Age 14-First Sinus Surgery, Make-A-Wish

 Age 14-First Sinus Surgery, Make-A-Wish

 

   

    

 At age 14, I had my first sinus surgery. I had been seeing an ENT for a year or so and he decided I would benefit from having surgery to clear away infection and help open up my sinuses. I remember waking up feeling so sick from the anesthesia. I ate just a little bit of bread when I got to my room, before I suddenly vomited all the blood I must have swallowed during the procedure. I recovered pretty quickly. My sinuses were very uncomfortable as they were packed with gauze. I was to use saline spray to keep the sinuses moist. The gauze needed to remain moist. If it were to dry out, it would really hurt when it was pulled out. On my follow-up appointment, the ENT would take out the gauze and I would have instant relief.  I would end up having three more sinus surgeries after this one. One in 2008, one in 2010, and one in 2011. My sinuses somehow have done miraculously better. Perhaps because I now nebulize Xopenex and hypertonic saline in the mornings before I rinse my sinuses.

    On December 26, 1995, at the age of 14, I got to make a wish with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. My family of 7 was given the amazing gift of a trip to Hawaii as well as some spending money, so we could experience all that Hawaii had to offer. Even the teachers from our primary school chipped in and gave us money to use on our trip. A limo came to our house in the early morning and took us to the airport. It was such a fun, beautiful, trip. We got to see black sand beaches (a highlight for me), go to a luau, see Pearl Harbor, go to the Dole factory, go on a submarine ride, go on tours, see steam vents and lava tunnels, go snorkeling and more.