The Final Battle in the Sinusian Wars?

It's 12:10AM on October 15, 2009. In 5 hours, 50 minutes as of this sentence, I'll be waking up and hailing a cab to Sibley Memorial Hospital in DC. Around 9 AM I will be given general anesthesia and put to sleep while a doctor drills up my nose with an endoscopic device. While the 80 minute surgery proceeds, she will attempt to clear out the blocked nasal passageways that have plagued me with headaches for the last eight years (we traced its origins to fall 2001 at Cornell).

The pain feels like a weight of 2lbs is sitting on my forehead, specifically in the areas below, between and directly above and to the center from my eyes. Conveniently, those areas are also covering three of the major sinuses: the maxillary, the ethmoidal, and the frontal sinuses. This pain is a constant 3 or 4 on a scale of 10, so while in short bursts it's not bad, played out over 8 years it's become a Chinese water torture. Eating poorly or smoking or drinking will push it to 6 or 7 on the scale, air travel pushes it to around 8 (which sucks since I love traveling), and SCUBA diving pushes me up to 10 where I can barely keep my eyes open from the pain.

Will this surgery be the magic bullet that finally lets me get back to living? I do certainly hope so. It's become my only desire, my sole obsession, and nothing else matters. If this doesn't work, well, I'll have to reconsider my game plan, but I am hopeful it will make a significant advance in that direction, and the scientific signs are pointing to this potential.

Anyway, I'm going to bed down now. I'll post on this computer later this week after surgery, and if it works I'll post every possible keyword so others might have the ability to fight their sinuses and end this suffering.

The final battle in the Sinusian War is about to take place and we're only a few hours out.

So long, Earth. Catch you on the flip side.