Yikes Big Tex. Only three operations, huh?!!! I think I'll pass. I too had a deviated septum and never even knew of such a malady until I was in my early forties. I had it fixed, and like you, for about three years after, I had no allergies. Nada. Great. Then slowly it began to return. Then, one day my back decided to go into spasms, and I passed out cold from the intense pain. I was on my way "to" sit in the chair and ended up "hitting" the wooden arm of the chair with "guess what"? my nose. When I came to, it was quite obvious the nose was broken. When I saw the doctor, he said it had to be corrected, because there was splintered bone. He indicated that he performed that type of surgery all the time. No big deal.
There was one surgery which wasn't successful, followed by a second surgery that lasted five hours! No kidding. My poor husband wondered what in the world was happening to me. No one could have predicted the results of the surgery, but I looked like my whole face was hit with a hammer. I was told it was a minor procedure, but it didn't turn out that way. My nose looked pretty bad, and the doctor had to insert an implant to structure it. All this time, breathing was awful, especially during allergy time. I was afraid to return to the doctor who messed me up, and so I just lived with the situation. Then a couple years ago, my body began to reject the implant, and it began to "remove itself" from my nose. Yes, as horrible as it sounds, this piece of plastic was twisting and coming up through the top of my nose, pushing and breaking the skin. You can't imagine the pain and agony this caused me. I developed a bad infection, and no one would touch me, other than prescribing antibiotics.
One doctor went so far as to tell me that "breathing was a non issue". I have that letter, which I kept. It was so stupid to say something like that. I went to many doctors and then, finally, got referred to a specialist in the Medical College of Virginia.(good ole HMO insurance at the time) He saw me once and scheduled surgery for the following week. He told me he couldn't promise what the results would be when they removed the implant. They had never before had a case like mine. And, I had a staff infection kept at bay with very strong antibiotics. If necessary, they would have to perform cosmetic surgery.
Fortunately, after the operation, the doctor told me he removed the butterfly shaped implant--the entire thing, and thank goodness my nose didn't callapse! He was happy and I was estatic. After some ten years like that, I was finally rid of the lump on top of my nose. For awhile I even breathed much better. To look at myself in a mirror and not see it, was so elating for me. But, the congestion returned--they said due to scar tissue. I opted not to get the deviated septum repaired a second time, as I'd had my fill of the operating room.
