Thursday, January 29, 2009

I have an anouncement to make......

This is very exciting and I have been waiting to share this until I felt the time was right to tell everyone.......that......I.......

CAN SMELL! (sorry no baby news I gotcha though huh?) The picture is for the nose!

Seriously though this is big news in my life. As many who check this blog already know I have SERIOUS sinus problems and always have. Moving here to Oregon has only intensified it even more. I finally took myself to the doctor, a miracle in and of itself, and got my nose checked out. So my doctor put me on an antibiotic and then I was to start a steroid for a month to decrease the swelling of all the polyps in my nose. Now when I say "all the polyps" I mean that I have multiple polyps all over in my nose. He said I had so many that they were about coming out of my nose! Whatever that means? I couldn't see any. He couldn't even get a picture of my sinuses to see what was going on because I had so many polyps blocking everything.

So I have been on the steroid for a couple of weeks and am thrilled to report that I can smell!! Can you believe it?! Me? I can smell! The one who hasn't been able to smell anything for...EVER!

Now, there has been an up side and a down side to this. Of course I love being able to smell things and I would always choose that over not being able to smell. But there are benefits that people that can usually smell don't think about all the time. Do you realize that when you can't smell anything it is not only good smells that you can't smell? You also don't have to smell bad smells and let me tell you that since I got my sniffer back there are more bad smells out there than good ones! I sort of appreciated in a way that I didn't have to smell my daughters poopie diaper, or the garbage that needed taking out or the left over dishes in the sink from the night before.
Foods are tasting different to me and I am finding out that things I thought tasted good don't really taste very good to me now. And there are other foods that are amazingly tasty that I wasn't fully appreciating before.

I can honestly say that it has become a life changing experience. To go without a sense for YEARS, even though it is probably the least of all the senses you really need. But to then get it back and realize all the things that you forgot you were missing out on, is crazy! I am sure that it is a little bit of the steroid talking but I feel great. I have so much energy and am happy. I can't remember the last time I felt this good consistently for more than a day or two.
People don't realize how exhausting it was just to breathe. You would think that breathing is the thing that your body does involuntarily and you don't even think about it. I thought about it every day. Between asthma at 25 and a completely blocked nose year and years it was ALWAYS hard for me to breathe, ALWAYS.
I know it is ridiculous that it has taken me so long to start figuring this out but in my defense I did try (a little) a long time ago and nothing seemed to work so I sort of gave up. I thought that I just had to resign myself to crappy quality of life. There were times that I seriously would have just liked to stop breathing and cut off my nose I was so miserable.
I am nervous about coming off of the steroid because I am terrified that I won't be able to breathe or smell anymore. I will go back in and get some pictures taken of my sinuses to see if I need some surgery to figure things out in there and I hope hope hope that I can retain this level of sniferocity. I have a suspicion though that I am going to need some anatomical rearranging of my sinus cavities or something, if that is even possible.
Anyway, just wanted to pass on the good news! Next time you come to my house watch out because I will probably be sniffing you to see if you smell good or bad!

11 comments:

SMDStudio said...

Being someone who deals with a chronically malfunctioning part of the body (throat), I completely hear you about all of the senses we take for granted. And I am so happy for you. I am happy the doctor could actually help (why does that seem so rare these days?). I hope all goes well and your smelling faculties become permanently top notch very soon.
-MyLiege

SMDStudio said...

Oh! And that was a total cheap trick with the baby thing! Shame, shame.

Darrell and Alissa said...

I actually was thinking about you the last few weeks as I struggled with a cold and sinuses that WOULD NOT DRAIN! It has been 2 weeks and i still can't breath throu my nose at night! I have sworn by my neti pot- it has worked and gotten rid of all my stuffy nose problems- it failed me this time! The woter wouldn't even drain! I'm so happy for you to be able to breathe- I for sure have an appreciation for it when suddenly one of my nostrils clears- ah fresh air! Did you notice how cold oxygen is? Ha Ha!!

Castiel Moyes said...

I tried and tried my netti pot forever but coud NEVER get it to flow through my nose because it was so plugged all the time. It never worked for me. Now it flows through! It is so ecxiting even though I hate using that thing. And yes the I keep getting a little bit of a headache because all this cold air keeps coming through my nose and I am not use to it. It is honestly a little uncomfortable. Hopefully my nasal cavitity will adjust soon?

Rob, Ann, Ava, and Brooklyn said...

So glad the sniffer is back!

Steve said...

Man you have no idea how many times I have thought about your inability to smell. I do not know how have done it.
Liz

Betsy Fox said...

How did I not know this about you? Was it like this in college? Congratulations on your new found sense! That must be wild!

THE REBER FAMILY said...

Hooray! I'm so happy for you!

Alli said...

i really hope your level of niferocity really keeps up! i wish i could see a picture of the inside of your nose... haha. i imagine big bubbles or something. doesn't that seem what a polyp would look like? anyways, sooo happy that you can now smell me when i come over...because you were REALLY missing out before.

Alli said...

by the way, that picture of you nose is so cute.... but why are you sucking on a binky? aren't you a little old?

Cami said...

How will I know that it's you on the phone without your plugged up nose sound?