"Nose Job"

Helena went in for same day surgery on her nose this week.  She has been jokingly calling it her "nose job" for months.  In actuality, she has suffered from stuffy sinuses her whole life.  I always attributed it to allergies, at least until we saw the orthodontist when she was in 7th grade.  He was the first one to tell us that the reason her teeth were so badly out of alignment was the fact that her sinuses were messed up.

Essentially, there was tissue inside her nose that had grown larger than it should have, causing a partial blockage of the airways inside her nose!  So, all her life she has been unable to breathe fully through her nose.  That meant that she had to breathe through her mouth while she slept.  That is what messed up her teeth.  When you sleep, your tongue rests on the top of your palate and keeps the arch of your teeth in their correct position.  Because Helena was breathing through her mouth all night, every night of her entire life, her tongue was not doing its job of keeping the teeth in place.

?!?

Wow!  Who knew?!

So, I decided I really had to investigate this and see if anything could be done for her while she was still my responsibility (and on my insurance).  I took her to an ENT (ear, nose, throat guy) who agreed that there was a laser surgery that could fix the problem.

Great!!!  We scheduled it for summertime so it wouldn't impact her schooling.  And this was the scheduled week.

She did absolutely fabulously in the hospital.  She went under general anesthesia quickly and came out of it just as quickly with no side effects.  In fact, her pain levels have been much lower than even the doctor and nurses anticipated.  The doctor said that during the procedure he discovered that not only was the tissue too large, so was the underlying bone structure.  So he reduced that as well.

I am so happy to hear from her that she can breathe clearly for the first time in her life!  She has also noticed an increase in her ability to detect faint smells.  Things she could never smell before.  Not huge scents, mind you, but little things... like the fact that the Swiffer dusting cloths have a fragrance to them.  She never knew that.

She has to be careful to not exert herself too much for about a week, to allow her nose to heal and to prevent triggering nose bleeds.  But, after that, life gets back to normal for her...

,,, only better!