I should rephrase and say that I was feeling congested and had some sinus pressure; however, in general, I never felt that I had trouble breathing. Along with this mucous "plug" issue, I also had daily headaches. It all seemed to be residual from a nasty cold I had several months prior. My primary treated me several times for sinus infection prescribing antibiotics and nasal spray. The nasal spray gives me a screaming headache on contact, so I was never able to use it as prescribed. I was doing 2x/day saline rinses and using a humidifier both prior to surgery and have continued since surgery. With the exception of 1-2 cups of coffee in the morning, I drink only water and a lot of it. When the treatment that my primary was offering wasn't helping is when I was referred to the ENT dept. I had an MRI and found enlarged turbinates and a bone spur on my septum. So while I wasn't having breathing issues, the findings on the scan really drew me in to believe that this must be the cause of my constant hard mucous and headaches.