Health Update

There’s a lot going on in this body.

It’s amazing to me that so many people get to go through the first thirty, forty, fifty years of their lives without thinking much about their meatsuit. It doesn’t interrupt them. It doesn’t stop them from going places. It doesn’t rebel when they eat perfectly normal things. Amazing. If you have that, please take a moment to appreciate it.

As for me, physical therapy has resulted in more injury than progress, I’m shedding weight again despite all efforts, and now it turns out I need fairly serious nose surgery.

(TW: Surgery, gross.)

My breathing has gotten worse over time, and recently I had a sinus infection so bad that it made my teeth ache. For most of my life, I have avoided going to a doctor about my nose. It’s a little damaged and a little funny-looking and a little dysfunctional, but I chalked it up to “has character” a long time ago and wasn’t interested in changing it. Unfortunately, it turns out it’s getting worse and needs changing.

I finally got it examined. I have a significantly deviated septum and also need something called a turbinectomy. As this will change the structure of my nose, I discussed it with two different doctors and the best plan is to have rhinoplasty done at the same time, effectively to reconstruct a nose that isn’t all caved in from scar tissue removal. That part won’t be covered by insurance. I won’t be able to take my usual regimen of painkillers in the weeks before surgery.

So some time this year, I’ll be out of commission for a month for a very expensive surgery that will leave me with a mystery nose. Maybe I’ll breathe and sleep better. Maybe it will look “normal.” Maybe my body will repair itself well enough that this will actually be fixed.

Cross your fingers for me.