I believe that you will generally receive some sort of oral pain reliever.
Typically vicodine.  THe pain after surgery is not severe, and the
prescribed dose of vicodine is usually enough.  There are other more or less
effective pain relievers available to your doctor. If you are concerned
about them, or if you know one is particularly effective for you, feel free
to discuss this with your doctor and ask for the one you want.  If he or she
deems it appropriate, there is no reason for them to disagree.

Also, make arrnagements to sleep in a semi upright to seated position for a
week or so, and have a lot of apple juice ready.  For some reason it helps.

You might be able to opt out of the septum repair, but I doubt it.  Your doc
is going to put a lot of gear up your nose.  Most likely the septum will be
in the way, and it will have to be pushed aside, gently.  You'll want it put
back I'm sure.  The septum repair is nothing really.  The biggest issue is
the splint removal a few days later, and most people tollerate that just
fine.

I believe that as many polyps that exist will be removed.  There is no
reason to leave any behind.

Yes, you can tell him to not touch the sinuses behind the eyes.  But is that
really the best thing for you?  How will you verify his behavior?

This idea of controlling your surgery or second guessing your doctor seems
to come up a lot these days.  I beilieve this is a bad idea.  Your doc is
going to have a perfect view of what's going on in there once the scopes are
in place.  If he sees something, don't you want them to take care of it?
This is not something that you can control to this extent.  The first thing
to do is try all non-surgical options.  Then, once you make the decision to
have surgery, do a lot of homework and pick the doc that's best for you.
Then, let them do their job.  You would not take a broken down car to your
mechanic and say, "make it work as best you can, just don't fix the
radiator", if the car has been overheating.  Similiarly, you would not want
someone to request your services or skills in whatever field you work, and
then allow them to handicap you for whatever reason they choose.

If you are attempting to back seat drive your surgery, perhaps it is not the
best option for you at this point.  Perhaps your problems are not severe
enough to warent this option.  Consider these questions first, then move
forward.  It is, after all, a one way trip.  Don't take it lightly.  But, if
you do take it, do so recognizing that you will not nor should you be the
one calling the plays.

-O

My ENT gave me Percocet, an oral opiate.  Yes, it worked very well, but
it made me dizzy and VERY drowsy so I used it in small doses and only to
help me sleep at night.  Obviously I couldn't drive my car when I was
taking that stuff.

I also found that applying ice packs to the bridge of my nose helped a
whole lot.  Just before you go for surgery, freeze up a whole bunch of
ice packs (or just ice cubes in plastic bags) in your freezer.  You'll
then have them when you need them.

You should have found an ENT whose judgment you trust, and gone over the
procedure with him in detail till you understood it and are comfortable
with it.  You still have time to do this.  If you aren't sure he's doing
the right thing, you should get a second opinion and see what he says.
I don't know which sinuses he plans to invade.  Did he tell you?

-- Steven L.