Sinus surgery day 1

After months of sinus infections, Owen had sinus surgery yesterday. We're seeing an ENT doctor and he says Owen has a physical blockage in his sinus passages that prevents him from flushing bacteria out in a normal way. The surgeon shaved the adenoids and used a balloon (similar to an angioplasty balloon) to open the sinus passages.

Here we are before surgery, trying to distract Owen from the fact that he hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the night before. Tom took these pictures on his phone.



If, like me, you don't like blood or stories about medical procedures, you should stop reading now.

The morning was pretty rough. The surgery was super fast, but Owen came out of anesthesia like a wild child. He was disoriented, his eyes were closed, and he was screaming, throwing his head back, and arching his back. And his nose was bleeding the whole time. The surgery is performed through the nose so the nose bleeds for a while after. BLEEDS. They didn't really prepare us for that part. We did expect the disorientation and it passed before too long. They kept us in recovery for 1.5 hours and then sent us on our merry way. Owen was still in a tiny hospital gown and he had blood all over his hands, arms, face, and hair. I'm glad that part is behind us. We were home by 10am and I started the first of a few loads of laundry.

This "after" shot in recovery is not of Owen's face and nose. You're welcome. Owen slept twice in recovery and it was a relief both times.


The bleeding slowed throughout the day and after a couple of meals and naps, Owen was more himself yesterday afternoon. For the first time ever, he crawled over to this toy, stood up behind it, and started pushing it and walking behind it. He's done this before when we've stood him up, but this was the first time he went for it on his own.


He was obviously tired all day and he looked like he'd been in a fight. Poor sweet baby boy.