What we do for Love

This is a topic I don't discuss much, my snoring. After many many years of my nightime noises causing sleep problems between Brian and I, I had Injection Snoreplasty yesterday. It is a nonsurgical treatment for snoring that involves the injection of a hardening agent into the upper palate. It was an office procedure that basically involved the ENT rubbing a numbing gel on my uvula and palate, then using a really long needle, injecting a sclerosing solution into my palate at the base of my uvula in three places. The injection part hurt, but was tolerable. It was the burning afterward that just about did me in. The injection site just burned and immediately started swelling. It felt difficult to swallow and I really couldn't talk. Everything came out like I had marbles in the back of my throat.

I had little tears in my eyes when I got back in the car and noticed I had only been inside the Doctor's office for 19 minutes. After dropping off my prescription for pain meds (I decided not to be a martyr and just accept that I'm a baby), I headed to my mom's. She had Laurie and I didn't know where else to go. I just didn't want to go home by myself and get hopped up on narcotics.

The burning stopped after 2 hours or so, and by 8 hours my throat just felt sore when I swallow. I was able to eat dinner without any trouble, but didn't have much of an appetite. Today, my throat is better but it feels as though my uvula is hanging into the back of my throat. That my throat is swollen almost shut. After taking pain pills twice yesterday, I've only had Advil today. I still sound very very funny. Everywhere I went people asked me if I was sick and when I told them what I had done, they looked at me in horror.

I forgot to mention what the procedure does. The sclerosing fluid creates a big ulcear on my soft palate that will scar up. Evidently, this ulcear is very very ugly. The Dr. told me not to let it scare me. This scaring will stiffen up the palate to prevent it from "fluttering" when I sleep, thus making snoring sounds. They can't make promises about its success rate, but it helps quiet about 90% of patients snoring to some extent. Some people do have to repeat the procedure for increased success.

It should take about a week for my palate to scar up and heal, but almost a month before we see the final snoring results. I'm hoping that every day my throat feels a little better and that I sound more normal soon. Keep your fingers crossed that this procedure helps on the first try.