Brain Pictures

I've had five sinus infections so far this year, and I started seeing an ear nose and throat specialist to figure out how I might avoid getting sick so often. 

Today I had a CT scan.  For my readers who are not familiar with the procedure, here's what happens: you lie on a narrow bed that slides into a donut shaped contraption that houses the camera.  It's maybe 2 1/2 feet across and 2 feet deep, so in my case, only my head was inside. The scan was pretty quick, and I had to keep perfectly still and not swallow.  My toes didn't tingle, and I didn't smoke or glow or anything, so I guess everything was working properly.

I was trying to imagine what it might possibly reveal.  Was there some foreign body festering inside my head, perhaps a peanut or a bead that I inserted into my nose as a toddler, and never told anyone about it?  Were my sinuses severely deformed?

It turns out that yes, I am deformed, though not severely - my septum (the divider wall in your nose) is crooked. The main thing is that my sinus tissues are chronically swollen, to the point where some of my sinuses are completely closed, even when I am not sick.  No evidence of peanuts, which frankly was a tiny bit disappointing.

The doctor wants to operate.  I agreed to do it, after Timothy is weaned, so I don't have to worry about any medications and anesthetics affecting him.

The films from the scan were awesome.  I got a real nice look at my upper teeth, eye sockets, and of course sinuses.  The doctor is keeping them for now, but after surgery, I want to ask if I can take one home.  I'll put it in my wallet so I can show it off to people I meet on airplanes.  "Here's my son Liam, here's my husband and me in Cambodia...here's my skull...here's my son Timothy."