At or around 7:30 tomorrow morning, a well-compensated anesthesiologist will jack into my IV and inject a solution that will inside of a few seconds put me to sleep.
When I wake, roughly 3 hours later, other well-compensated people will have violated my sinus cavities. Breaking cartilage (septoplasty), snipping tissue here, cauterizing tissue there.
Most specifically, they are going to remove the extensive and significant level of polyps I have growing in my nose. A full polypectomy. Literally caking the turbinates, these bulbous outgrowths have for years acted as a clogged drain, backing up the main sinus cavities with gunk. It’s these polyps and the gunk they begat that must go.
Most significantly , they’re going to create an opening between my two frontal sinuses: the ones above & behind the eyes, working millimeters from the brain. And once back there, the doctor will most likely be taking a look at the sphenoid sinuses, behind the ethmoids. Now we’re talking more or less about the geographic center of my head, where the optic nerves and some fairly important blood vessels meet the brain.
I’m sort of past the elements of concrete fear that clouded my days 2 weeks ago. I am now more on auto-pilot then anything else. Just getting things wrapped up at work for what will most likely be 2x weeks of sick leave recovery time.
Those fears included all the rare exception cases of brain infection, injuries to the eyes, and a total loss of my sense of smell as a direct result of the procedure.
For the past few days including today, I am focused on preparing myself for the recovery. I’ve had 5x root canals in the past 10 years. So I am preparing myself for at least that level of discomfort.
Strange, but what I am really most interested in is the peculiars of the procedure. I wish I could film it, or in some way view the video feed from the scopes that they will undoubtedly be capturing. Those little bastards up there have caused me all manners of hell. And knowing they’re gone is one thing, and I am happy with that. But seeing them snipped off, sucked out, and burned shut would be a very satisfying bon voyage for the little motherfuckers.