I’ll try to get back on track by posting a “Where Have We Been” outline since there’s plenty of news that just never trickled back here for a blog entry. I’ve also done a truly underwhelming job of summarizing the NASA Tweetup experiences I have had the privilege of experiencing in November 2009 (STS-129 launch at KSC) and February 2010 (STS-130 mid-mission at Johnson Space Center, aka Mission Control – Houston.)

I’d usually throw in a “we’re all well — kidlet’s doing great, etc.” here but right now I’m on antibiotics and oral steroids to back down a sinus infection and we nearly had to take Sara to the ER today due to illness-induced dehydration. She see’s her pediatrician at 9AM today.

I posted the following as a series of tweets (start here,) and they struck me as something I would like to record in the blog and expand upon in a full entry at a later date. Apologies to those for whom this is a repeat (but thanks for following me on Twitter, if so!)

I feel a VOID due to the loss of the Constellation program and Moon 2.0, but it occurs to me — what was NASA’s grand vision/goal when I was growing up (frame of reference: 1986 to 1993)? There really wasn’t one. I remember being incredibly disillusioned/disheartened when Space Station Freedom was cancelled. I remember wishing for the “glory days” of Skylab. Despite that, I recall a childhood and indeed, a lifetime thus far, spent excited and inspired by what NASA and our international partners were/are doing. Out of the “ashes” of Space Station Freedom, I never could have imagined all that we would accomplish building and inhabiting the International Space Station. My point being: dreams make their own reality, in a way. Those who love space, exploration, education, knowledge: don’t stop dreaming.

Watch this space (and sorry that my Twitter plug-in apparently activated itself to spew stuff for the past week without my knowledge! )

In case you’ve missed my weekly tweet & update streams since my last blog post, here’s a post-sinus surgery update –

I’m Doing Great!

The first week after surgery was not especially comfortable, and pain medications were very much appreciated especially the first 48 hours post-op. Kidlet managed to knock me in the nose a couple times, including once in that painful first week, causing my world to narrow, my eyes to well up with tears, and me to sob like a baby for a couple minutes. All was well–no damage done (but she has a wicked right hook!)

Today was my 2 week post-op checkup. I see my ENT once a week for the first 6 full weeks after the date of my surgery (January 26). This means my next checkup is February 15, the day before I drive to Houston, TX, to attend my second NASA Tweetup. My first was, of course, the EPIC launch of STS-129, Space Shuttle Atlantis, on November 15, 2009. Expect a blog post specifically about the Houston, TX (Johnson Space Center / #JSCtweetup) tweetup after I get some sleep…

Today’s checkup went well and was very informative. I’m an information geek of the highest (worst?) degree, so I’d been wanting to ask my ENT if he’d taken any photos or videos of my surgery. Sadly, he didn’t and he would have been thrilled to, had I mentioned it prior to surgery. Oh well, lesson learned. I don’t plan on having a repeat sinus surgery, so chalk it up to a missed opportunity. That inquiry opened the door though, letting him know I wasn’t easily grossed out and was legitimately interested in some of the specifics about what he removed from my 100% blocked left sinus cavities. Suffice it to say that, while it wasn’t anything he didn’t expect to find, there was A LOT MORE of it than he sees when operating on a typical patient. He basically said his attending nurse at my surgery is one of the more “tough” gals and even she was a little grossed out by the amount of crud he removed. In short, he said, “You must have been MISERABLE prior to this.” YUP!

One of my doctor’s favorite phrases is, “Listen, the surgery won’t make you anything you aren’t already,” which basically means if you’re a really allergic person, it’s not going to “cure” your allergies. But if you’re a really allergic person and your SINUSES ARE BLOCKED, heck yeah, the surgery is going to open those up and try to give you functioning sinuses again (meaning: ones that can drain properly.)

The upshot with me is that I’m healing great, he is really pleased with where we are, but when he went in with a scope to check out my left maxillary sinus (cheek area; the place I had the worst collection of stuff) it’s filling slowly with “allergic mucin” again… that could lead to a sinus infection and we’d rinse and repeat. So he’s got me back on my sinus nebulizer which mists a specially mixed concoction of antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medication directly into my sinus cavities. Prior to surgery this was minimally effective since, yes, even misted medication couldn’t pass into my blocked sinuses. Now? It’s like night and day…I can breathe, my left nostril isn’t perpetually useless (as it has been for the past year) and I can resume my medication free-saline sinus irrigation (think neti pot for you purists, or pulsing irrigator for you techies like me.) I think we’re on the right track and I certainly feel better than I did prior to surgery so it’s already paying for itself.

I may have some stuff to add–as a consolation prize for not having any photos or videos, he gave me a copy of some of his notes from the surgery, so I may find some useful tidbits in there that I want to post. Or not. “Journey to the Center of Shannon’s Sinuses” doesn’t make for very compelling reading.

Check back on Tuesday sometime for my Johnson Space Center (home of MISSION CONTROL / HOUSTON) NASA Tweetup post.

T’Care!

Poor Sara is keenly aware of how ill I have been the past 16 months or so, and when I came home yesterday she thought I was home from surgery. She was excited and happy, until Justin and I reminded her I had only visited the doctor for a check-up and surgery was still well over a week away. Why would a 3 year old be excited and happy about her parent having surgery? She knows this sinus stuff and the concomitant headaches and lack of energy are going to be a thing of the past (knock on wood, again) very soon. She is looking forward, as am I, to getting back out to area parks and recreation areas and enjoying her energy levels again. Soon, kidlet, soon…