@johnbishop and all - in my case, I had no idea I had a deviated septum till I had my very first allergy workup at Mayo. The allergist mentioned I might have to get my septum fixed to breathe better and sent me to the ENT.

I was a little worried, cause I'd just started a new job and to mention I'd need a week off for surgery in a couple months right after starting seemed a little much. However, everyone was gracious about it. I definitely thought doing the surgery to improve my breathing made sense.

My ENT surgeon also did rhinoplasty and mentioned I had a J hook in my nose and would I also like that corrected? This was also news to me, and I told him I only wanted to do what insurance covered.

The surgery was no big deal. My recovery was about a week on the couch, the first couple days needing some assistance getting over the anesthesia, some pain and quite a bit of discomfort from having long cotton tubes in my nostrils. Those cotton tubes made breathing more complex immediately after surgery (totally doable, though), especially trying to sleep. My breathing is now much better, and I'm thankful I took the time and trouble to do the surgery.