The past six days have been complete hell. I had surgery last week on my sinuses, and since that time have had packing inside them to aid in the healing process. This doesn't sound too bad until you take into account how similar the entire experience is to "waterboarding" torture.

For six days, round-the-clock, it feels as if somebody is holding their hand over your nose, completely shutting off all air. Adding to the sensation of drowning, you feel a constant string of clotting blood and mucus running down your throat from your sinuses. So, not only are you not getting enough air, but you are also choking on fluid. Again - round-the-clock, for six days in a row.

The choking is made worse by the near-vacuum that is created between the back of your tongue and the opening to your sinuses. If you swallow, the tongue area is sucked up toward the sinuses, and the sinuses are sucked toward the tongue. This feels like pure hell, as you struggle to breathe past the line of blood and mucus hanging there.

Adding to the discomfort in a major way, is the fact that you absolutely will not be able to sleep normally. You must breathe through your mouth. This inevitably means that you will wake up every 20 minutes or so in a spasm of choking for air. At that time, you will realize your throat is RAW from being open all night long.

The one saving grace comes to you in the form of two tiny pills delivering a dose of Percocet. Thank God for the power of those pills to dull the razor's edge of pain, the feeling of drowning, and insomnia.

Today, the doctor finally removed the packing material from my sinuses. You can see it in this video. It may not look like much, but let me tell you, it is.

I'm breathing normally again, and the doctor says I have a few months to heal up. I'm just happy I took the steps toward fixing my breathing issues.

I'm also just happy to breathe in the air.

:-) (less info)