Great Surgery Experience Today - Will Be Updating

I've relied so much on reviews from the site in moving forward with my decision to get rhinoplasty AND choosing Dr. Grigoryants, that I feel like I need to return the favor (even though I'm a very private person).
I'm on day 1, got out of surgery about 3 hours.
I did my in-person consultation two weeks ago and paid for it after. He knew exactly what I wanted, as soon as I sat down. In fact, he didn't ask me what I wanted, he said "here's what I recommend we do" and touched on everything I had wanted without me even asking. Honestly, that did make me feel good - and also a little less bad about wanting a new nose! He saw what I saw.
My pre-op was about 15 minutes as I didn't have a lot to ask him. Staff was friendly, and I got in and out in an hour.
Day Of (Monday)
Staff were all super friendly and terrific. My favorite part- my nurse taking care of me, had rhinoplasty done by Dr. G 2.5 years ago - she left her hospital job 3 weeks ago to come work for him. I thought that spoke volumes, and was so happy to be treated by a nurse who went through the exact thing I was going into.
Anesthesiologist was very friendly and answered all of my questions. I talked to him for about 10 minutes. Dr. G also came to see me before surgery, and this time, he asked to go over everything I wanted again. I did so, and he gave his good feedback and answered my questions. That was all I remember before waking up!
The whole appt took 5 hours. I arrived at 9am and was picked up at 2pm. They called my friend at 1:30pm and said I would be out soon. They also gave me gauze, tape, and water, and a nurse wheeled me out to the car. I was really at peace and happy when I woke up.
Pain was a little rough - about a 4-5, so the nurse gave me some pain medication through the IV which helped super quickly and got down to a 2. I did take my pain med in the car too, which has helped a lot, including with the soreness in my throat from not being able to breathe through my nose. My pain is still about 2 right now (4 hours post-op) so no complaints.
I'll keep you updated!
What I wanted: refined tip, lift from the droopy front, shaved down sides of nose, smaller nostrils, and the tiny bump shaved down. I also asked if he could make it so my nostrils wouldn't move out when I smile, and he said that wasn't doable, but that they would be smaller (I loved the honesty/realism). He also said he couldn't shave my bump down too much, and lifting my tip would help give me more of the curved profile I wanted.

Whew! I had a bit of a rough week, but overall it wasn't miserable - I was bracing myself for worse. Some notes about my first week, post-surgery.
Day 3 and Day 4 were the worst. One of my eyes was completely swollen shut both of those days, but I could fully see out of my eye on Day 5. It concerned me slightly, just because nobody ever had posted a pic of them with an eye swollen shut! But I read that others had indeed experienced it, so I kept icing. I was super groggy both of those days and kept napping. I didn't want to do anything productive at all except sit in bed and watch TikToks. If I could do it over again, I would have made myself walk for 30 minutes to help reduce swelling (learned my lesson on Day 5)
I stopped taking painkillers after my first morning one, on Day 4. I think this is a good move because of how incredibly addicting they can become for some people, so quickly. If I felt a headache coming on, I just popped Tylenol (only needed it twice).
I had beeing taking the anti-nausea pill regularly for 3 days although I never knew if I needed it. On Day 4 I experienced a bit of nausea for the first time, and it did help get rid of it.
Day 1 and Day 2 were kind of the easiest, I was very bruised but not very swollen. It soon flipped...
Not being able to breathe out of my mouth actually got pretty easy and wasn't always on my mind. Only a couple times did I wake up at night with a super dry throat - but a painkiller, throat spray, or water fixed it. During the day, my throat never hurt.
I didn't really ice the first two days...big mistake. It was hard fitting my ice pack on my face, and I wasn't very swollen and I thought it would just get better from there. I was totally wrong and my face started to blow up on Day 3. When I looked up tips on reducing swelling, I read that you should start icing the impacted areas *before* they start to swell, for the best results. I didn't do that, so I'm not sure if it would have prevented my face becoming a balloon, but maybe!
I propped up a lot of pillows on my bed, and usually also had on a travel neck pillow, so sleeping while propped up wasn't so bad either. It was pretty easy the first few days. I started to get a little bit of neck pain on Day 4 and Day 5 from sleeping like that, so I ended up moving down a little and/or turning my head to the side. Didn't seem to big of a deal in efforts to be more comfortable.
When I called to schedule my cast removal (yes, you need to call and schedule it after surgery), she told me I could pick either Friday (5 days) or Saturday (6 days). I asked if it's better to keep the cast on as long as possible, and she said it didn't matter at all just depended on my schedule. I picked Saturday to play it safe.
Fast forward today: the nurse took my cast off as gently as possible, but I definitely had a couple of sharp pain moments from her pulling the stitching out and messing with the dried blood on the skin. Painful, but brief. I actually took half of one of the opioids before I got there, to help with this - maybe it did. The removal of the splint itself wasn't painful but just felt super weird for a brief sec. She also gave me a roll of tape and showed me how to apply it to my nose every night, and remove in the morning.
Then Dr. G came in to check things out. He said everything looked wonderful and that the swolleness between my eyes would dissipate the fastest so I can see my face again, soon, and really see how my nose will start to look. He looked carefully for anymore stitching that needed to be removed, pushed down on the sides of my nose to feel the bone (ouch), and said some nice things about how it all turned out, and that was it! He said he wants to see me back in 3 months.
So my thoughts! Guys, I'm super swollen :(. I feel like I swelled up a little more than most do and when I look in the mirror, no part of my face looks like myself. But, my nose does look nice. It looks a teensy bit smaller than before, other than the bridge part between my eyes (google an avatar na'vii, and that's literally me), I can see a little bit of definition on my nose but it is all so swollen...but promising! Overall, I'm very happy with it. I wasn't expecting to see much today, so I wasn't disappointed at all.
My little tiny bump on the bridge is gone, and I have a nicer slope, and my nostrils do look smaller. Everything is currently symmetrical! The rest is just plain swollen, but I'm hopeful it will all look pretty different in a week. On Day 4, I started realizing a teensy bit of air was going out of my left nostril, so I was glad it was already starting to clear up! It's Day 6 and after the saline spray and a neti pot (I highly recommend!!) I am still clogged, but can gently push air out of both nostrils if I push it (not too hard).
I just really miss not having a chipmunk face and being able to taste food! :'( That's the hardest thing for me right now. I'm very happy that my nose looks nice and the worst is behind me, but if only I could enjoy the taste of my food! Will update again soon... xx

Sharing this photo so you can see the nice slope that’s developed. My face is still puffy and doesn’t look like “me” quite yet, but I think l get there in 2-3 days. My nose is coming in wonderfully though!