When I get a cold, it doesn't go away. I get awful sinus pressure headaches and feel terrible... like I'm run down... no energy. I used to think my "allergies" acted up when it rained or snowed. I finally realized it was the atmospheric pressure changes that would cause my blocked sinuses to radiate pain. This February I got the worst sinus infection of my life. The pain was unbearable. I was down for two weeks... I was convinced it was meningitis. My husband said, he had never seen anyone so sick. A month later I was still having pain on the left side under me cheek. It felt like a water balloon, and there was a sharp pain in the middle of my left nostril. Finally I got a referral to an ENT specialist. They put me on a full month of heavy antiobotics to clear the passages, so they could see my anatomy. Then I had a CT scan. First it revealed an abcessed tooth in my maxilary sinus, a concha bullosa (where the acute nostril pain was), a deviated septum, enlarged turbinates, and poor drainage bone structure from maxilary and ethmoid sinuses. Damn near all of it! The ENT recommended surgery, but I was hesitant. I put it off. I used the nasal spray and got through the summer wonderfully! Then fall hit and slowly the pressure changes got more extreme. One Saturday I woke up to find my head throbbing, stuffy, and I had an earache. When I saw that 5 inches of snow had dumped overnight... I realized why. I was in bed all weekend and called my ENT Monday for an appt. Unfortunately, they couldn't get my surgery scheduled until Jan. Since I had met ny deductible and was close on my out of pocket, I told them I would look around. I'm so, so glad I did. My new ENT uses a far better procedure, that requires no packing!! I chose to go with Dr. Boyajian at the Sinus Center of Idaho. He doesn't burn the turbinates on the outside, he lipo's the inside, so less damage and retained function. He also uses a CT guidance system to ensure that there is no injury to eyes or brain when working with the delicate ethmoids. His staff, has seriously been fabulous. Rebecca found out there was room and guided me through the first steps. Suzie got quick insurance approval. Michelle squeezed me into the surgery schedule. The nurse was so great, and the radiologist was great!! I just had to tell Dr. B how wonderful his staff has been. I just had my surgery yesterday at noon. And so far the pain meds are keeping me 100% pain free. In fact, the worst part was the sore throat from the surgery tubes. My nose is a bit tender, but overall.... My sinus infections were waaaaay worse. There's no packing, so I've been told to irrigate like crazy every hour the first day. Wow. So much blood. Dr. B said it would look like a CSI crime scene and he was right! I felt fine, so it was okay. However, if I were watching someone else do that, I would have passed out. When it's your own body though, it feels good to get it all out. The more I did it, the better I'd feel. They give you a special kit with all the stuff you need. He didn't want me to use my netti pot, as it could be full of germs and isnt a strong enough current. So, it's the morning after and I'm actually contemplating going to a dance recital tonight. That is if I don't have to wear my drip gauze... It's not very attractive.