The Other Medical Center

July 2008

 

On July 2, Dr. A., at the hospital in another city, confirmed Empty Nose Syndrome. He said I had crusts in my nasal cavity. He said he could not help me with that.

 

There are currently no good treatments for ENS, although technologies are being advanced which may lead to treatment options in the future. These technologies are in the fields of stem cell technology and tissue engineering.

 

Dr. A. diagnosed “palpable osteotomies” in the bridge of my nose—an amputation of bone from my nose—or a nose job. He said that the bones had been infractured in order to narrow my nose. The tip had been drawn up, exposing my nostrils, and assymetires had occurred. He noted a “saddle nose deformity”—the result of an incorrectly done septoplasty. He said that the protective cartilage, muscle and flesh of my nose had been removed, in the surgery. My septum was now deviated.

 

He said he would file down the bony protuberances and reshape my nose. He told his resident that he would not graft to me because my face still showed inflammation from the surgery eight months earlier.

 

This observation is interesting to me because Dr. A. recognized a patient prone to inflammation. People with autoimmune disorders are prone to inflammation. Any doctor would know to be conservative in doing surgery on such a patient. Better not to do it at all. Dr. S., who performed these very radical unnecessary surgeries, knew that I had autoimmune disorders.

 

Dr. A. told me that the material over the bridge of the nose thins with age. Dr. S. had chopped it all out.

 

I began using Serrapeptase—an enzyme isolated from the intestines of silkworms. Serrapeptase has been shown to digest non-living tissue, blood clots, cysts, and inflammation, of all kinds. I was desperate to get the inflammation down so that Dr. A. would change his mind about grafting to my nose. The bridge was pathetic. There was a dip in the center of the bulb where cartilage had been removed. My nose could not be reasonably fixed without grafts.

 

My face continued to shrink from the massive bone cut out of it. My jaws ached. The cheekbones, which had been reduced, no longer fit the jawbones. There was great pain in the amputated nasal openings. Much nausea, perhaps from swallowing the mucous that ran down the back of my throat. Dr. S. had drilled antrostomies—holes that directed my mucous into my throat instead of into my nose.

 

My nose was so dry that, in addition to the two daily irrigations, I sprayed my nostrils with saline up to 100 times a day.