Originally, I thought my upcoming eye surgery would be considered cosmetic. I was delighted to learn that since my eyeballs bulging out of my head is caused by my thyroid and I could eventually go blind due to pressure on my optic nerve, it is considered 100% medically necessary. So I had to rid myself of the idea that, while operating on my eyes, my surgeon could also remove this tiny little annoying skin tag that showed up in the last few years on my right eyelid. He can't - because that's cosmetic and the rest of my surgery is not.
Yesterday I met the ENT surgeon who will be doing the first half (the first hour) of my surgery. He will go up either nostril, remove my ethmoid sinuses, and then remove the bone between my nose and eyeball - on each side. He might also need to remove some bone from below my eyes. He told me there is a risk of spinal fluid leak, ongoing sinus infections, blindness, death, etc. But mostly he said it will be sore for a few days, I can't blow my nose/lift anything heavy/or go upside down for 10 days. And he advised leaving my nose ring out for now (I'll explain in another post). I took my dad with me since he'll be my nurse, and so there was another set of ears to hear everything the surgeon said in case I misheard something. I am 27, but I realize that I look 17, and the surgeon talked directly to my dad while describing exactly how the procedure would go. I wanted to be like, "Hi! Patient over here!" but then I realized I had better not piss the guy off before he cut millimeters from my brain. He looked up my nose and told me I have a slightly deviated septum on the left side, but that it wouldn't matter for the surgery. My ears perked up right away, because I have always hated my nose. It's skinny but I hate my profile because of how long and pointy it is. Everyone always says, "But it's so cute!" kind of like they say, "But they're so big and pretty!" about my diseased eyes. Whenever a celebrity has a nose job, she chalks it up to having breathing problems due to a deviated septum...so now I have an excuse! I really don't think I'd have the nose job, especially now that I need two or three medically necessary facial surgeries, but at least I would be able to make a claim for why I need one. I always wondered why one nostril was slightly bigger than the other - I thought maybe my nose ring made the left one smaller somehow...? Maybe this explains my need to blow my nose at least once every 30 minutes because it's dripping like a rain spout in a hurricane.
Anyway, the surgeon wanted a CT scan of my sinuses to ensure nothing would get in his way. After forking over another $100 on top of the $20 co-pay for the appointment, I was strapped into a machine and told not to move. Hello? I am "twitchy," as my b*tch former boss used to constantly remind me and everyone around me. And the surgeon is the one to press the button to activate the CT scanner, so I had to sit there without moving for 10 minutes before he had time to come press the button, let the scanner do its 12-second (not kidding, it took 12 whole seconds) job, and then review the scan to decide my sinuses would be fine. Good to know. I don't know what would have happened if the scan showed my sinuses would be an issue.
My surgery is now official as in Sharpie official. Before this appointment, it was only "penciled in" on both surgeons' calendars as well as the hospital's OR schedule for that day. At 1 p.m. on Sept. 25, I will hop my naked self from a gurney to the operating table and then forget everything else. The surgery should take two hours. I have to be there at 11:30 a.m., and I can't eat after midnight before, which is so not fair. That's what time morning patients have to start fasting. I've done some research online and a lot of people said that you're too nervous/anxious to be hungry, but that the thirst/dry mouth/dry lips is the worst. So I plan to bring chapstick and beg for an ice cube or two.
My real concern is my caffeine addiction, so starting on Tuesday (two weeks before surgery), I'm going to start weaning myself off. Only temporarily, but completely enough that I don't have to deal with a caffeine headache the morning of surgery. Any tips? I think I'll buy some decaf and start doing1/4 decaf and 3/4 full-caffeine, then after few days 50/50, till I'm completely on decaf only, and then start doing smaller portions (I only drink one 16oz travel cup each morning) until a few days before surgery. I want to be caffeine-free by Saturday, so then I am "clean" all weekend, Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully I feel well enough Wednesday morning for a big cup!
My pre-op appointment with the eye surgeon is the Thursday before surgery. My dad will come to that, too. Both of my parents will be there for the surgery...I'm glad we can all be adults about it. Well, maybe I shouldn't count my chickens yet.
On an unrelated note, I just finished "Gone Girl." So good but I hated the last chapter! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good girly thriller. Next? "Bared to You" by Sylvia Day. Probably another romantic/abuse novel because it came up on Amazon as, "Oh, you liked 'Gone Girl?' Then you'll like these books, too."
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