The day of reckoning for my sinuses has arrived. I check into the hospital tomorrow. Nearly every one of my sinuses is a solid mass, so the doctor will be doing several types of endoscopic surgery to get things working again. Even though it’s an out patient procedure, my case is complicated enough that it’s estimated to take 3 hours or so. Because of the time involved, general anesthesia will be used. I don’t know yet if the doctor is using the latest laser hardware or the older rotating burr gizmo. I believe the imaging data from my earlier CT scans will be used for live tracking of the endoscope location during the procedure.

So, what are the actual procedures? I’m sure everyone is asking. Well, the first is a Total Ethmoidectomy. The posterior and maxillary ethmoids are sinuses located between the eyes. They have a honeycomb like structure made of thin bone. The goal of the procedure is to destroy and remove the honeycomb of air cells, leaving a single cavity that will drain more easily.

Then we have a Bilateral Frontal Resection and Bilateral Anterior Resection which seem to be nothing but fancy medical talk for, “we’re going to blast some holes in both sides of the front and back” of something. (In this case, the something is more of my sinuses.)

And, finally, a Bilateral Sphenoidotomy. This involves enlarging openings in the sphenoid sinus. The sphenoid sinus is very close to the optic nerves and the carotid artery – let’s hope I don’t sneeze in the middle of this one!

Why does this whole thing remind me of the scene in Total Recall where Quaid removes the tracking device from his nose?