My husband had this surgery about a year and a half ago. He had a deviated septum 90 degrees. In other words, only about half of the air was getting into his lungs when breathing through his nose. He had 3 sinus infections within 3 months- which is how this was diagnosed. The surgery itself is day surgery. I went and had breakfast while it was done. It took about an hour for the check in stuff and maybe 30 minutes for the procedure itself. Be ready to be concious afterwards but not quite coherant. Make sure you have someone who can talk to the doctor after the procedure is done. They gave him Lortab for pain but it wasn't strong enough so Darvocet was ordered. See if your doctor will give you a script for the additional painkiller in case you need it. Other than the follow up after a week to have the splints removed, it didn't seem to be that bad. You do have to make sure you sleep with your head propped up, though. Try not to sneeze or sniff very hard. Change the gauze they give you as often as you need to. Once the hard core bleeding stops and you feel dignified enough to go out into public (heheeh), tuck some tissue into your purse or pocket for any additional bleeding that may occur. They will tell you not to pick up anything over 5 pounds for the first few days afterwards and not to do any strenuous activity. So, basically, stock up on groceries beforehand. Soups and other "light" meals would be good. If you have children, arrange for childcare for the first few days. It's a very simple surgery but you won't feel like doing anything for a few days afterwards. My husband hasn't had any problems since his surgery, and he has only had 1 sinus infection since. My least favorite thing about it, though, is that he still snores. Loud. Very very loud. If you need more advice please ask. I don't know much about the procedure itslef other than there are different ways to correct the blockage. With us they shaved down the septum until it was even. I've also heard of them chisling out the bad portion. It's up to the surgeon and the technique could change depending on what they see when they get in there. Good luck. You'll be glad you did this.
Manda