now i can stop and smell the roses

I haven't been able to smell/taste food for over four years. This is why...

CT Scan of what normal sinuses look like:


White: bone
Black: air
Gray: fluid, soft tissue









CT Scan of my sinuses:

Lacking a bit of air...
The doctor said it was one of the worst cases he has seen. All my sinus tissue was inflamed and their was a lot of fluid buildup causing chronic sinus infections which leads to chronic fatigue. It wasn't all due to laziness that I slept so much.



So I finally got surgery to clean out the sinuses. It lasted about 3 hours and I felt horrible afterwards. You're not allowed to blow your nose for at least a week after the surgery and there is blood constantly running down the back of your throat if you lie down so you have to sleep sitting upright. I wasn't able to smell normally again until almost 4 weeks after the surgery. But now I can and it is awesome. And I do feel less fatigued and more clear-headed (pun intended).

Interestingly, some of the foods I used to really like when I couldn't smell/taste I'm not such a big fan of anymore. Possibly because I imagined the taste to be way better than it actually was. Sometimes reality bites.