Nasal Polyps

Something is growing in you where there should be space. In the cavities of your nose, where air should flow in and out, tissue has thickened, piled up, spread out. The mucous membrane is no longer responding with a swelling that comes and goes — it has settled in. It proliferates. It fills a space that should stay empty.

You notice this. The nose is blocked, often on both sides. The breath can barely get through. You sleep with your mouth open, snore, wake up with a dry throat. Your sense of smell grows dull — sometimes it disappears entirely. Scents that were once a matter of course no longer reach you. Coffee, rain, skin, food, memory. The world loses one sense. A pressure sits in your head that won't lift. The forehead aches, the cheeks ache, everything feels constricted — as though the skull is too small from the inside.