Sinuses
Last year I was getting chronic sinus infections. After seeing my family doctor many times, I got allergy tested (by an allergist) but that turned up nothing, so he ordered a CAT scan of my head. He said he saw some residual infection, but didn’t notice anything else. I took the films to an Ear/Nose/Throat Doctor (ENT) and he immediately saw that I had a deviated septum AND an infected cyst. Surgery corrected both problems. I was knocked out for the procedure. The recovery took much less time than I imagined. I felt stuffy for about 4 weeks afterwards, and the initial after surgery pain only lasted 2 days. I’ve had no sinus problems since. Stuffy nose, incredible sinus pressure and massive headaches to the point of making me dizzy are not my ideas of fun!
Forehead
About 6 years ago, I started noticing a small lump on my forehead. It wasn’t very big and hardly noticable so I never did anything about it. 2 years ago, I noticed it starting to get a little larger, so I had my doctor look at it. He said it was a “lipoma” which is basically a fatty deposit and that if I wanted it removed, he would schedule an appt with the local surgeon in the building. I had a local anesthetic to numb up the area. One small slice and a few stitches later and I was back at home. The recovery was very quick and within one week I had the stitches removed.
abdomen/uterus. A emergency cesarean section complete with people yelling, a woman on the gurney with me with her hand up my…well, you know, as we all flew down the hall to the OR. Very exciting day. Ugly scar. Nice kid!
Knee - about six months ago, to remove a cancerous fat tumor. I’m now walking, jogging and dancing without any problems, and after repeated regular checkups since the surgery I seem to have made a full recovery. The tumor was big juicy one, too: about 4 inches long, 2 inches wide and an inch thick. Really long scar.
Shoulder - the left one, 17 years ago, to repair damage caused by repeatedly dislocating it.
Had a herniated lumbar 4/5 disc (fifth person in my family with the same disc problem - woohoo genetics!) I was able to deal with the pain for nine months but over nine months, the disc built up calcification that added onto the pressing on my spinal cord.
My surgeon said what he removed from my back was the biggest thing he’s seen.
I had plastic surgery to fix my face after I bicycled into a utility pole face-first. I was going uphill at the time. God knows what I would have done if I’d been going downhill. Fractured by cheekbone and broke the orbit of one eye. I got home, looked in the mirror, and thought “I dented my face. Nawwwwww! You can’t dent a face!” But, it turns out, you can if you try hard enough.
Good news: No visible scars whatsoever! Despite looking like a very good imitation of Frankenstein’s monster, right down to green-and-purple skin and highly visible facial stitching, after a few weeks even the surgeon had trouble finding the scars.
Bad news: After all that plastic surgery on my face, I still look like me. Hardly seems worth it.
Sinus cavity and throat - I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was 5 years old. Also had tubes put in my ears. Afterward, I went from nearly deaf to being able to hear most things. I could say “ing” and breathe through my nose again for the first time in 3 years.
I also had my wisdom teeth out, but that wasn’t really major surgery.
Right knee about four years ago. They did a lateral release (IIRC) arthroscopically (if I spelled that correctly!). My kneecaps are so “tight” that the cartilage on the backside of them is the consistency of marshmellows. So all the pressure was going straight into bone, and causing pain (duh). The surgery wasn’t that successful though. I still have pain in the knee, so I opted not to do the other one, and the only other surgery available to correct the problem results in at least a year spent in a cast.
I’ve had a bunch, so I’ll just mention my most recent: breast reduction surgery, 5 weeks ago. Removed approximately 7.25 lbs. Yes, ladies and gents…they removed boobage that was the size of a newborn child…and I’m still a C cup.
I was squashing myself into a DDD, because that’s the largest cup size that’s (relatively) easy to find. I could probably have used a quad-D (i.e. G), but that’s tough to find without going custom, or into a major granny-style. Vanity won out, I made do with the DDD.
Stomach and Intestines-- Roux-en-y gastric bypass. Only lost 40 pounds, but my diabetes is gone, which was not the case when I was at this same weight with other methods.
Gallbladder-- removed, apparently uneccessarily. An x-ray revealed gallstones, but the surgeon said he found none, that they must have been looking at lymph nodes in my liver or something.
Jaw–both jaws broken to correct an underbite and wisdom teeth removed (all four were impacted)
Let’s see… Tonsils, age 9, wisdom teeth in high school and another oral surgery around that same time… they had to cut out the bone and expose the tooth that wanted to grow out of my hard palate (the part that the tip of your tongue touches when you say the letter ‘t’.) I have asymmetrical bumps on my palate now. Then they had to burn off the gum tissue that built up when they pulled the tooth over to the right place with orthodonture.
Had two ‘precancerous’ moles removed, one from my arm that I had had since birth but had begun to change and one nasty black one that popped up on my right buttock and grew alarmingly fast. My father has had several melanomas so I don’t mess around with skin cancer.
I have bone spurs they may cut off one day. It seems I inherited my father’s entire history of medical problems… except the prostate ones.
Orthroscopic surgery for a torn miniscus last April. I have a 2 inch by 2 inch patch under my left knee that is still numb. I don’t know if it counts as surgery but I had a dangling hemmeroid removed yesterday.
The surgery for crossed eyes (strabismus) doesn’t necessitate ‘eye ball removal’ - they can get to the side muscles just fine by yanking your eyes wiiiiiide open. The fun part was the ‘adjustable suture’ bit (not always done - I only had it on the last surgery). They slice and adjust the muscles on the first day and tie a slip not then adjust it the next day. While it didn’t really hurt, watching someone tie a knot a 1/4 inch in front of a recently chopped up eye is … unnerving.
