You take the good, you take the bad, you take ‘em both and there you have—chronic sinusitis

I just wanted to give a quick update on things, if that’s okay—the last few days wrestling with all this inflammation and crazy noggin pressure was making me pretty batty.  I spent most of Saturday on the phone with my dear friend Erin, then did a repeat performance Monday night with my friend & former classmate Diana. 

They were both so kind, I owe them both big-time.  Thank you, thank you.

Early Tuesday morning, I called my PCP’s office and a kindly triage nurse let me explain what I’ve been wrestling with since January.  She told me that my PCP was going to be at Mercy Hospital on Wednesday, get there bright and early and he would do an evaluation.  I almost cancelled when I woke up to the biggest rainstorm Pittsburgh’s seen in 30 years, but made it to Mercy Hospital almost an hour early.  I was dripping wet when I walked in there, but they got me a pair of scrubs and those comfy grip-socks to wear.

It turned out (luckily for me) they’d had a number of morning cancellations.  My PCP and his 3rd year medical student saw me almost immediately, and because we were in a hospital and not his private practice, was also examined by an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist.

I have to say, that specialist was remarkable.  He said “Here’s what happened.  You had covid in December, you recovered from that.  Then you got sick again with another virus or infection in a 2 week timeframe.”   I said yes I should’ve remembered that.  He said “That’s how your acute sinus infection became chronic.”

He said the good news was, my masseters (jaw muscles) looked untraumatized and the oral pain was from tissue inflammation, not muscle.  So he didn’t see this being a TMJ issue (at least, not yet).  The bad news was, the orofacial pain wasn’t going anywhere and could probably continue another couple months.    

They gave me an antibiotic to be taken twice a day for 10 days, and a 10 day dosage of Naproxen.  Also some prescription FLonase, and a saltwater concoction to irrigate my sinuses regularly. 

I asked about the intense pressure in the front & sides of my head, my PCP asked if I was sure my vision wasn’t blurry.  I said my sight was clear and he said “Good, then we can probably rule out a tumor.”   Er… good to know.