Removing the Dorsal Hump, and Other Improvements - Glendale, CA

I left my nose taped for the flight and took two Norco and used the Affrin as directed. Aside from my nose getting pretty dry, the flight went alright. My sinuses were definitely congested but it wasn't unbearable, no bleeding or excessive drainage, no excessive swelling. So, I guess I can say that flying 7 days after rhinoplasty, after cast removal, not too terrible.

So far I've only seen my room-mate. If he has noticed, he hasn't said anything. I keep taped up any time he's not around, which is a little more than just the "at night" that was prescribed. Taking the tape off feels incredibly weird, and my nose fills with water right away. It feels so good to tape it back up again. It'll be another week before I see anyone else.

I've been using the "Ocean" brand saline spray as recommended. It's great. Way better/easier than a netty pot. I had forgotten about the oil, recommended as a moisturizer, until I was having a rough evening and my fiance reminded me. It helps a lot.

My greatest issue and concern right now is that I removed some build up (twice, one in each nostril a day apart) and I fear i should have waited for it to soften and fall out on it's own. It's clear to me now that I've removed a couple of suchers by doing this. The first time I didn't know that's what they were, but after this second time I'm positive. And also in one nostril, in the vicinity of the first build up and sucher removal, there is something. I'm kind of freaking out. From reading it could be anything from more build up (doesn't feel that way), cartilage that is shifted, a cyst, swelling, or a scar. Sounds like it's too early to be a scar. I'm so afraid that it's cartilage that has shifted out of place. Having a difficult evening because of it. I plan to contract my fiance's help when he gets home to try and get some good photos and send them to Dr. G. And this, ... this is where traveling for a procedure is super scary. I imagine I could pay a local surgeon to take a look if I need to. Ugh, I am so nervous. :(

On a high note my pain is very under control. Once the cast was off that started to clear up really fast, particularly upon waking. I don't think I'm snoring anymore either, no vibrations for 8+ hours every night.

Surgery went well, but from arrival to heading home was far longer than the two hours I was told surgery would take.

There was a mix-up with my records that caused me to be in the system twice. Which meant I had two medical charts. All of the information from the Dr. was on one, and the hospital was looking at and updating the other. This was "discovered" multiple times but wasn't corrected until after I was rolled into the OR. Scary situation but the nurses were all very diligent about checking everything multiple times, hence discovering the issue multiple times, so I felt ok that everything would go alright.

The time between getting the IV placed and being rolled in the actual OR was the worst. I was not a fan of the IV and I had to hang around for an hour and a half with it in before they were finally ready for me. Not a fan of that order of operations.

Discovered, after filling my prescriptions, that I am sensitive to the anti-nausea medication (Zofran). I've had it before for vertigo and it did not go well. I expressed this to every person who checked in with my before the procedure to make sure they didn't feed it to me when i came to and am really glad I did. Turns out the anesthesiologist was going to include that in the cocktail while I was out and i wouldn't have even known or been able to control for it. So he changed his plan. And the nurses requested another type after I came to and needed it. It worked great and no issues.

Was sick once while still in recovery but that is all. I'm sooo grateful, because Dr. G said he had no other anti-nausea to prescribe for me. The one they gave me in recovery was a butt shot.

Was most certainly sore and swollen, swelling increased the first 3 days then decreased through today (another 3 days). At this point, I can see it a little and feel it a LOT but my Fiance says he can't see it. Bruising was severe in the eye region but subsided quickly, to my surprise. I thought I would have black eyes for two weeks. The bruising was all over the eyes for me, i looked like I was wearing eye liner.

My cast and tape covered most of my face. I was worried the whole time that the cast was crooked and the results would be crooked but I kept telling myself to trust Dr. G. Since we were trying to straighten it anyway, maybe it was just my nose (or the assymetry in my face) making it crooked.

