So, I recently had my nose structures repaired as referenced in a recent post. The fear ahead of the procedure far outweighed the actual procedure – I felt nothing due to good anesthetics – the old get the old relaxing medicine in the IV, then it’s lights out or you can’t remember anything that happened between X and Y – you just wake up. That’s for the majority of people into which I fell.
Next, however, is the recovery – with at least three different documents, one of which the doctor covered, a couple were from the surgery nurses, but it’s more about sorting out the conflicts in them that is the big concern and also when to get concerned – and what discomforts weren’t mentioned and so forth. Breathing out of my mouth sucks. It has other side-effects, like my mouth drying out (yikes!) and a scratchy throat, and other unpleasant stuff. Then there’s a headache from sleeping in the wrong position. Then… Then… And it takes getting up to focus on what is the actual problem and in the dark, trying to sort out a solution, which is hard to do very well…
All this of course happens in the middle of the night when trying to get some rest… so catching up on rest during the day ends up being what happens.
And I am not typically a napper. I usually retire around “eleven-ish” – but am now yawning at 11-ish in the MORNING after having two cups of half-caf coffee… Sleepy. Can’t breathe out of my nose yet. Swelling. Goopy stuff up in there sloughing off – gross. At least it isn’t bloody anymore…
So, am I whining? Should I be stoic? Who the heck can answer that question?
I think my “course” is not as bad as some stories I have heard, but not a piece of cake, either. All I can say is that I will surely be glad to get to some sort of normal after this. I’m not good with not feeling okay, that’s for sure. Hoping that a week from now, I won’t be feeling this way. Better I hope. Making the decision to fix all that was wrong worth it. That’s the goal.
In retrospect, when I think of it, when compared with what Rob went through in terms of discomfort and pain, this is nothing. So, I’m thinking that I am trending to the “whiny baby” category – and I need to remember that. When he was healing from surgeries, we all prayed for any improvement on any time scale because trending the other way had darker implications than we wanted to face.
Maybe, I just need to be uncomfortable and suck it up. I am better than yesterday. I will keep telling myself that. Small steps.
Today, New Zealand finds itself dealing with their “storm of the century” (literally), while having just experienced a flood event that in human recollection or record of anyone on these islands can say ever happened before. Two extreme weather events within a month’s time, after a lot of heat and rain over the summertime there is indicative of climate changes that have been showing themselves over the past few years.
Even the International Terminal at the Auckland Airport flooded in the recent flooding event, which is unheard of, normally in most developed countries. Albeit, the airport itself is located by the water, onshore, usually the water drains out to the waters of Manukau Harbor – but with the combination of volumes of rain within a short time period and ground saturation, the “normal” drainage apparently didn’t work. Now they are facing yet another threat of not only large volumes of precipitation, but gale force winds that exceeds what they typically experience in storms, as well.
Our family and friends there haven’t experienced our infamous Gulf of Mexico hurricanes unless they have been where a hurricane has happened. Ours are of the variety that people experience in warm water environments, which typically New Zealand is not a warm water ocean environment… The understanding of what it is like to go through a storm like that is not within the working experience knowledge base of most NZ citizens unless they have lived in those warm ocean environments. I really hate that this is happening to them. Praying for all there…
Experience builds expectations and anxieties.
For me, my first experience was Hurricane Alicia, and one of horror and awe all mixed up – horror at how hard the wind was blowing and things outside were blowing around without our having any sort of control over any of it and awe that this could go on for hours and hours and hours and hours… without stopping, with torrential rain flooding everything – and we lived in the woods, not on the ocean where storm surge can happen and literally swamp with flood water everything everywhere it comes. As a kid, we moved to Houston just after Hurricane Carla destroyed homes and businesses, plus literally MOVED a bridge, the physics of wind-force and water combination at work. I remember Dad pointing this out as we were going to Galveston and had to take a detour over another bridge to get to the island.
