Questions about surgery number three

Hi Rich. I think I remember you mentioning that you had tried the pillar procedure but were not pleased with the results. I got my CPAP machine about 8 months ago. My coworker is trying to decide if he is going to try the procedure route first or just go with CPAP. You have any thoughts you would care to share?

First, getting cut up sucks. And in my case, after three surgeries, getting cut has also been ineffective. I've just come back from the last one, and I still need my machine to sleep well.

I do think that each person is their own unique experiment. Just because these surgeries haven't worked (well) for me doesn't mean that they won't work for somebody else. I was pretty unhappy with the idea of needing the damn machine for the rest of my life, and so I was willing to take a chance on surgical reformation of my breathing pathways making the CPAP unnecessary. That turned out to be a less than successful gamble. That doesn't mean that surgery can't help you or your co-worker. It just means that cutting hasn't been the "cure" that I was hoping for. Maybe when I get my braces off I'll have different feelings about how I've turned out. I still need the CPAP, so I'm just cursing the whole idea of surgery when in fact maybe someday I'll be able to leave my CPAP behind. It's too soon to tell.

Speaking of too soon to tell, it's also true that I'm still healing. Maybe I'll be able to breathe better when the swelling has abated, and the bones have melded together, and this damn nasal congestion goes away. Until then, I'll be hoping for the secondary affects to make it all worthwhile. When the braces have been removed, I'll have a "perfect" bite, and my teeth will all be straight. This result wouldn't normally be worth the three surgeries that I've been through, but are a pleasant side effect of the work that I've had done. Silver linings and all that.

I don't feel comfortable telling people to have surgery or not. I can only say what has or hasn't worked for me. And right now, the jury is still out. However, it is too late to put all of the chopped out chunks back in! So here I am. Or most of me anyway..
Rich

Added January 2012: Here is a compilation of various studies of the effacacy of surgeries for the treatment of apneas.