2071 My Sinus Surgery Journey

Good evening one and all, how are we all doing?

I have realised that this blog/website has taken a more serious persona lately. But fear not, I do plan to get back to reviewing products and getting my hands stuck in the beauty world.

If you have been following me or this website, you will know I recently had surgery. I wanted to share my journey with you in case one of you has the same symptoms and isn’t sure what to do about it, or maybe you are just interested in medical-related topics.

It all goes back to 2017 when I got a nasty infection. For context, I should tell you that on and off I have struggled with migraines and headaches. So, in early 2017 when I had a headache that lasted for 10 or 11 days, I didn’t think much of it as it was normal. As usual, I tried everything to get rid of the headache, hot, and cold, drinking more water, drinking more tea, cutting out tea, darkroom, more sleep, less sleep, less chocolate, eating, and a few over the counter headaches medications etc. And nothing was budging it.

I already had an appointment booked with my GP so I thought I would just mention it and just get advice on it. When I mentioned it, the advice she gave was to stop taking all the meds I had been trying… give it a couple of days and see how I feel she explained the headache could now be a result of my body getting rid of the medications (a withdrawing symptom).

So, I did just that. Didn’t think anything of it. I went to stay at my Grandparent’s house and did as I normally would. I went to bed.

My Grandma came in to wake me up (I can’t remember why) and I just saw a shocked expression on her face. I knew my eye felt a bit sticky and crusty like it would if you had conjunctivitis. I remember her saying something along the lines of “Sophie, your eye” … she paused for a minute said she would be back and left the room. At which point, I got up to have a look in the mirror.

Sure enough, it was quite swollen and a purply colour almost like it was bruised. It was quite puffy and extremely tender to touch. So, I got straight on the phone with the doctors and said I need to speak to a doc. The receptions told me that she only had phone appointments left so I just said OKAY. Luckily, the doc on telephone calls that day was the one I saw yesterday. When I explained what was going on she arranged for me to go straight to the surgery, and I was given antibiotics.

On day 3 of the antibiotics, there was NO improvement, it seems to be getting worse, it was so tender I couldn’t even touch it with cotton wool. I had to soak it every couple of hours because it was getting a bit grim with dried-up tears, I guess. That evening, we decided to call 111 because we weren’t sure if I should take me back to the doctor or if we were just being paranoid (especially because it was my eye).

111 arranged an appointment at my local urgent care centre that evening at 11 pm. Luckily, because it was an appointment we didn’t have to wait around. The doc there was amazing. The GP had pretty much decided it was ‘Orbital Cellulitis’. He wanted to send me to ‘Moorefield’s Eye Hospital’ which is roughly an hour away and in London.

He ended up calling Moorefield’s and asking them to send instructions to a local hospital on what to do with me and I was rushed to the local A&E. After waiting, I was given an emergency CT scan, and admitted to CDU (clinical decision unit) and given IV antibiotics.

I was discharged but sent straight to the ‘Urgent Eye Clinic’ to see an ophthalmologist (eye doc). That appointment was a little bit scary because I couldn’t see much out of that eye. (I completely failed the eye test and was temporarily vision impaired in that eye). I could read the top line of the chart, ya know the big fat A and that is all I could make out. But the Ophthalmologist looked at my eye. There was a cyst (which might have needed surgery to remove). Which is where the infection started. And after looking at the scan he said to speak to my GP because he said I had ‘Chronic Sinusitis’.

I had to go back a week later, luckily the cyst had dissipated itself and I didn’t need surgery to have it removed (Thankfully!). After some time passed, I went to my GP to have a look into the ‘Chronic Sinusitis’. I was told by the doc that I shouldn’t worry, it’s fine and I can just live with it. A few months later… I tried to speak to my GP about it again and I was told “Don’t worry, that just means you will get nasty colds”. At which point I gave up.

Throughout this time, I was getting multiple sinus infections and getting headaches, swelling around my eyes and nose etc. Then… July 2021. My GP Surgery was being particularly difficult and annoying so we decided that we would change to a different GP in the area. It was quick and simple to join the surgery. We were told it would take about a week, and we got the text one or two days later.

Long story short, when I explained about my sinuses and the two GPs had refused to do anything about it the nurse and the GP at my new surgery were horrified. They prescribed a nose spray to try and improve the symptoms and when that didn’t work, they referred me to an ENT (Ears, nose, and throat) Consultant. I am not going to share the name of the consultant because I don’t think that is appropriate.

I am going to fast forward a little bit. I saw a consultant on November 21 (the referral was done in October). He put a camera up to my nose and then sent me for a CT scan. Which was done a week later. I got the follow-up appointment in January, and I was put forward for surgery, here we are… I have had the surgery. Stay tuned to hear how the recovery went.