Floridians live with this threat, as do people all along the Gulf of Mexico coast – all the islands in the Caribbean – plus the Atlantic Coastal communities – we are all in the cross-hairs of the West African disturbances that move across the Atlantic in the warm weather months and gain energy to become full blown hurricanes sometimes. In the past decade, or since even longer back than that, the hurricane activity has been greater than ever, in particular those that go into Florida and up the Atlantic coast… Since 2017, when we experienced Harvey, a historic flooding event, more our area has been hit with the polar events several times in 2021, 2022, and 2023. These are weather extremes due to melting polar ice. Would not be surprised if the ice melts in Antarctica have something to do with the latitudes changing for strong tropical cyclones. I’m no meteorologist, but I am an observer of facts.
So, I think this will be a learning experience for many there who are pretty confident that “they’ve got this”.
There is a full-on emergency declaration. Already the storm Gabrielle is doing damage and wreaking havoc, and there is yet to discover more… this is ongoing. This is far from over. The sustained nature of wind and rain over time is what wears against the strength of objects and fills up areas with the weight of water. It is all about physics. Tragedy is unfolding as this is written.
Riding the storm out
If you are prepared physically and mentally you get through storms, most every time, without freaking out and doing something that is not smart, due to panic. In rare exceptions, such as tsunamis after earthquakes, which really aren’t the same type of storms, this might not be the case, but nonetheless the main thing is to not panic. I try not to panic, but my autonomic response sometimes kicks in and I have to calm myself down and “think”, but not over think the situation – analysts tend to over think, which is a professional hazard at times. Practical thinking and first aid, triage training, and survival skills like you learn as a boy scout or girl scout are handy. It’s handling the unexpected with aplomb that is the true skill.
Even in areas where there are earthquakes and tsunamis, preparation measures are given to people who live there. Some listen and do prepare, some do not. People in both cases when they don’t prepare, don’t make it out alive. That’s a fact.
Also, there are cases if you live where there are lots of big trees and a big tree falls on the shelter where you are and smashes it. Well, that is likely either a God thing or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is either a God thing or bad luck. In that case, it might have been an idea to look at the big trees, the direction that the wind would be coming from, and calculate a trajectory if the tree falls – which room would it fall onto? I wouldn’t be hanging out in that room… But then, that’s my take on preparing. Tape windows, go get a bunch of food to last three or more days (if the storm is a bad-ass storm), get phone chargers and phones charged up – make sure the car has gas, yada yada yada…
Sometimes, people do not prepare and are overwhelmed by what happens – when the problems with storms are predictable, but maybe in probability, this is indeterminable ahead of time – it is the “what is the worst that can happen” scenario to prepare for. And if the worst doesn’t happen, it’s always good to not have the feeling, “well that was silly”, as sometimes, and there are times, when it isn’t silly at all – first time experiences are only the first to add to the knowledge base that will be built after multiple experiences over time. Probably it is wise to ask someone who has had multiple storm experiences, if you can sit through the stories and glean the good bits…
The pit into which some people fall includes having an attitude about “things being silly”, with too much bravado, which can lead to doing stupid stuff or under-preparing, which is the equivalent of doing stupid stuff. At any rate, being sensible and listening to weather people and those who are in charge of preparedness is the best combination to stay safe. Bottom line – when the storm is all over and it didn’t affect you adversely, you can count your lucky stars.
All of this being said, I truly don’t like the experience of riding out a hurricane or cyclone, whichever term you use – it is the episode of intense wind and rain leading to big messes to clean up if not life threatening situations. Who does? It’s usually a time of high anxiety and the usual distractions are unavailable. Time to get out the cards, puzzles, and board games! Get out the candles and the fire-starter devices. Practice using them! If you are using matches, make sure they’re still good if they have been sitting a long time. Being prepared for extremes in temperature is also a good idea even if it’s been warm lately, with big cyclone-type storms, the temperatures can drop down to chilly for the duration, especially if it is wet. Wet + wind can introduce wind chill.
Ice storms and tornadoes are included in this array, as well. Don’t like those either.
Flavors and variations of weather events. Ice storms. Tornadoes aka twisters. Typhoons. Any weather events that wreak destruction… Then the other types of earth events like droughts, and fires, and the above mentioned earthquakes… then don’t forget volcanoes. Lots in Mother Nature’s bag of nasty surprises. It’s how we view it, though. In her context her clock is geological. In ours, it’s on our wrists or on a wall… It is philosophical and existential. It is essentially, the nature of things. Nonetheless, it is our reality.
