Nothing to say

I went to see my primary care physician today for a pre-op checkup. That is to say they’re checking me out to make sure I’m healthy enough for my surgery on Monday, April 6.

For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you what the surgery is called, but the surgeon (also my otolaryngologist, or ear/nose/throat Dr) is going to stick a tiny thing up into my sinuses and hack out all of my polyps.

The thing is, when I had the flu, I went to my PCP and he gave me a ten day dose of 500mg Levaquin. Since then, my nose has cleared up considerably. Saturday, March 17th is the first day in several years that I fell asleep with my mouth closed. Yesterday, Sunday the 25th, I tasted a Negro Modelo in a whole new way. Before my nose went totally south and I could no longer smell properly, I never drank beer. Now, I will occasionally have one, especially a darker one. Yesterday, however, this familiar bottle contained something very new to me. In fact, that whole meal tasted beyond incredible.

So I went in for the checkup today, and my PCP was blown away by the difference. He said “I can hardly believe it.” So now what?

Well, my polyps have reduced considerably. In fact, you can even see the difference in my face. My nose used to look swollen by comparison. Now, it’s thinner. the pressure is mostly gone, and I’m just feeling SO much better. So I asked my Dr about it, and he of course deferred verdict to my surgeon.

What I wanted to know for sure, though, was how polyps worked. So I asked. My understanding of fat cells is that, once created, they are always there. They can shrink in size, but never disappear. He said that is true, and that it makes it easier to regain weight. My question was whether polyps worked at all like that. Does my having polyps, or having had polyps, predispose me to having them again? He confirmed my understanding that, no, they’re more like blisters. Fluid between two layers of cells does not create new cells, and once a blister has subsided, there is no predisposition to reoccurrence.

So what I get out of this is that either a) I don’t need surgery or b) the surgery is going to be a lot simpler than was previously expected.

I also spoke with my PCP about my sinus infection. He said that having discolored snot (green/yellowish) does not mean that I still have an infection. It’s a common misconception. However, my ten day dose is smaller than what is generally prescribed for such a sinus infection. He said that typically, they’ll do a 14- or even 30-day dosage. Wow. Ten days was enough to rip up my gut something fierce. I can’t imagine a full month of antibiotics, but I would be willing to do it if it means retaining the ability to smell and to breathe through my nose.

You can’t even imagine how great it is after all this time.