Finally, a normal looking nose! - Chicago, IL

I had my surgery yesterday! More details below. I also posted some "before" pics and the photshopped version of expected results from the doctor's office. The "before" one is not terrible, but all plastic surgeons I've visited agree that it looks too "done" and not natural. Note columella hang and alar retraction from first rhino. Also not visible are turbinate reductions in my initial rhino that didn't much improve my (pretty bad) sinus problems, as well as some deviation in the septum that causes the right side to be somewhat obstructed for airflow.

My pre- (one week before) and post-op vitamin routine has been 500mg of vitamin C and 50mg of zinc once a day. I think that has really helped the bruising, my first rhino I had two black eyes for two weeks! Anyway, detailed surgery reviews are below.

Week before surgery
One of the nurses called to review pre- and post-op instructions. So far the staff have been very friendly and informative, despite it being clearly an extremely busy office. I had one more in-person meeting with the doctor four days before surgery to review the surgical notes from my first rhino and to make sure we were on the same page about expectations and outcome. I do not want any surprises this time! It was a brief but good meeting and I felt confident that he could give me the results I was hoping for.


Day of surgery
We arrived very early in the a.m. and I was the only patient in the surgery center during the whole procedure. My nurse (Rommel) was fantastic. He had such a positive attitude and friendly disposition, really important for a nervous patient! Dr. Shah arrived on time, we went over everything once more, they started the IV for antibiotics, and another nurse walked me to the OR. The OR got me a bit scared, plus it was *freezing* but I could see Dr. Shah had posted my photos with his notes on them right next to the operating table, which I really appreciated. A nurse put warming wraps on my legs and the anesthesiologist gave me the stuff. I recall shivering and wondering when it would kick in, and then woke up to Rommel's smiling face preparing me for the recovery room. The heated blanket was amazing! Meanwhile Dr. Shah had visited my boyfriend in the waiting room to tell him that everything went well. I stayed in recovery for about 2 hours, during which the nurses fed me applesauce, juice, and a pain pill even though the pain was minor--mostly sinus pressure and a dull headache. I wanted to talk to Dr. Shah again before leaving, but we had to wait a while for him because he was already in the clinic seeing other patients. However, when he arrived, he seemed very positive, and said everything went smoothly. There had been a chance of having to use ear or rib cartilage but he said he didn't need to do that, and just used septal cartilage for the tip graft. I was VERY pleased to hear that. Also he mentioned there was a lot of scar tissue from the previous rhino, which he removed. So then they wheeled me out, we took a cab to the hotel, and I slept on and off most of the day. My boyfriend was very diligent about doing the 20-min on, 20-min off ice routine. We also had to change my gauze "moustache" a few times because there was a small but steady blood drip. I ate some frozen yogurt (Pinkberry!), chicken broth, and a Naked smoothie. Also took the pain meds every 4 hours, although nose pain was minimal. My throat did hurt a lot though, both from mouth breathing and the breathing tube they used during surgery.

Day 2
I woke up with no nose pain but a very sore throat and some body aches. It's essential to keep cold water and straws around for the throat, and Aquaphor for dry lips. I decided not to take any Vicodin because while being bandaged up is obviously uncomfortable, nothing really hurt. Pain was maybe a 3 on a scale of 10. Both Rommel from Gold Coast and Mia from Dr. Shah's office called me in the morning to get updates on how I was doing. Since there had been no nausea, minimal pain, and only a bit of bruising (under the right eye), they seemed very pleased about the progress. We drove home (90 minute drive) in the afternoon, and I did take a Vicodin for the car ride, assuming it would be unpleasant. Riding in the car was actually fine at first, but towards the last 30 min or so, all the bumps were making me headachy, nauseated, and generally feeling bad. We made it back home and iced me right away, which helped a lot. We've been doing the frozen pea method, which works great. There's been a reasonable amount of bloody mucus in my throat that I've needed to cough up today, but draining on the "mustache" has slowed. It seems to drip more after I've been walking around. Nose pain level is still very low, a happy surprise! Bruising aready changed from purple this morning to more reddish in the evening. Had lentil soup and watermelon chunks for dinner; trying not to eat anything too chewy. Honestly I am just thrilled that I can finally drink coffee again tomorrow :)

More updates to come...

Days 3-6

Nothing too major happening on these days; pain has been mostly nonexistent except for some stinging/tenderness around the stitches after cleaning with saline solution. The upper lip area feels kind of stiff, and I'm trying not to smile or laugh much, but that can be hard! I've been off the Vicodin except for taking a half-pill on day 3. I'm going to be honest, one of the main reasons for going off Vicodin asap is that the combo of that and antibiotic makes it basically impossible to go "number two"...yeah I said it. ANYWAY so the bruising has improved significantly (now mostly greenish), but my face did still look and feel a bit swollen days 3 and 4. Inside it still feels swollen. I finally put contact lenses in on day 4 and also stopped icing. The past two days my nose has been pretty itchy around the stitches, and I'm getting a lot of tingling sensations on the tip (this should mean the nerves are healing in the tip graft). It also alternates from constantly dripping clear mucous (I had to make another moustache) in the morning to feeling more dry and open in the evening. The doctor's office said all this was normal. They have been really fantastic, calling every day to check on my progress. Overall recovery is going smoothly; day 4 was when I pretty clearly started to feel more like myself again and am feeling better every day.

Cast comes off tomorrow!!