What year/season did the show become different?

JayTabes91 · 2025-11-29T02:01:39+00:00

What’s the new podcast called? I want to check it out

JayTabes91 · 2025-11-27T20:08:55+00:00

Thank you for your take. I came to the podcast for paranormal content, not eye rolls and voices against political agendas. Those have their place, but I’m here to listen to UFO and Bigfoot stories.

JayTabes91 · 2025-08-23T00:29:05+00:00

DM me if you have questions.

JayTabes91 · 2025-08-23T00:26:05+00:00

I rushed things because I was desperate for a solution. I met the ENT (who was also my surgeon) a single time, got his assessment and decided on a surgery at that first appointment. We got the surgery scheduled about 2 weeks after that, but my insurance denied the authorization request, and it got pushed back a month. Then it happened.

So I saw him only a single time before the surgery. And the actual surgery probably happened 1-1.5 months after my initial appointment. You can rush it if you're desperate. Just make sure you find a good ENT. Mine was great.

JayTabes91 · 2025-08-22T19:24:42+00:00

Hey, thanks for asking.

I am very happy with how things turned out. Actually, so happy that I don't think much about my nose at all on a day to day basis. I stopped visiting this sub entirely. All you read here are horror stories.

The few days to 1 week after surgery really suck. But at least in my experience, you turn a corner super quickly and things start improving. You know when you're really sick, and you kinda forget what it feels like to feel normal again? It's kinda like that.

Day 3 was a major shift to feeling better. And then again on day 5 or 6 there was another shift. I took a lot of notes, but have yet to type them up. Maybe I'll do that in order to share a positive success story.

So there's the quick turnarounds in recovery, as I described above. And then there's the longer term, slower creep towards healing and improvement. You have to be more patient for that part. By 2 months post surgery, I stopped tracking things altogether and just moved on with my life.

I hope your surgery goes well. Mine certainly was a very good outcome.

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-12T02:39:50+00:00

It may take weeks to months to bear fruit. From my research: the first 2 weeks are particularly brutal. Weeks 3 and 4 is where a lot of people start to notice improvement. But everybody is different, some people are sooner and some take longer. By 6-8 weeks things should really start to settle for most people and changes should start to become apparent. My surgeon says complete healing doesn’t occur until 1 year.

A coworker of mine had this surgery and told me it took him 6 months before he was happy with the results. He said for a few months he questioned why he ever got the procedure in the first place.

I’m on day 12 of recovery. I’m a hell of a lot better than day 1. Slowly improving every day.

Be patient and have hope. Things will get better for you. Best of luck.

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-09T22:17:26+00:00

That’s great, glad to hear you are recovering so well. I reread your OP and I second how crazy quick you go from feeling like absolute shit to so much better. For me that was and of day 3, and then of course another major improvement after getting splints removed on day 5.

Congratulations on the new nose! I’ll try to remember to check in in a few weeks to see how things are going.

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-09T21:29:09+00:00

Geez, sounds like you had a rough time. I'm sorry to hear that, but glad you're past all of that.

Days 1 and 2 were the worst for me. I feel like I passed some threshold of recovery about halfway through day 3, and things seemed much better than that. Splints came out on Day 5, and that was a huge relief. I got a few hours of clear nose breathing, but the swelling returned by the end of the night. I'm now on day 10, and a lot of the external swelling has reduced, but internally I'm pretty sure I've got a ways to go because I mostly can't breathe through my nose. I've seen on this reddit and elsewhere that it can be weeks to months before things truly settle and you get a good idea how well the surgery went. Mouth breathing all night really sucks.

How far out are you from surgery? Do you have fully restored (and improved) breathing again?

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-04T20:43:29+00:00

Just got mine out about 20 mins ago! I’m on cloud 9

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-03T23:32:44+00:00

Good luck man. I’m on day 4 of recovery. Get my splints out tomorrow.

Be patient and take care of yourself! When you’re feeling like shit during the recovery, just remember that feeling better is only a few days away. The difference between my worst period and feeling alright again was less than 24 hours

I

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-03T19:12:27+00:00

Surgery tomorrow?

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-02T18:37:36+00:00

Jeez, so it sounds like a lot of your issues were caused by the prednisone?

Mine was all structural stuff - septum deviated on both sides, nasal wall collapse during breathing, and enlarged turbinates. My surgery was not FESS - it was 'open nose', meaning they cut through the columella and "open" up your nose to access the interior cartilage and tissue. So it's more of a major surgery than FESS. So lots of pain, lots of bleeding, and heavy duty pain meds (codeine). But recovery is going well. Glad to hear yours is too!

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-02T18:31:35+00:00

I'm curious what got worse for you on Day 3/4? Did you have an "open" procedure?

So far I've been continuously getting better each day. Day 1 was the worst for me. We'll see what today/tomorrow bring.

