A polyp wallop

A couple weeks ago, on a few different early morning occasions, I had a bloody nose that just wouldn’t stop. I drove to work with tissue stuffed up my left nostril in an effort to curb the unexpected bleeding.

I didn’t think much of it.

Then about a week ago I was blowing my nose and it just didn’t feel free and clear. I couldn’t figure out why I felt so stuffy. Then I looked in the mirror.

Every time I blew out I could see a glossy red ball of something sitting at the base of my left septum. Then I freaked out. I did some Internet research and determined it must be a nasal polyp.

Vickey dutifully found an ear, nose and throat doctor near the house, and on my insurance plan, and I visited the doctor today (a week after we made the appointment).

At first he didn’t see anything obstructing my airway. Then I blew air out my nose and told him to look in the right place, and voila, the polyp was discovered.

He actually gave it a scientific name that may not exactly be a polyp, but when I was leaving he told the nurse to record the diagnosis as nasal polyp. So my self diagnosis couldn’t be too far off.

It wasn’t really a normal doctor’s visit though. I waited for 75 minutes before seeing the doctor. And by that time I was due on a client teleconference discussing an upcoming merger. I explained to the doctor my predicament, being invested in seeing him by giving up more than an hour of my time but needing to be on the conference call to discuss public relations strategies with my client and their new partners.

He graciously apologized for having me wait that long—guess he didn’t realize he was running an hour behind—and suggested that he stuff my nostril with a cotton ball full of anesthetic and that I use his office for my conference call while my nose numbed up, and after about 30 minutes he would remove the polyp. I thought that plan sounded just fine and agreed.

After about 20 minutes on my call I was extremely dizzy and soon had to excuse myself from the discussion. The doctor sat me up on one of his exam chair thingys, strapped on a headlight so he could see better and pulled out his tools. It wasn’t a very pleasant plucking. It came off in three chunks. I tried my best not to look at it. I think it was a little bigger than the size of a pea.

So, where did the polyp come from and why was it there? The doctor didn’t have an answer for that. He did say he’d have a biopsy performed on it and let me know if additional steps where needed. He cauterized the area and sent me on my way.

By dinner time I was not feeling that great at all. The pain of the procedure had spread from my eyes to my teeth. I took some ibuprofen and am feeling better now. I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Thus, the polyp wallop.

Then that brings up another thing: we’re playing host to the five Coglianese children tonight and tomorrow while Mark and Amber celebrate their fourteenth wedding anniversary (last Sunday) and Amber’s birthday (tomorrow) at an undisclosed resort location. So let’s hope the seven children, one weimaraner and Vickey and I can all sleep peacefully.

Night night, da da (as Dominic would say).

2 Responses to “A polyp wallop”

  1. Angie Faraci July 3, 2007 at 9:05 am #

    I agree…too much detail..or TMI as the girls would say!

  2. melcodella July 3, 2007 at 7:34 am #

    That was a very graphic blog. A little more information than necessary. 🙂

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