Project Snore Less continues
Nov. 16th, 2009 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonRemember when I said I'd be looking into an uvulectomy? Much less invasively, I had some somnoplasty done today, in my soft palate. Essentially it's cautery. I had 600 joules delivered to the center of my well-anesthetized soft palate over the course of several zaps, and 350 joules each to some area on each side, with a grounding pad stuck to my left flank (doctor's wording) under my shirt.
I was in and out of the office in 30 minutes total. The only really bad part was the shots of local anesthetic into the roof of my mouth -- I haven't had needles there since I had my wisdom teeth out. Blindingly painful. The zappage itself didn't hurt at all. The doctor reminded me over and over to keep breathing (through my mouth since my nose didn't work at that point), which I did on a four-count. 1-2-3-4 in, 1-2-3-4 out.
My doctor tells me that a single treatment of this type has about a 40% success rate, for satisfactory reduction in levels of snoring. I'm pretty hopeful; it seems like I'm a good candidate in that my snoring really is coming from the soft palate area, and that today's procedure went well. It's nice to have finally taken a concrete step on this particular project, considering that I've been trying since May or so.
Doctor: this hand-held thing is single-use and costs $500, even though it obviously costs them maybe, what, $20 to make?
me: Kayzee. Heth care reforr!
Doctor: (smile)
I was in and out of the office in 30 minutes total. The only really bad part was the shots of local anesthetic into the roof of my mouth -- I haven't had needles there since I had my wisdom teeth out. Blindingly painful. The zappage itself didn't hurt at all. The doctor reminded me over and over to keep breathing (through my mouth since my nose didn't work at that point), which I did on a four-count. 1-2-3-4 in, 1-2-3-4 out.
My doctor tells me that a single treatment of this type has about a 40% success rate, for satisfactory reduction in levels of snoring. I'm pretty hopeful; it seems like I'm a good candidate in that my snoring really is coming from the soft palate area, and that today's procedure went well. It's nice to have finally taken a concrete step on this particular project, considering that I've been trying since May or so.
Doctor: this hand-held thing is single-use and costs $500, even though it obviously costs them maybe, what, $20 to make?
me: Kayzee. Heth care reforr!
Doctor: (smile)