Lastly, I have definitely NOT been in the "no pain just discomfort" camp. My pain has pretty consistently required two norco 3-325's. But I didn't have enough to last until my cast removal so i kept trying to take one with regular tylenol to supplement and it just wasn't doing the job. I called for a refill, which helped, but I then realized my pain wasn't going to magically go away the day the cast was removed so I started conserving again. So the pain has been rough. It's worst in the morning, due to being stuffed up I'm snoring and it's vibrating my nasal bones and tissue all night. And since I'm sleeping for 18 hours a night it's just torture to wake up. I got a script for another refill from Dr. G today so I hope I'm set through the pain subsiding now.

So today, cast removal. I knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience but I was not prepared for how traumatic I found it. The cast actually came off just fine. However, cleaning the nasal passages to get to the stints turned out to be very challenging. There were a lot of dried fluids that had to be pulled, torn, cut, etc. This part felt like it took 10 minutes, but my sense of time might be twisted. Once he could get to the stints, they came right out. He also cut a couple of suchers and pulled them out, he said the rest would fall out on their own.

At this point I was shaken and sort of whimpering with pain. He showed me how to tape my nose. To my surprise he only wants me to do it at night, unless I want to at other times. Taping was unpleasant, I have no idea how I'm going to do this on my own.

I left the office shaking and by the time we were in the parking lot I was in full blown tears. My Fiance, thoroughly confused by this reaction, made me take some of the pain meds and drove me home ... even though he'd been hoping we could go out to dinner finally.

It took me an hour to recover from the cast removal experience, and even then I was still a little shaky and woozy, but I wasn't physically shaking and whimpering anymore. Seriously traumatic, I hope it's not like that for everyone.

So, I'm trying not to analyze my new nose. I really don't want to sit here and pick out new flaws. And at this point it's taped up and I still have gauze taped underneath to deal with the drainage from the stint removal. But what I CAN say is, the hump is gone!!!!!! It looks like someone else's nose has been attached to my face.

I'll post some updated pics soon when I've got it untaped. Since I'm out of state, Dr. G has asked I send him pics every couple of months, can do. So we'll see how the rest turned out, which would be: straighten, narrow the nasal bone (he said this would take a while to become apparent due to swelling), shorten (I think I can see this already), refine the tip and nostrils (nostrils already appear wider to me). That's a long laundry list. Whole new nose.

We fly home tomorrow. I plan to take two Norco and use Afrin (as directed by Dr. G). And i'm bringing gauze and tape to deal with drainage if needed. I don't really WANT to tape gauze to my nose on the plain, but I would rather do that then dab at it.

Alright, next update will be the plane trip and hopefully some photos. Oh, also I have only told my two partners. So i'll have an update on how the one who didn't come with takes it when he sees me, and whether friends notice when I go out to some social events later this month. Exciting!

Surgery is tomorrow at 6am.

Because I traveled from Portland I had my first visit with Dr. Grigoryants just this evening. It was my pre-op and my in-person evaluation.

He has indicated he will flatten the dorsal hump, shave the nasal bone (bridge) to narrow it, reduce the projection, and make improvements to the tip and nostril area. I requested he straighten my nose, and he said he will do what he can but that it's challenging to make small adjustments, which is all I need, and other asymmetry in my face would still make things look a little off. He also identified something I was completely unaware of, which is that my nasal passage is nearly blocked in both nostrils. I had no idea. It's funny how you think something is normal when you don't know any different. He adjusted my nose a little and told me to breath and it was completely different, said that's what I should expect after surgery. I'm thinking this will make running a lot easier.

We decided on no other procedures.

So this evening was spent getting the last things I think I might need. It's certainly inconvenient to not be at home for this. But I am convinced traveling to see Dr. Grigoryants was the right decision.

Really not looking forward to 3+ weeks of not being able to kiss my partners or be an active participant in "activities". Have a 6 month anniversary coming up with one of my partners and I think this will probably put a bit of a damper on that. But I've had this scheduled since before I met him so... bad culmination of dates, that sucks.