Septoplasty/Rhinoplasty - Nashville, TN

I had a badly deviated septum that needed to be repaired, and I decided to have a rhinoplasty at the same time.

Day of surgery: Woke up from surgery extremely out of it. Had a really bad headache and my lip hurt (I had maybe bit it during the post surgery recovery. After some time waking up, they got me dressed and sent me home. Took pain meds and anti-nausea meds, had some soup and went to bed.

Day after surgery: Not in much pain from procedure, but taking pain meds due to headache and an extremely sore throat. Spent most of the day in the recliner. The other bad issue going on today was an extremely dry mouth, so throat lozenges have been my best friend. Drinking/swallowing is uncomfortable. Every drink or swallow creates a vacuum effect in the back of my nose which makes me feel like I am struggling for air. Drainage wasn't horrible, and I used saline drops in each nostil several times today as Dr directed. I end the day rinsing out each nostril with a light saline mist and gently cleaning the blood out of only the outermost nostil with a Qtip.

Day two was pretty bad. Very uncomfortable with the packing, and it's hard to drink liquid due to the vacuum effect, so I felt dehydrated. Most of the oozing is gone, so no more mustache. Face is more swollen today, especially under my eyes. Continued pain meds due to headache and throat pain. Used Shower Pill wipes for a sponge bath and managed to brush my teeth and put on clean clothes. At the end of day two, I felt like I had some really bad globby drainage caught in the back of my throat, so I sniffed it back to try to get rid of it, and a huge glob of junk was in my throat. I had to cough to get it out, and when I spit the most horrible looking mass was in the sink. Just awful. I also managed to spit out one of the plastic stints from inside my nose. I called the doctor and he said not to worry about it, that it should be fine. The upside to spitting out the packing material is that I can breathe through my nose, and drinking became significantly easier.

Day three: face was the most swollen so far. Applied ice and arnica and it has gone down throughout the day. Off pain meds, just taking Tylenol. Drinking more so urinating more. Except for the really dry crusty feeling insidey nose I feel pretty good.

Tip: Get Arnica Montana sublingual pellets to start taking immediately after surgery. I wish I had them on Day 1, but I didn't get them until last night and they have already made a significant difference in my swelling overnight. Also, I cannot strongly recommend enough finding a doctor that will NOT use packing in your nose. If you can't, at least find one that will take the packing out the next day or two after surgery. I have been obsessed about reading about this procedure since I had it, and so many doctor's post care instructions mention taking the packing out a day or two after surgery.

Day 4 started off fine. Felt better overall and mood was good. Was able to do a few more things than previous days. However, as the day wore on, my nose started really throbbing and started itching, which is not pleasant since you can't touch anything. I went out to the store with husband driving, and by the time I got home I wished I hadn't gone, at least not without taking some nausea meds (I am a highly nauseous person). Starting to dread the office visit Monday, because even though I badly want this splint off my face, I am not looking forward to the cleaning of the inside of my nose. The doctor only told me to irrigate with saline drops, which I have been doing, but I can still feel a ton of swelling and crusty junk in my nose. I have read that other doctors recommend gently cleaning the inside of the nose with a qtip and saline and or peroxide, but my Dr didn't say to do that. It is incredible how each doctor's follow up advice is so different from the others. Can they not reach a consensus on what is the best practices in post-op care? Anyway, last night was the worst yet for sleeping. Couldn't get comfortable, nose was congested so I was breathing out of my mouth and snoring.