Sinus surgery

16 years ago or so I had sinus surgery to address a deviated septum and some other work to clean up some drainage problems with the ethmoidal and frontal sinuses. The surgery was extremely painful and I vowed I would never have a similar operation again. Well, fast forward to the present. After starting to get serious about triathlon a few years back, I became plagued with sinus infections. This, in addition to my asthma, added to my difficulty to perform at the levels I was training for. The past 9 months alone I think I have been on antibiotics 6 times, could be 7...stopped counting a long time ago.

About 6 months ago I found my guy though. Dr. Justin Pavlovich at the Portland Clinic is my hero. After multiple visits and a couple pictures of the sinuses, it was clear I had some major issues. In order to control this problem he needed to go back in and address the concerns. So we agreed. The plan was to get through the triathlon and busy work season (spring/summer) and do the surgery in Fall. Yesterday was the day. Everything went well and so far I must say that these procedures have advanced so much versus a decade or two ago. Better equipment, better drugs, etc. Doc told me that my Maxillary sinuses (check bones) were basically closed. Yes closed. He was amazed anything was draining out of there. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. If we would have gotten out of that surgery and I heard it went well and should be better moving forward that would be fine. But to hear, you had major drainage issues, on a scale that truly prevented two major sinuses to drain...so we fixed them. Well hot damn. The hope is this will not only dramatically reduce sinus infections, but will also help with my asthma and allergies. Despite being a little banged up still, I'm one happy guy.

Pre Surgery - All smiles

 

I would like to thank the exceptional staff at Providence St. Vincent surgical center as well as my newest best friend and one heck of a surgeon, Dr. Pav. And of course, my lovely wife for taking such good care of me and encouraging me to go down the surgery road. I'm truly excited about how this procedure will change my life. As we all know, being sick is simply not fun. The thought of not getting a sinus infection every 1-2 months? OMG. And from a selfish standpoint, the thought of being able to put in serious training efforts and not develop these infections as a result. Can't  wait for next years Ironman races. 

That's all for now. Thanks for taking the time to check in. 

-T