Sinus Cavity Issues

I'm very, very bummed out. I haven't been able to lift for a month, and I haven't been able to effectively practice hapkido in nearly two months. My sinus cavity had become so clogged and my deviated septum (i.e., when the bone under your nose is tilted so as to reduce the size of one nasal passage) had caused so much swelling that I couldn't get enough air to sustain any athletic activity without becoming winded within minutes. I tried to tough it out but, at the last martial arts I went to, I had to sit down twice gasping for air. The second time, I seriously thought I was going to pass out.

My ENT doc did a CAT scan, and it showed that I had fluid gathering in the blue and green areas above. The fluid and lack of other 'problems' is a good sign, because it means I've just got an infection. So they put me on my third set of antibiotics. This one is a doozy, though. Apparently, it increases the chance of muscle tear or injury. I'd probably be okay because the risk is greatest for older people, but why chance it? It's not like I can function properly in class anyway. They also put me on a steroid and an inhaler to open things up so I drain better. This has been great, because the drainage was clogging my throat like glue, and I constantly felt the need to hack. At some points, everytime I took a breath I could feel this weight of gunk in my throat. After all this is cleared up, I'm probably going to get surgery done to reduce the problem of the deviated septum, which is what makes these infections more likely to occur and really tough to get rid of when they happen. Plus, I'll be able to breath more easily in general.

In the meantime, though, I'm not about to lose my stuff! I scoured the web for all sorts of stretching exercises used by martial artists so that I can keep limber, and I've been practicing my forms religiously so I don't lose them. Now that the clogging is reduced, I may even try a little practice at home with the bag to keep my boxing skills at the level I'd got them to. I'll probably hold off on weights until well after the new year. Free weights are probably the most likely way for me to get injured, so best to avoid that.

I feel really guilty about ditching out for so long, but I keep telling myself it's the smart thing to do.