In the Middle of my Septoplasty/Rhinoplasty Journey

After hiding behind a thick pair of glasses for years to hide my nose, I realized it was time to fix this issue. It had become more than a "I don't feel pretty as everyone else" situation to an unhealthy "I am not leaving my house because I feel ugly" situation. When I moved to NYC four years ago, I picture my life as a character on "How I Met Your Mother". Hundreds of dates, fun parties, attention from the opposite sex, etc. But, I found that I used my glasses as a mask to hide a face I wasn't confident with exposing, and I hid inside my apartment, feeling too bad to live that HIMYM life. Dating became something I just didn't feel "pretty enough" to do, so here we are - 30 and single in NYC and I'm not even confident enough to go out and look for my Ted Mosby.
When I decided to get it fixed, I knew it'd have to be in Ohio where my family is (I live in NYC) so I found a surgeon that had really natural Rhinoplasty results - which is what I wanted. I didn't want "plastic surgery" per se, I just wanted to look normal.
From the second I stepped in Dr. Totonchi's office I had a wonderful experience. Everyone is so nice, they communicate via email very quickly. We even had a payment problem (they DON'T accept American Express - which is the only credit card I had) but they pushed back my payment deadline so I could apply for a new credit card, which ended up taking 11 days to receive, but they worked with me patiently during this process to make sure I didn't have to use my debit card. I was very, very happy with the staff at Dr. Totonchi's office.
I had my procedure done at 8:30 AM on January 22nd. The surgery itself was the easy part. One moment I was laying in a bed waiting, the next moment a nurse was in my face saying, "Hey! It's over!" The anesthesia kind of messed with me, and I was super nauseous - but besides that, I felt perfectly fine.
That first day of recovery was fine, besides the blood dripping from my nose. I didn't like that. The second day of recovery was probably the worst. My face was SO swollen and I had huge bruises under my eyes. The third, day the swelling and pain went down a bit but the sinus drainage was almost too much to bear - sticky goopy stuff making it hard to speak and swallow.
The fourth day, the sinus drainage was so bad I was basically choking on the goop dripping down the back of my throat. Is this normal? Did anyone else have this? I didn't have much pain, a slight burning inside the nostril, like when your nose is too dried out, but it was just so oozy and disgusting and making me nauseous.
I go tomorrow, Monday Jan 28th at 9:45 to get the stents removed from my Septoplasty and maybe I can take a peek of my new nose. I am still very swollen, bruised, puffy, and look weird. My upper lip is stiff and lifeless and just kind of hanging there, which I read was normal.
All in all the recovery has kind of sucked, but it could have been worse. For me, the worst part is the sinus drainage. Freaking ew.
I highly recommend Dr. Totonchi in Cleveland, Ohio if you are looking for a good surgeon.
I am hoping this nose change gives me a boost of confidence I desperately need to get back out there and find my Ted Mosby!

Looking and feeling great. Tip of the nose is still numb and swollen. It looks better every day. It’s constantly changing and and fitting my face. I am so happy and confident. Dr. Totonchi changed my life!!!!!