Dislike

I've decided I'm beginning to dislike my ENT Doctor. He is a nice guy, has a great bedside manner and all that other good stuff, he just causes me great pain and discomfort and I'm beginning to grow weary of it all.

As you can tell I went to the doctor today. He pops in, takes a look and tells me, "I know you don't like me digging around in your nose, but there are a few things I want to clean out and have a good look around with the scope. The good news is I will give you a shot of numbing spray and numb everything up to make it less painful." Well that wasn't great news, but he had me at "numbing spray". So he takes a small bottle with a nozzle attached and puts it in my nose. The next thing I know I have said numbing spray shooting into my nose at an incredible speed, think nasal power washer, it was so uncomfortable and completely NOT what I was expecting. I now had a slightly numb face, throat, tongue and tonsils due to the overspray, force, swallowing etc. The doctor advised me he was going to let me sit for a few minutes to "numb up" and he'd be back in to do the great clean out. Cool I'm thinking as I am wiping the tears from my eyes. I wasn't crying but the force etc. of all that had happened made my eyes teary. I am feeling very strange as my throat is numb and I feel like I can't swallow. I also have a feeling in my throat that is similar to when you inhale too much water when swimming. I am a bit in a panic as the doctor and nurse leave but I am trying to play it cool. No reason for them to think I am a loon and a wuss. I fix myself a tiny shot glass, uh I mean Dixie Cup of water and try and relax and wait for him to return.

So I wait, and wait and wait and finally he comes back in. (The whole time he's gone (about 20-25 minutes) I am worrying about the numbing spray wearing off because if that were to be the case there was no way he was doing that again. He finally comes in, straps on his little shiny disc thing he wears on his head and goes to work. I'll spare you the details, but he cleaned everything out and made me blow my nose good etc. etc. etc. He takes a peek in there with a really long thing he called a scope and turns off his light. He then asks me how I've been feeling? I inform him my breathing is better, not 100% by any means but better. All in all I'm happy so far I inform him. He tells me he agrees my breathing is better but still questions HOW I am feeling. Tired as usual doc, but I have 4 kids, insomnia, 1 dog, 1 cat, a busy husband, and parents who's health issues worry me sick every day. That's what I wanted to say, but I just assured him other than being tired I was doing okay. He then tells me that he's surprised as I have a "raging, post-operative bacterial infection." HUH? He then tells me that all the gunk that I've been getting out of my nose should have ended by now. He also says that my nose is full of puss and the tissue in there is red and inflamed and "angry". (I refrained from telling him that I was pretty angry at my nose right now as well.)

He now decides he must take a sample of the things growing in my nose and send it away to be cultured. Gets some more long things, digs around in my nose yet again (I can assure you the numbing spray was not working so great. It was NOT worth it as far as I was concerned which is good to know for the future.) After he makes me sneeze a few times and further continues to help deteriorate my eye make-up he does the other side. After over an hour I am ready to go home.

I leave with an antibiotic, two bottles of Nasonex to use twice a day, instructions to still steam and irrigate my nose (sounds like dry-cleaning or gardening terms) two times a day. He assures me he will call me mid-week to check up on me and to let me know for sure what the cultures revealed. He's pretty sure I'll have to go on something called an intra-nasal antibiotic but he's holding off as it's pretty expensive and makes the insurance companies fussy so he'll wait until he knows for sure what type of monster is using my nose as it's safehaven so he can specifically note it in the event that insurance makes a fuss.

I left there with my sack of meds, racoon eyes and a throbbing headache. Hey, aren't doctors supposed to make you feel better? So needless to say, I go back again in two weeks. OH JOY!