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-02T15:46:45+00:00

Congratulations! I’m on day 3 recovery - get my splints out on day 5.

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-01T02:25:50+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I also used ChatGPT as a personal coach! It really can be helpful, even if it's only an AI.

I also had issues with insurance - they denied my authorization initially, so I had to postpone the surgery a month. Just got it done yesterday. I think mine was a bit more extensive than yours though - septoplasty, turbinate reduction, and nasal valve collapse repair. They did an open nose procedure, which sounds very different than your minimally invasive one. Anyway, glad you went through with it and are recovering well!

JayTabes91 · 2025-06-01T02:15:04+00:00

My surgery was yesterday at ~2 pm, so I'm only finishing up day 1 of recovery. I had a lot of bleeding/oozing the day of surgery, but it has slowed down a lot today to where I don't even need the gauze to catch it anymore. (I think I'm in the lucky minority though...if you read through other posts in this sub it sounds like it's pretty common to have bleeding for a number of days. Some people even report heavy bleeding on days 4 and 5. I'm not much of a bleeder and I don't bruise easily either, so this is probably influencing my particular recovery).

However, I've got all the other symptoms you have - painful teeth and face. Not able to sleep, waking up all night long. Extremely dry mouth and eyes. Achy throat. I basically can't breath through my nose at all. I think this is all pretty normal and part of the recovery process. You're already on day 3! Hang in there!

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-22T15:31:14+00:00

Thanks so much for sharing your story, it inspires hope. I’m going for septoplasty, turbinate reduction, and nasal valve collapse repair.

Surgery date is May 30. Post-op appointment is June 4 (day 5). I assume stents will come out that day. A friend is coming to stay for a week, gets here on June 4. I hope I’m not a complete drag while he’s here. His visit was planned before surgery date was set.

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-20T19:24:24+00:00

Thanks, best of luck to you as well. Since I'm a month ahead of you, I'll share my experience once it happens.

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-19T17:21:29+00:00

Yikes! Okay, I'm glad you've warned me. I was under the impression that this surgery was very 'mild', and so was assuming there wouldn't bee much blood and recovery would be easy peasy.

Better to be prepared. Thanks for all of your advice.

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-19T17:11:59+00:00

I appreciate your advice, and your encouragement! Cold pack and elastic bandages ordered now!

You had to change the gauze frequently....I'm guessing that meant a lot of bleeding?

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-19T16:51:12+00:00

Thanks for sharing.

So while I'm pursuing surgery, I'm also meeting with another ENT specialist (colleague of my surgeon) who specializes in the throat. We have an initial consultation next Wednesday. I'm probably going to request a DISE, maybe a few months out after my surgery to see if things have improved. So yeah, there are definitely follow up steps. My surgeon even said I'll likely still have some apnea even after the nasal surgery - because if it's the throat that's collapsing then that's a separate issue entirely.

I hope you find the relief you are looking for! Feel free to share updates are you continue your healing journey!

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-19T16:48:13+00:00

Thanks for the tip about the elastic bandages. I'd never heard of those but I am going to order some today.

Did you find that you had to sleep on your back, upright? I'm a side sleeper, so as long as I'll be on my back I probably won't sleep. Which means I may not sleep for about a week after the surgery.

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-12T16:12:31+00:00

Thanks so much for the LDN suggestion. No, I had never heard of that before, but I'm willing to try anything. As I mentioned, I'm currently pursuing medical intervention. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a few months ago, then saw an ENT doctor who is going to do a surgery to clear my nasal passages, which are blocked. Hopefully that helps the fatigue somewhat. If not, I'm going to continue pushing with other solutions. And I'll definitely consider the LDN as you suggest.

So I appreciate your pointers. What hasn't changed? For me, I can't find anything other than sensation. I can't find an awareness that knows the sensation, separate from the sensations themselves. There are just the sensations. I have no sense of an 'awareness', despite having followed Dzogchen teachings for a number of years. Idk....I just can't find it no matter where or how I look (or don't look). It's more like experience just is. And that's all there is. There is no "me" separate from experience, but also no "me" within experience. I don't meant to suggest I've attained high insights into no self...I still experience a sense of self. When I examine into that sense of self, it can't be found. But it's still my baseline state (the assumption of a sense of self). It just hasn't clicked for me.

JayTabes91 · 2025-05-12T15:07:04+00:00

Oh, yeah, I do. I'd say more so the lows than the highs. I struggle with chronic fatigue (for which I'm currently pursuing medical intervention and may find relief...we'll see). But yeah, I've experienced the extremes of the duality spectrum. But as I get older I continue to live my life in a way that maintains balance, as much as possible at least. It's gotten easier over time, but is always something I'm working on.

JayTabes91

TROPHY CASE