Septoplasty: Stories

I always knew I had a deviated septum (runs in my family) - in addition to or as a result of a crooked nose (swooping to the left)- but it never presented any physical problems until my late 40's. In 2006 I took up treadmill running, doing about 3 miles a day, and even though I was healthy otherwise I always felt like I could not get enough air - and I do not have asthma and have never smoked. On top of that, I had started snoring at night. So I did the "air flow test" on myself and flunked - hold one nostril closed with a finger and inhale deeply. When I closed my right nostril and inhaled, my left nostril pulled completely shut. So in 2008 I found a qualified ear-nose-throat surgeon and had a septoplasty.

I have had major surgery before, including abdominal surgery involving 36 staples, but I have to say that this relatively small procedure on my nose really threw me for a loop. I could not seem to get enough pain medicine to rest comfortably (I had to get a 2nd prescription before 10 days were up); and I definitely would not have wanted to recuperate on my own, or try to do this over a long weekend. I stayed at my boyfriend's house for 2 weeks, and stayed off my feet for an entire week of that.

Once I was all healed, it took about 3 months for the blood clots (ick) to stop forming inside (which I naturally had to blow out. Double ick). I was back on the treadmill a month after surgery, and the difference was really amazing. I no longer had to open my mouth to breathe deeply enough to run! I can now take full, deep breaths just through my nose. And I no longer snore at all, unless I have a really bad headcold.

On the downside, surgery did not get rid of the bump on my nose. But it did, ever so slightly, straighten out the left-leaning swoopiness.