Almost feeling good!

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Monday, November 24th, 2008 @ 9:08AM

Despite the fact that my nose is stuffed with gauze and splints.

This photo is from this morning.  I didn’t smile because the tip of my nose is still a little sore and stretching it is mildly uncomfortable.  You might notice that my nose is a little swollen or expanded due to the splints inside. (Read on for more about that.) Things are feeling much better; the worst day was Friday when everything was extremely swollen and painful.  I’ve never been punched in the nose or injured seriously, but I can assure you that I’ll avoid those outcomes at all costs if they’re anything like this.  When my nose is swollen, I look like Chief Wiggum.

I’m fortunate to have the good doctor Kelly Stoker at my disposal for this procedure; colleagues and former patients speak with overt accolades for him and I can only agree with his care so far.  The process is simple.  He had to surgically remove and straighten the chunk of cartilidge and tissue that should run down the center of my nose. In my case, it is crooked, blocking off my left nostril. This results on chronic sinus infections that are aggravated by poor drainage.  It is true that for nearly every day out of the last year I’ve suffered from a prolonged sinus infection. I was going to get this done earlier in the summer, but I altered my plans so I could be recovered enough to officiate high school football.  It was an entire season with a sinus infection making it difficult to physically exery myself.

Anyway, things are on the mend. Right now I have rolls of gauze and splints in each nostril. There is absolutely no air passing through my nasal cavity at all, and my mouth is constantly dry.  I drink a lot of water and Slurpees and suck on a lot of Popsicles.  Below is a photo of what the splints in my nose probably look like. (They may not be exact, I pulled this photo from Wikipedia.)

Tomorrow the doctor will remove all the splints and packing. I hope to be back on Wednesday.

todd

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