5 Days Post-op Rhinoplasty - Calgary, AB

I had a wide, bulbous nose with a small dorsal hump. I thought about this surgery for as long as I can remember(I even met with a couple other doctors over the past 10 or so years) and finally decided to go ahead and do it at 31 years of age.

I was terrified of having surgery - I had never had any type of surgery before and didn't know what to expect. But I hated almost every picture of myself and would never smile in them because smiling would make my nose look bigger, so finally I decided that surgery was worth it. I was tired of my nose was negatively affecting my life.

I am now 5 days post-op and still have my cast on, so I am not sure how I feel about the choice I have made - but I will update this in a few days once the cast is off.

Here is my experience with rhinoplasty so far:

Night before/Day of Operation:
The night before my surgery I was very anxious and I so I started reading about rhinoplasty online in the hopes it would help me relax. I actually found this site the night before my surgery and it really helped me relax to read about so many people's positive experiences with rhinoplasty.

My surgery was early in the morning and I was surprisingly calm as I waited for surgery to start at the surgery center. Once the nurse brought me into the operating room the anesthesiologist had me hooked up to IV's so quickly that I wasn't awake more than 2 minutes in that room, which was really nice. The next thing I knew I woke up in the recovery room. I wasn't in any pain when I woke up, but my mouth was incredibly dry and they wouldn't give me very much water as they were concerned that it would make me sick. About an hour after waking up they sent me home where I slept the rest of the day on and off. My throat being very dry and coming off the anesthetic made me very uncomfortable and had me waking up really frequently.

Day 1-3 post-op:
I slept all the time for the first 3 days post-op. I was sooo tired and couldn't really stay awake. I did wake up a lot though because I still couldn't breath through my nose at all and so my mouth was so dry from sleeping with it open. I also was never in any pain, but did feel a little pressure from my nose, so I took pain killers every few hours.

I felt really warm during these first few days and kinda wondered if I had a fever, but I felt okay most of the time and it was only on the third day I started to feel sick, but it passed by the next morning and I was fine. I never ended up throwing up at anytime after the surgery.

I had bruising under and around my eyes right after surgery and it got to its worst point on day 1 and 2 post-op and has gone away very quickly since then.

Days 4-5 Post-op:
I feel pretty much back to normal now and my bruising is almost gone - it is mostly yellow now. At this point I am mostly really tired of laying around and waiting to see the results. I get my cast off in 2 days, which I am super excited about. I can't wait to get this thing off my face!!! Otherwise, there is still no pain and I am not taking pain killers anymore. I am still very stuffed up though, but can sort of breath out of one side of my nose and so I am sleeping better - I now only wake up once or twice a night for water.

Well that is all for now. I will update this in the next couple days once I get my cast off. See you soon : ).