The Recovery Period

I suppose, technically, my recovery period started as soon as I came round from the general anaesthetic (I'm going to call it GA for short from now on.) I think it takes the body a little while to fully reboot following GA – certainly, it wasn't until 4pm on the day of my procedure, three hours after I came round, that my nose started to fill up with mucous. I'm led to believe that’s normal after a procedure in that area. Around the same time, I noticed that the mucousy discharge was occasionally light pink in colour; again, this is a bit of blood flushing out, and it too is normal.

Other than that, I felt pretty good. As mentioned in the previous post, I left the recovery ward with some saline solution to douche out my nose, and a week’s sick line. I've been taking paracetamol every six hours or so, but in general I haven’t experienced too much pain. I'm heeding medical advice that I’ve had a GA and undergone surgery, albeit a very minor one, so I'm trying not to overdo things. I got a decent night’s sleep at my sister’s, despite waking up at 5am, again. In terms of appetite, there’s not much happening there. I had some toast, and some crumpets, and a couple of sandwiches in the first 28 hours, which is a fraction of what I’d normally eat in a similar time period.

I douched my nose for the first time the day after; I was given a pack of three 20ml bottles of saline solution, and a syringe to inject them. It wasn't a complete success; my right nostril was too congested, so it all just came straight back out again. When I did it later, I did both nostrils.

My sister drove me from her house back to mine, stopping at a couple of shops on the way. Generally being in shops taxes my patience, so they were probably a good test of how I'm getting on. I feel that I have something a little worse than a heavy cold, but not quite as bad as flu; running nose, tiredness, occasional pain about the face, headache, lack of appetite, with the caveat that I can’t blow my nose to try and ease the pressure, at least not for the first two-three days. Writing on Saturday night, two-and-a-half days after the procedure, I still feel a bit fluey – I haven’t been eating a huge amount, I'm still getting a wee bit of blood in my mucous, and a bit of sinus pain. Any information I can find on recuperation for my exact procedure suggests I should rest for a week, and avoid places that are full of people with the lurgy. The thought of driving down to the shop crossed my mind earlier, but even if I was feeling up to it, I don’t think it would have been a good idea.

In terms of prognosis, I'm not entirely sure what’s going to happen in the next few weeks, because as mentioned earlier there’s not a lot of info out there on the internet. In retrospect, that would probably be my own complain with my treatment at the hospital; because I didn't have the same procedure that I went in for, I feel that I don’t have the same information about the procedure, recovery, prognosis etc. that I gleaned over the weeks leading up to my supposed septoplasty. I think the nurse on the ward thought I was being a bit neurotic, but I genuinely wasn't sure what to do with the nasal douches, what medication to take, how long I should hole myself up like a hermit.

I've got a doctor’s line for a week. I've been told not to take any exercise until I see the consultant again, which could be in up to 8 weeks’ time. What will be interesting is what happens with the site of the incision, such that it is. Slow and steady.