My nose...it's the only thing I see when I look in the mirror. Since I was in school I got picked on for my nose, I was called Pinocchio. I just love the comments "it's not that big," or "it fits your face," such a crock. Finally, I decided to take the step to get rid of it and boy am I ever excited! Tomorrow is my big day, July 20, 2012 and although I am somewhat nervous I'm excited and I can't even imagine looking in the mirror and seeing other features aside from what I call "the snozz." My dad had this nose and he also got rhinoseptoplasty in 1993. So aside from having an oversized nose, my septum is deviated and I have always suffered with chronic nose bleeds, repetitive sneezing, post n nasal drip and lets not forget that although it's "large" I can't smell for anything! My left nostril completely collapses and I can barely recall having a nose that's not stopped up at all. I do have a roundabout idea of how my nose will come out because of how my dad's looks. I'm having the exact things done to my nose that he had to his..."make my bridge more narrow, take out the hump and refine the tip." He told me the other day that he was scared his nose was going to get too small - I promise that those words will never escape my lips! It's a dream come true and I will never try and discourage anyone from feeling better about themselves via surgery. Updated on 19 Jul 2012: Okay, so there's officially 12 hours before I have to be at the hospital, and I must say that my anxiety is growing by the minute. I'm anxious and can't quit looking at before and after pics of everyone. I even cried earlier looking at results, just because I know the relief and happiness they must feel. It's really a moment of anticipation and relief - being able to let go of this stronghold that has tortured me so long and kept me self conscious. I never got to see a pic of "what I would look like with my nose done," so it's left only to my imagination and my dad's nose (what it looks like post op), but even our stories are different the way they did things 20 years ago aren't the same as now. I guess I will chime in sometime after surgery when I feel up to it - we'll take lots of pics and update asap...goodluck to anyone else who has surgery coming up as well. This site has been amazing to me, thank you! Updated on 20 Jul 2012: TODAY IS THE DAY! Gosh, I've been counting down for 2 months to this day and I can't believe it's finally here. I've been up since 6 a.m. for no reason, just stirring around trying to make sure everything is done. I'm nervous...more about my kids and house than anything. I'm usually the Captain running this ship, but my husband has come to the rescue and my dad is here - I'm lucky to have two such amazing men in my life. My daughter is 10 and she's anticipating everything, she will be waiting in the waiting room anxious to take care of her mom. She knows how important this is to me and what a milestone it is in my life. I'm focusing on recover now - thanks to all the incredible comments about how this isn't such a major deal. Lord knows if I can have a breast augmentation done I can survive this! Ahh...so I guess this will conclude my story for now until I return home. Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences, it has really eased my anxiety...and has encouraged me to share my own. Thanks!! Updated on 20 Jul 2012: Wow, so I'm about 7 hours post-op and feeling pretty good. The surgery was pretty easy, I don't remember much after getting into the operating room and getting my good meds. I know he cleaned out my passages up in my nose and it's very swollen between my eyes, there's like a knot. Other than feeling like my nose is stacked full of blood and having to change the gauze every 20 minutes but other than that I'm doing great. He did closed surgery so I don't have any incisions outside of my nose, which is really awesome -I saw so many pics and videos where people had been cut across the bottom of their nose and I didn't wanna go through that. I would do this over 100 times, if there is any doubt in your mind about surgery, go for it. On the way home our tire went flat, the doctor wrote the prescription wrong and I got a call from daycare saying that my daughter had an earache! It has been quite interesting thus far. I'm going to get some rest, I'll update and load pics soon as I get a few - it's time for frozen peas....my eyes are swelling and getting black as we speak! :) Updated on 21 Jul 2012: Well today was my first day post-op and I have to say it was much more difficult than yesterday believe it or not. I had a rough night, being a "stomach sleeper" it's extremely hard to get comfortable especially elevated. My poor husband was up every time I was up. I had dry mouth, nausea, bloody gauze..the list goes on. I couldn't get out of bed until around 1 p.m,. just from being so exhausted. I threw up 3 times - I'm assuming from the blood draining down my throat and when I looked in the mirror all I could say is...WOW. My right eye was nearly shut it was swollen so much, both were turning that maroon color and although I wasn't really in any discomfort, I couldn't seem to kick the nausea. My eyes continued to swell throughout the day, but I rotated ice on them quite often and by tonight appear to be getting better. I think the most annoying thing is that I can't breath, blow or suck with my nose and it feels like it's full to the max capacity! Overall, I feel great - my dad said that he was amazed I could be up, moving around like this only 2 days post-op. I have a lot of swelling, especially between my eyes where he opened my sinuses...it feels like I'm cyclopes. I'm posting some pics and then hitting the sack..my dr. said Sunday I will probably look much worse, so I guess we will see! :) Updated on 22 Jul 2012: Well today was quite interesting, while I'm not in pain - my entire face was swollen today. I look like I have hog jowls it's really crazy, comical even. Every time I smile I can't help but to laugh and my daughter too. The stuffy nose is getting annoying and I'm so ready for Wednesday to get here so I can have this stuff taken out. I'm making it though, I took a nap, which really helped alot and I feel much better than I had expected to. I have still been icing my face and I guess it will too subside...this is quite an adventure, but hey I haven't had any pain. I actually went to CVS to get more gauze and some stuff for my throat (which is extremely dry from having to breathe strictly from my mouth)...it was nice to get out, but I felt like the boogie monster..lol. It's late, I'm hoping to get a little sleep tonight I haven't slept much at all since surgery, I'm extremely restless and have gotten the hiccups alot lately. I'll chime in tomm, thanks! Updated on 27 Jul 2012: Well, I don't have enough to say about this week but it was hard and amazing all wrapped into one week! It started off rough, I looked like I had been in a boxing ring with Mike Tyson, but today one week from my surgery you can't even tell I had surgery at all. There is barely one small line of bruising under my left eye, most of my stitches have dissolved, my cast is off and my nose looks amazing. I'm freaking out completely, I just knew that I would be looking a hot mess for like 2 weeks and man am I surprised. Sleeping upright, icing my face with a cold rag and just taking it easy did the trick. I did have a lot of little incisions on the inside of my nose and the stitches have been quite annoying, but I consistently keep my nostrils cleaned out. Every since my check up with my dr. on Wednesday when he took my splints out and cleaned out my nostrils, I haven't gushed blood constantly, not at all actually. He ordered me to take it easy and that's exactly what I've done. I have kept sleeping upright at an angle to reduce swelling and have tapered on my pain pills. They said I had a reaction to the tube down my throat, which caused swelling on Wednesday, but I think it was from the antibiotic, Biaxin, after a conversation today with the surgery clinic who called to check up on me. But hey no complaints, this surgery was completely worth it and my post op pics are already blowing me away! Updated on 27 Jul 2012: I've been trying to add my new pics, but I'm having issues, it's not giving me an option to add some...keep posted I'll figured this out soon enuf!! I'm dying to show everyone!
