much pain and still doped up on meds from the op and IVs so I had a panic attack, what a loser. But the A&E staff are just brilliant, they looked after everyone so well and kindly and should be paid millions. It is insane that the government keep trying to close it down, it's only just been done up and it was so busy.

In A&E, which wasn't nice but must appreciate the House of Hackney-esque screen. 

Finally at 5am I got a bed on Mulberry (they'd been told at 9pm before that they needed to prepare a bed but they didn't do it til half 4 -_-) and was in less pain. I saw loads of doctors who'd never seen me before and they were making me so mad! They were all saying I had the flu which was why my muscles ached but I knew it wasn't that because the flu doesn't leave you crying in agony and unable to move. Their arguments for flu was:

You sound chesty and you're bringing up green sputum - Well duh, CF patients always do.
Your nose is bunged up - I'd just had surgery on it, so yes it would be bunged up.
We found a bug called Pseudomonas growing in your lungs - They didn't 'find' it, it's always been there since I was little and I've never been able to get rid of it.

I know doctors are amazing and clever and I'm grateful for all they do but sometimes I wish they realised that people with long-term health conditions are a lot savvier than the average patient when it comes to their own health because they're so used to hospitals and things. You're not supposed to look up things on the internet but I did google muscle pains after surgery and it said that if they give you a drug called scoline it can cause these pains, particularly in the stomach which was where mine hurt the most. It was only when I asked them if I'd been given that drug they saw that I had and realised that that was probably what was causing everything but by then it'd all stopped hurting as much. Then later on in the day my doctor who I see all the time came and agreed it was the drug and not flu which was good! Annoying though, because a reaction like that is rare and it all would've gone so smoothly if it wasn't for that. They wanted to keep me in over the weekend for tests, luckily for me (but sucks for him) my doctor was on call all weekend this morning he said I was allowed to escape today which was fab! I was gonna leave yesterday but my bloods came back all funny, I felt scared I had another infection and was gonna get ill again so I got quite upset. But it was just the op and meds that had caused them to go weird, they were fine again today now I'm home and resting and reunited with Freddydog.

There's not much I need to do, just nasal washes and I'm not allowed to blow my nose for a couple of weeks but that's it really. I've had no pain in my nose at all, I just feel a bit of pressure if I touch it but it's fine. I'm a little achy still and tired from staying in hospital and I'm still coughing up a little blood from my nose but other than that I'm all good! Just have to finish my IVs at home now. Glad to have finally got the op out the way!

Sorry this post was such a long 'un, but I thought I'd better include everything if it's to be of any use to anyone! Feel free to ask questions if you have any (but before you ask, no I don't look any different...still my butterz self!)