In 2004, I had bad things removed from my sinuses (think 'thumb'), had good things taken out to improve airflow, and had my deviated septum fixed. They did not pack my nose or anything. I, too, had the 'sore throat' feeling. I presume it was from the breathing tube.

The faint-of-heart should stop reading HERE.

The short answer: suck it up. It'll pass in a week or two.

The long answer: Hydrate as much as you can stand. Use the saline as much as you can stand. Ask your physician if you can use something akin to this: one liter of distilled water, with 3 spoons of Sea Salt and 1 spoon of Baking Soda added (check my figures... doing this from memory). I had to use that (it's like saline, but more 'briny'), and it helped get all the cr@p out after a week or so. I must stress that you should TALK TO YOUR PHYSICIAN before you use something like this, because you could be removing clotting material that you shouldn't.

Hope all is better soon.