Finally Brave Enough to Do It

Thought I'd pop a few pictures on here to show how the swelling has gone down! The side profile isn't as neat as it was when the cast first came off, (I haven't been taping, there are conflicting messages from doctors on the internet and my swelling wasn't too bad. Plus the only thing that seems to remove it is baby oil like they tell you to use, but it kept making my eyes super puffy and itchy/irritated so I couldn't use it).
Hoping that it goes down soon! Or maybe I'm so used to my new nose that the tip seems bigger haha
Overall I'm giving Ion a thumbs up! I'm slightly frustrated that I can't go to my 6 week post op appointment (I've found out my timetable for January and I don't get any time off, so can't visit), so I'm hoping that everything is ok and that I don't need steroid injections.

Wow, the front view hasn't changed too much, but the swelling is already going down, you can see I still have a verrrry slight hump on my side profile (which I'm happy about, too straight and it'd look unnatural, plus it still feels like 'my' nose)
I have to admit, when the cast came off, despite knowing there would be a lot of swelling / fat nose / pig tip, I was still worried that it was gonna stay like that (silly, I know). So I thought I'd post this to show others in the same boat - don't worry!
Being able to breathe through my nose at night is bliss. Though now I'm getting really fed up of sleeping upright, I can't get proper sleep at night - better than nothing though!
Will update again around the 2 - 3 week mark, as that's supposed to be when 60% or so of the swelling has gone down. Tip cut is healing nicely, just a pity about the open bit as that'll scar more than the neatly closed area. Ah well!
Super happy atm. Everyone in my family was saying I look the same, but I've been going through some of my old pics on facebook and noticed that there's quite a change - for the better!
Gosh, I can't even begin to thank Ion enough right now. I'm holding off my verdict until the 3-4 week mark, but it looks like it's gonna be overwhelmingly positive!

So the cast was removed! I was really concerned about the sore yellow bits of the stitches, and they said it was ok - when the stitches and splints were out the nurse mentioned it's still quite raw and open in the left nostril, so that would be why it hurts so bad! She prescribed me an extra week of antibiotics just in case (though they're giving me TMI diarrhoea due to killing off all my gut flora, which is not fun - but better that than an infection in my nose!)

The stitches coming out weren't that painful, just made my eyes water. The baby oil rubbed all over my face was to help get the cast off, but it irritated my eyes quite badly - either that or it was the inflammation around my eyes starting up again, they felt itchy. But OH MY I cannot tell you how GOOD it felt to get the splints removed. They were massive! So so satisfying. Almost as satisfying as the sinurinse thing I have to do now at home.

I grabbed some photos before it all started swelling up too much (you can see it's still quite swollen, the nurse said it would swell up more as a sort of 'rebound swelling' - the cast is compressing the blood vessels nose, and when it's removed, the blood rushes to the nose and creates more inflammation
Nose is still super numb and doesn't feel like my own, and I can breathe through the left nostril fine but the right one is still a no-go (again, inflammation). I love the side profile already, and it's only gonna get better!

The tip has dropped down slightly from the piggy thing with the cast/splints, but I was told it'd drop further and become more natural / less piggy as the swelling goes down, as it's pushing the tip upwards. Which is great, because the tip is still WAY too big at the moment, looking forward to seeing how it looks in a few weeks!

Took a photo on the train journey back, you can already see the swelling going up on the sides of the nose and tip even more.

Can't wait for the swelling to go down over the next few days! Excited to see what the shape turns out to be in the end.

PS - they tell you not to do any exercise for 2-3 weeks at least, after which light only (like cycling), then like 7 weeks for stuff like weightlifting / blood pressure raising.
Of course, I was so excited to be able to LEAVE the house without scarves wrapped around my face, so I took the dogs for a walk.
Big mistake, woops. Get a nose bleed in my left nostril from being tugged all over the place by the puppy. Looks like it's more sitting around for a good while (on the plus side, although I miss the gym really badly, [weightlifting is the besssst I miss deadlifting], I'll get to come back after the dreaded January New Year's Resolutioners shitstorm that happens every single January - silver lining!)

I'll update this blog 1 - 2 times a week or if anything major happens. Feel free to ask me questions!