Busted Nose

When I was 17 I had my face smashed in as I was attacked by a thug, for want of a better word. He came up behind me spun me around and punched me with the heal of his hand, smashing my nose and breaking other bones in my face and fracturing my eye socket along with other injuries to the face. It turned out that it was mistaken identity, he was sorry, but the police were there and he was handed over to them, but he also got a good slapping from one of my neighbours who was a tough lad and thought the thug needed it, which I agree.

Now 33 years later I am still having problems with my face. I have had many operations to fix, rebuild and correct problems, but like the Martians in the musical War of the Worlds, but still, they come. My latest problem started three weeks ago with a severe nose bleed. Now, I get nose bleeds all the time due to the damaged anatomy of my face and I never think too much about it. However, this one was different insomuch as when it finished my nose whistled. Comical indeed, but after some time it became weary and yes, bloody annoying, yes pun intended. This now adds to the problem I have with my sinuses because nothing is really right, or in the right place. My septum has deviated, and even though the tube on the right side was replaced, it is still not easy to breathe out of my nose.

Yesterday I went to the doctors to see if my septum was perforated which is a common reason for whistling noses. He had a good look with the basic equipment available at the surgery, and could not give a definitive answer apart from telling me the anatomy was all a little messed up and the maxillofacial team would need to take a look with all their cameras to decide what to do next. He could not find much information about the previous operations apart from me being admitted to the plastics unit at one of the top hospitals. I explained all that had happened and what operations I had had along with my last operation in 2005 when my tonsils, adenoids and uvular were removed and I had laser surgery on the back of my throat. Do I snore? he asked and yes I do, quite bad these days because I cannot breathe through my nose. He thought that maybe the back of the chambers had collapsed hence little airflow and could also be the reason for the whistling.

Due to COVID, the wait for a hospital appointment could be some time, so who knows when that will happen, so until then I will have to be part of a squeaky toy or take up the nickname of Wheezy from Toy Story. I must point out I had no idea who Wheezy was until a colleague told me.