The test is the recovery.
After the storm has passed through, or ended, the recovery begins. Initially, the search for victims and damage – those who were overwhelmed by mother nature, and those who tragically may have succumbed – missing or found to be gone – these test our faith. Why here? Why now? Why this person? Why this devastation? It is the huge power of nature that is underestimated by humans. It is why our earliest ancestors looked to the heavens or to gods in their culture for answers.
But, here we are. Humans still occupy the planet in great numbers despite Mother Nature and in spite of ourselves, at least at this moment in time. We who survive recover, rebuild in time, and renew. It is what was before and what is after.
Missing spans of nice weather which of course, we are finding we have less and less these days. I guess that is why we call this climate change, “the weather ain’t what it used to be” or was it ever?
If we change our timescale and ask the universal super powers that be, they would say “in geological timescale, you have not seen the worst come back, but you will.” That is the scary thought that we all avoid having.
The dinosaurs could tell us… but, oh – they can’t. Um. There you go.
I always since fifth grade and probably before that have had “sinus trouble”. I remember the big green pills that looked kind of like M&M’s that I had to take to help with this when I was a kid. I think that if you live where we do, everyone pretty much deals with this eventually because we have the humidity + crap in the air + lots of pollen and basically, the human nose and our animals, too, eventually go “snotty” and get clogged up and damaged so something gives.
In my case it was a torrential nose bleed. Holy shit! One box of Kleenex later and the bathroom looked like a crime scene! Couldn’t get it to stop no way no how. Didn’t have the right “spray” to stop it. Squeezed my nose as the “inter-google” told us. Hubby drove me to the 24-hour pharmacy to get some of the “right spray”. Bleeding so much that I couldn’t get the spray to the source of the bleed. By that time it was coming out both nostrils! Holy crap!
Ended up in the ER, with my blood-pressure raised so much it was like somebody gave me a cortisol cocktail with a side-car of adrenaline! The nurse said, “honey, calm down”… Sure. All my blood is coming out of my nose and you want me to calm down… Right-o! Not.
Eventually, the nurse gave me a nose plug device, and a cold pack to put across my nose, and the bleeding calmed down. The doc came in after an hour or so, and checked me out. He told the big nurse to jam the Dristan up my nose and with three squirts in each nostril, after a bit, the bleeding slowed to a trickle whereby at that point, I think I could have used a transfusion… They said, “you didn’t lose as much blood as you think.” I thought, “you didn’t see the bathroom!”
And no, hubby had nothing to do with this other than to be so kind as to drive me to the all-night pharmacy, and then to the ER and sit and wait for hours with me until I was cleared to go home… He is a saint. That’s the plain truth of this story.
Next chapter. After deeper examination, I ended up going to a specialist. At the second visit, a CT scan of my sinuses was performed. I have a long list of “issues” that come with long term damage – probably not the worst they’ve seen, but probably not the best either… So I am lined up for a “nose job” – to correct the deviated septum (warped), and open up the circuitous clogged passages that look like some sort of video game maze quest for treasure tunnels…
Apparently, after about a week or so, I should be good to go after they open things up with these little balloons that they poke up in there and “push” these passages open, and tell them “stay”, which apparently they do. Not sure what the procedure is with straightening the crooked septum – some sort of electrical thingy they use, apparently…
And there are these things that hang down that have gotten over-sized that they are going to “trim” somehow. I dunno, but I hope they know what they are doing! I’m sure they do thousands of these because everyone here suffers and the ones who just can’t stand it anymore go and get this done.
Someone who had this done told me how it went for her, but that was five years ago and well… you know, things get “different” in medicine. It’s not like it used to be, that’s for sure. I’ll find out soon.
I’m here to tell you that if I reach this point, I’m there, dude, and I have and I am. Hubby asked, “will there be bruising?”, and I said, “God, I hope not!” I think he is worried about appearances, LOL!
Just tell them I had a “nose job”. It’s the truth.
