He Knows the Nose (: - Troy, MI

Let me begin by saying this whole procedure has been a long time coming for me! I'm 22 years old, and have wanted this for almost 12 years now, more than anything in the world! I've researched and researched to the point of my head exploding, until I came across Dr. Golden. I found him here on Realself, and am so extremely happy I did! Since I based a lot of my decision making on pictures and reviews, I figured I would help those out there that would like to know a little more of one of this Dr's patients (:
As of this moment, I am 7 days post op. The entire process was amazing, and I had written a whole giant page a few minutes ago but my computer froze on me and got deleted, so now I'll just do a quick day by day draft...
CONSULTATION:
I had my consult a couple months before scheduling my surgery. I drove 4 hours to meet this man, that's how convinced I was that he was my man (: We talked about what I would like to change, what he would see as a positive change, took some pictures of all angles, and he answered my questions. It was a regular consultation (I had been to about 3 prior) and I was just so comfortable and had that feeling that everyone seemed to talk about... He was my guy! NOTE: He is silly(: Don't let anything like that throw you off about this man, he knows what he is doing and that is all that matters!
DAY BEFORE SURGERY:
I had my pre op, and all went well. I had my blood drawn, went over my pictures that were taken, left, filled out my prescriptions, headed back to the hotel room, and ordered pizza (: I had no worries of my operation, no butterflies, no anxiety... I even slept like a baby (:
OPERATION DAY:
My boyfriend drove me to my 11 am appointment. As soon as I got in the parking lot, the nerves kicked in. Everything that I had tried not to worry about was now running through my mind, the what if this and what if that... it was bad! Once the nurse came and talked to me, that anxiety grew more, but I filled out my final paperwork, took a pregnancy test, and was taken to the operating room...
I sat down in the operating chair with my little gown on, and was offered a warm cozy blanket (which I looooved). The nurse was so sweet, and as we chatted she got my vitals and had me sit properly (alllll the way scooted back). When Dr. Golden came in, he was all cheery and excited! He reassured me that he was going to take amazing care of me and my nose, and that I will love what he does. He started my IV and leaned me all the way back. I was nervous rambling about everything and anything, until the ceiling started to look kind of funny and my anxiety and fears literally melted away...I remember saying "ooooh, you must be giving me my drugs?" and that was it, I was in a whole new world! I don't remember it, but I guess I was talking about how my boyfriend was going to bring me a big juicy bacon cheese burger when he picked me up after surgery (I was later instructed to not eat it lol). The surgery felt like it took 20 minutes. I do remember him rasping and breaking the bones, but I didn't feel a thing, nor did I care he was doing it. That shocked me, because that was a big worry of mine! I guess when they told me they were breaking my bones, I said "go for it" or something like that lol! I promise, I didn't feel one bit of pain at all! Once I woke up, Dr. G was all done, and it was almost 2:30! I was able to peek at my nose by crossing my eyes and it looked so cute and little! Then the cast got placed and I was wheeled into recovery.
DAY ONE:
The ride back to the hotel was fine, I was kind of loopy from the drugs and a bit forgetful even! I looked at my face and I was already bruising around my eyes, and puffy between my eyebrows. I couldn't smile, and just wanted to go back to sleep... so once we got back, that's exactly what I did. I woke up to eat some soup and a bite of a sandwich, take a pain pill, and pass out for the night. I did wake up at one point while we were both sleeping because my throat was so dry that I had a nightmare I was choking on crackers! I freaked out and woke my boyfriend up and then he started freaking out... it was pretty funny (: took a drink and passed back out. NOTE: Dr. Golden called and checked up on me around 7, which was very nice!
DAY 2 and 3:
The worst days by far. I think I took 2 pain pills for each day, just because of the discomfort from swelling. I never really felt any pain. For both days, I just laid around watching tv in a recliner with tons of pillows and blankets, chugging vitamin waters from a straw. That's really about it for those days... if I remember anything else I'll edit (:
DAY 4:
I ended up getting bored at my boyfriends house so I drove home. I felt much better, and was up moving around. Swelling didn't get worse, but I still looked pretty rough. I think this was my first shower day too... AMAZING.
DAY 5:
Feeling good! Didn't need to nap or take a pain pill. Played with my dog, watched tv, relaxed a lot... swelling is going down pretty fast, but my smile is so strange! That top lip is being silly (:
DAY 6:
I was going to get my cast off, but there was really bad flooding in michigan. I was told it would be okay to hold off one day. That kind of sucked, because I was so excited to see what was under this cast! but at the same time... I felt safe with it on (:
DAY 7:
CAST TAKEN OFFFFF!
First, the swelling and bruising is down a LOT. my eyelids are still black, but under they aren't so bad. the swelling between my eyes is still up, and pretty tender.
When I pulled in to the Dr. office, I got so nervous. I didn't know what I was going to see, or if it would hurt to get the cast off. However, it wasn't that bad.. he just peeled it right off! He was so excited to see my nose, maybe more excited than me! He even had a girl that was doing a consult come in to look, and she seemed amazed as well... she booked her surgery right after (: Then it was my turn... WOW! I am already in love! As expected, it is pretty wide from the front. from the side, so so cute and perfect! there is a slight slope, but no ski jump! the tip is in no way piggy, and everything is deprojected to exactly what I was hoping for! I'm surprised I didn't shed happy tears when I saw it (: (: (: I don't know how many times I thanked Dr. golden (: He said everything came out perfect, with the exception of the area between my eyes (radix?) being a bit high due to how my bones might have shifted... or it may just be swelling! Either way, he addressed it honestly, and said that if in 6 months it is still there, we will do a quick procedure and fix it (: So I'm not worried about it at all at this point. I'm really not worried about anything! We took a few more after pictures, set up another post op appointment, and I was on my way.
I am so happy I finally did this for myself! Even though I'm still bruised and swollen, and just 7 days out... I'm thrilled. I'll keep doing updates throughout my recovery process, and if anyone has and questions, I'm happy to try to help (:

I decided it was time to be a big girl and put on some makeup and get out of the house(: To be honest, it was not the usual routine, as my skin seems to have changed... it was so dry, and shiny from being greasy! Gross, gross, gross. Before surgery, I had really good skin, the occasional zit or two, but not greasy and dry at the same time or really ever? I'm guessing it's due to all of the swelling and stress it went under eight days ago, so i'm not going to worry about it now. But for all of those planning to wear foundation that have this issue... good luck! (; Mine looked gross after a couple of hours.
Anyway, I went out to the mall and went shopping AND got my hair cut AND went to my work (in a restaurant of only girl employees) for the first time! I still got some strange looks, because I'm still a quite funny looking, but it gave me and the hair stylist something to talk about (; As for stopping by my work, the girls ALL knew what was up (word travels fast apparently) and were flocking me to check it out. It was kind of stressful actually, because of them being a bunch of girls, I didn't want them to walk away saying "omg it's terrible, poor girl" or something like that, since I'm still swollen and bruised... I just kept telling them to wait for another couple of months. They all loved it though, I didn't hear one bad review! They did keep asking if I'm in pain, and one girl said it looked like I got beat up bad lol (: One guy in the kitchen that said I didn't even look like me anymore... I'm blaming that on swelling.
I'm so happy I got out of the house! I did end up coming home and taking a nap for like two hours, probably due to the fact that I've been a couch potato for the last week, but now I feel like I'm ready to get out of here again. I also feel like this is going to become a bit of a diary (for the public haha) so I hope you all enjoy ready about my new nose life(:
OOOOH and I'm going to add a few before pictures, I feel like I didn't really give anyone a good idea of what bothered me(: