Took 7 Hrs to Drive There but Completely Worth It - Austin, TX

I noticed in my earlier post I said I "settled" on Adam Weinfeld. That really doesn't convey the situation at all. I actively chose Adam Weinfeld because no other plastic surgeon or ear, nose, and throat doctor could really hold a candle to this man's work. Moreover, I want to elaborate that NO doctor I've met in my 26 years of life could hold a candle to this man as a whole either.
I was considerably upset with the whole "Mary" situation that I didn't have time to shed light on what really made this such an incredible experience. More emphasis needs to be placed on how Dr. Weinfeld worked with me and my particular situation. He really went out of his way to help me which is not something I'm used to doctors doing for their patients- especially one of such high caliber. Honestly, half the time, I get nervous talking to him because he seems like some celebrity in the world of plastic surgery. It was incredibly flattering and mind blowing to have a man of his stature making changes to his personal schedule to fit ME in for an impromptu operation. Almost everyone in his staff reflects this same exaggerated level of caring and concern for their patients. It was so wonderful, words could never express how important they made me feel.
Today, I was further surprised by Dr. Weinfeld as he personally called me to check up on me and to address the "Mary" issue. He vehemently expressed his concern regarding the situation. This is understandable as his office and the whole practice pay testament to their core values of how to treat patients and make their experiences unforgettable (In a good way!) save for the one. He therefore expressed to me profusely that he is addressing the situation and making whatever changes necessary because his practice strives to make their patients beyond happy,satisfied, and most importantly comfortable. With that said, I would never hesitate to recommend Dr. Weinfeld. In fact, I give him glowing recommendations and plead with any of you looking for a doctor to check him out and not to be deterred by the ONE situation that came up during my experience. If anything similar were to happen to you, simply express your concern to him and he will address it asap. He,his staff, and even partners ( i just found out) really did make this a wonderful experience overall for me but what more could one expect from such an incredible doctor and moreover, such an incredible man?

While researching whether or not to have my nose fixed, I've noticed most people are or have been unhappy with the way their nose looked prior to having work done. In hindsight, I feel such a fool because I have been so naive to most things growing up. In the case of my nose, my sister broke it when we were children just horsing around. She was almost a decade my senior so when she did the whole "nyuck, nyuck, nyuck" deal on my nose when I was 4, she ended up giving me a crooked and humped nose. I guess I was one of the fortunate ones because no one ever teased me about it but the downside to that is I grew up never knowing there was an issue with my nose.. lol I figured that was just how I looked? I suffered some horrible nosebleeds throughout my childhood and then some of the worst allergies during my teenage years. I know to say "horrible allergies" won't suffice because most allergies are horrible but I did spend weeks at a stretch out of school on all sorts of allergy medications and antibiotics locked in my room with a humidifier and my face covered just so that I could breathe through my mouth! I would stay up days at a time because the sneezing wouldn't stop and this is by no means an exaggeration. I would stay up 2-3 days praying for it to let up so I could sleep. :( Fast forward to now, in my mid 20's.. I've been waking up with a bruise on that bump on my nose and would have blood encrusted in my nostrils for 3 weeks at a time. The whole nose and even behind it, the bones of my skull surrounding that area, everything felt so painful and delicate to the touch. It was incredibly scary! I have seen my fair share of ENT's (ear, nose, throat drs) but they all said there really wasn't anything I could do despite my MRIS showing a severely deviated septum and enlarged turbinates. So I eventually sought out another opinion with Dr. Honrubia in edinburg who I hear is the only qualified ENT in all of south texas. So for anyone who needs a sinus surgery or the like.. he is incredible! There will be absolutely no pain I hear and no one has told me they regret having the sinus surgery with him which as I understand it.. says a lot!
He told me I didn't even have allergies, which is a shock because I'm even doing the immunotherapy allergy shot bit right now. He said my septum was growing into my sinus and that's really the cause of it all. According to him, there is no such medicine or treatment other than the removal of that bone that could ever lend me relief. But of course... it wouldn't change the look of my nose which was pretty horrendous now that I'm less naive about the whole deal of how a pretty nose should look and work! Ha. So I turned him down and began looking for a plastic surgeon. To my dismay, there are a lot of under- or unqualified surgeons out there! :( To make a long story short, I packed my bags and went up to the "weird" city of Austin, Texas! I met with a few doctors but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, I settled on Adam Weinfeld. I have to say he creeped me out a bit because he is SO focused on his work or at least.. my nose lol. He didn't smile nor banter.. he was dead serious and just kept checking out my nose. :/ A bit strange but either way he was the best surgeon in terms of how his before and after's showed up and his incredible passion for helping people with trauma to their face and/or breathing problems. So despite first impressions, his reputation and his previous work really had me sold. He never did a half-a** job on anyone or any picture that I saw. He really had the passion which I noticed everyone else lacked despite their good humor and personality. Did I mention it took 7 hours to drive up each way? I don't know what I'm going to do to continue living a normal life cause I am so sick of driving already but it was completely worth it. Unfortunately things became a bit rushed but surprisingly Dr. Weinfeld was kind enough to work with my situation. Potential clients beware of some of his staff. They were incredibly rude and one lady, "Mary", (which btw, she absolutely was not!) well, her professionalism left much to be desired... She alone made me kind of want to find another doctor but I kept telling myself SHE was not the one working on me.. and it kind of explained why the doctor was frowning and so lacking in smiles during the consult. I'd be the same way if I had to work with people like that! But the latter part of his staff was amazing. They were so sincere and kind and really knew how to work with people and their nerves cause I am so prone to anxiety as this was my first ever surgery and I had a previous perv exposure a few years ago with another doctor.. yep. I'm pretty much a nervous wreck with doctors speaking sedation and anesthesia talk. But hey! I made it through. Like I previously alluded to, I'm from deep south texas and when they were setting me up for surgery over the phone (thank you god for setting all of this up Amy!!) they asked if it mattered if the surgery was performed at Brackenridge instead of Seton... Now I know.. YES IT DOES!! I had it done at Brackenridge and it was crazy. Suffice to say they ended up dismissing me without even giving me instructions on how to care for my nose. But the anesthesia and all that junk- guys it was no big deal and I'm really phobic of all of it!! I simply had the Doctor rx some Xanax and took it before the big deal and even then- I was so scared but once the actual doctors (btw.. like 6 showed up during the prep. How weird is that?) and the anesthesiologist came by... they were so good about distracting me and making me feel well.. "special" in a good way! The anesthesiologist finally gave me a shot of something that made me feel the way you do when someone wakes you up in the middle of an incredibly GOOD and DEEP sleep.. I remember saying "thank you" as they started to wheel me off. It actually was quite a good experience. The horrible part was waking up. A LOT of people here say there was no pain. When I woke up.. my first words were "Is it supposed to hurt this much??" Talk about having been misled on this website lol. However, I should point out most people who claim to have no pain had one thing done to them.. maybe two? I had three things wrong with me. :( So my septum was growing into this spur and poking my sinus. I had vestibular stenosis or a type of collapsed nostril as I understand it.. as well as the enlarged turbinates which were causing me to breathe at only 20% capacity and causing turbulent wind in my nose? Sounds weird but oh well. So yes.. After those three things were addressed.. I woke up in so much pain! On a scale of 1-10.. It was like an 8. I felt like someone had gone and smashed up all the bones in my nose and my mouth and the palette or roof of the mouth with some type of an icy cold hammer. It was just the strangest pain ever. After what felt like forever, a nurse came in with some pain meds that well didn't really put a dent in it. On the upside though, after taking two every four hours, I felt loopy and happy despite being in pain lol. Also a side effect of being this high, the week went by relatively fast. I don't think the pain subsided until day 6? Then my mother did something stupid and made me laugh out so hard I ended up hurting my nose and then the pain started again lol. A note on the week after surgery, it really sucked. People like to say its "uncomfortable".. well for me.. it really sucked lol. There was a constant low grade pain even with the meds.. there was no numbess but instead this sheer cold feeling in my nose and palette and teeth. I still can't smile and its been 8 days since the operation. I still can't brush my teeth properly cause my upper lip and teeth and everything in that region hurt to touch! The worst part of it all was having my nostrils filled with mucus and phlegm. You can't blow your nose and it doesn't drip out or anything. They say to use saline which I found in the end didn't help much unless you use it only like once or twice a day. The humidifier did help too but i was going mad with all the junk in my nostrils. I couldn't even swallow food or water without the pressure building up in my ears and nose. I even fell over into a bookshelf once where my equilibrium was just shot this one day lol. Once they took out the stents and stuff, it was all over! All the mucous was just gone and I could breathe!! YAY. It did not hurt to take them out at all although Dr. Weinfeld said that most people find it painful or uncomfortable. I probably should have started posting my experiencing much earlier but honestly, I was pretty doped up and in pain so soooo sorry about that. I did want to share though because my experience was not anything I had expected based on what I read here and also, there isn't a proper review on here for Dr. Weinfeld so I figured, what the hell? :) So today is Wednesday and its been 10 days I believe since the operation and feeling a lot better. The big reveal was yesterday and I have to say I was shocked. There was a huge difference and I will post up pictures as soon as I get them uploaded! A quick note to those which braces... lubricate your lips uber well!! Every morning I would wake up with my upper lip caked onto my braces from breathing with my mouth and it would just crack my lip something awful!!