DOIN' THE DAMN THING - Glendale, CA

Better quality pics! :)

pre-op: Brought pictures to show him my ideal nose and went over the plan. I told him I wanted the smallest nose possible that still fit my face. Ultimately trusted his judgement with all the changes he wanted to make.

Before Surgery: Make sure you have all of your supplies ready. i.e. perscriptions, cough drops, vaseline, soft foods!, neck pillow!, extra strength tylenol!, arnica

Day of Surgery: Felt really mellow, amazing staff. Had surgery at Taranza surgery center. Surgery day was one of the easiest days for me. Very painless. Gave me a shot for anxiety, then anesthesia, then I was out.

Recovery: By the second day the swelling got a lot worse. Felt really low on energy. I also couldn't really open my mouth or talk that much because I felt it irritated the stitches. Couldn't even open my mouth to brush my teeth. Bassically just ate soft baby foods and soup for the first coupple of days. I felt the worst post-op day 2 and 3. Just push through on those days, still bearable though. Post-op day 4 the swelling moved into my cheeks. Overall pain level was completely bearable, you really only need extra strength tylenol. I took the Norco rarely to help me sleep.

Cast-removal: I got my cast removed a week later because of christmas. At that point I couldn't wait to get it off. I read a lot of reviews saying it was painful so I took the Norco and a nausea tablet just incase. I really do not have a high pain tolerance and the cast removal did not hurt in the slightest. When he removed the splint I thought he was just pulling gunk off my nose, I felt a little pressure but it was so quick, I didn't even know he had done it already! I asked when he was going to remove it and he said he already did! So fast and really not that painful, I would really recomend taking the pain pill because that could have been what helped so much. Also Dr. G does things so quickly. My mom had a question about whether we did something right during recovery and he informed us that there are day by day instructions on his website! Which would have been really helpful to know earlier haha. A little tip to future rhinos. I also liked my nose right away and new that it'd get better and better with swelling. Don't sweat the details when it first comes off.

Right now I am a little swollen and it's a little tender to touch. But I went out last night on New Years and covered up my little brusing. One of my eye is a tad purple so I just use purple eyeshadow so you can't tell and the yellow under my eyes is covered by make up. At this point I still can't really move my upper lip or s mile and I still am pretty conjested. I still have to breathe through my mouth but it gets better and better every day. I also can't smile and sound weird because I am conjested. Still also have some swelling in my face. But I am so happy with my new nose!!