A Look Inside My Head

Alan and I could both tell you that a lot goes on inside of my head. It’s always full of something. Unfortunately Alan could never tell you quite what it is that is going on inside. While doctors and medicine haven’t yet invented a machine that can tell Alan quite what I am thinking, they can tell us literally what is inside my head. Thus, a CT scan this week showed that I really do have a lot inside my head. But, the doctors say that I really shouldn’t have quite so much going on. Here’s a comparison of a “normal” CT scan, and my CT scan. The black areas are air. The round circles are eye sockets.

A Normal Person's CT Scan (below)

My CT Scan (Which I found out is harder to scan than I thought)

(It's a bad scan, but basically the nose is full, as well as the sinuses)

Apparently, I have so much matter (not just mucus) in my nose and all my sinuses that this is the cause of my inability to breathe through my nose (including headaches, and the facial pain). I laugh because I went to an allergist about 7 years ago. He told me at that time that I had polyps in my nose that I might need to have them removed. My nose/sinus problems continued for years and 2 years ago I lost all sense of smell. But, did I go to a doctor? Of course not. I did eventually regain a sense of smell (oddly enough, working with soil pep was about the only thing that helped), but I continued to have breathing problems and chronic infections.

It wasn’t until I was at a girl’s weekend with my old college roommates in April that I realized I really should see a doc. My good friend Noel, who had the unfortunate luck to share a bed with me, was kept up all night listening to me struggle to breathe (apparently rather loudly). She suggested I get to an ENT. Good thing too. My symptoms are quickly worsening and despite the ENT giving me both steroids and antibiotics, there is no relief yet for me. I am actually looking forward to the scheduled surgery this coming Friday. The doc initially thought he would use a local anesthesia and I would need 2-3 days to recover. After looking at my CT scan, he’s now putting me under a general anesthesia and giving me a full week to recover. Let’s hope this eliminates just the literal “extra” stuff in my head, and not the “metaphorical” stuff in my head.