Phil's surgery

Wow what a day!!!
Facial swelling in the beginning of October

The polyps before when they were swollen

Phil was nervous this morning when he woke up. I would be nervous too if I was going into surgery. Especially such a big surgery, near the brain. Scary!
I was fine, until we started waiting. And waiting, and waiting. I started to get more anxious. I have always tried to be strong, and supportive. I felt like I kind of crumbled a little bit today!

Phil was nervous. We sat together. Waiting. We got to the hospital around 7:30am. Phil was called back by 7:50am. He changed. A couple of nurses and such came in. But for most of the waiting we were alone. Phil's mom came around 9:30am. The nurses and CNA's came in at 10am to do paper work, start the IV and get the prep started.

By 10:30 Phil's mom and I were shoved out to the waiting area and Phil was wheeled off to surgery.
I was nervous. I had planned to go shopping or do something to take my mind off the waiting. I decided to stick around. Phil's mom and I walked a little bit and she left. I walked. And walked, and walked and walked. I must have put a couple of miles on my shoes today! The hospital is a pretty big place! It has a restaurant/cafeteria, a boutique, a full on Starbucks, and a shop for scrubs. The hospital even has its own post office! It was crazy! I walked around, looked in some of the shops. Went back and waited. Then went to the restaurant and ordered some food. Just as the food came out, the front desk called me to tell me Phil was out of surgery and that the doctor would be out soon to talk with me.

So I hurried, packed my lunch up and went back to wait.
I was a little nervous. They said he was out of surgery but they didn't say how he was doing or if he was awake or ok.
I sat there, but I had a good feeling so I tried not to worry too much.
This is one of the waiting areas


The doctor came out, he was really positive! He said Phil did REALLY well. The doctor was impressed with how well Phil was recovering from surgery and that the pain from the surgery would pale in comparison to what he has been going through for the past few months.

While the surgery would not CURE this problem, the next step is to start allergy treatments to prolong as long as possible the ability for the polyps to come back. The doctor said as long as we keep up with the sprays and allergy treatments, he hopes the next surgery won't be for another 15 years. 15 years is a lot longer than the 3 years this past surgery lasted.

Phil had this surgery in the Spring of 2005.
Phil's recovery this time was so much better. I think his pain tolerance has improved a whole lot with all that is going on. He was awake from 3pm until 8:30pm.
He is doing really really well. We are pleased with how the surgery turned out.
Tomorrow we go back to the doctor so they can remove the packing from his nose.
We are so thankful to all our family and friends and all the love and support we've gotten!