Finally Getting Rhinoplasty - Washington, DC

So today is 8 days after my surgery and I officially returned to work....but I wish I hadn't. The stress from the commute/working made me very congested. The skin around my nose is also very dry and still have marks on it from the cast. The make up didn't cover it very well because my skin was so dry the make up just sort of flaked off. By the end of the day people were commenting that I sounded sick, looked a little pale and two of my students noticed my black eye and asked me if I was OK (aww).

Ideally I would have left early and taken tomorrow off for more rest but I'm not. I took a huge nap today when I got home and am not going to exercise this week. (Also note: I teach special education at a small private school so I don't have the physical stress of a typical classroom teacher ...I have only 3-4 students per class so I don't have to move around very much since we all sit a group. I do have to talk a lot, though).

I'll update the pictures in a few weeks and let you know how its going.

Cast off! It was a bit of a shock looking at my nose without the cast on. It looked so much smaller....and it didnt look like me. Around my nose is yellow, swollen, puffy and the cast has left marks on the skin that look funny. I put on make up to cover it and I can see casually it doesn't appear to be weird but when you come close to my face you can tell somethings amiss about my face.

It feels a little more tender w/o the cast, more vulnerable. Anyway, no doctor for a month, told me to be careful and not bump it! But I love it! It's def. all become of Dr. Lindsey. He told me when I first came in - "you don't have a terrible nose, but its distracting from your other features. So we'll get rid of the hump, take the tip in. We'll make your nose less distracting from your other features and but the rest of your face in balance." Thats just what he did! He's a real no nonsense kind of a guy and totally friendly, reliable... I wish I had more questions, etc. for him but I never did! He said I can run, go back to work, do whatever.....just don't bump the nose. I can feel how fragile it is, so I'm going to be careful for sure.

So its been.. 5 days since surgery and things are going well. I mean, I can't say for certain when the cast comes off I'll be happy, but I can pretty much see more of my tip and have a general sense of what the shape of things are and I love it! I mean, I couldn't be more excited for the cast to come off just so I can not have this big bulky thing on my face more than to see my actual nose...'cos from what I see so far I love it! Friday was the first day I was actually able to move around and feel like "a real person."

I went for a walk today, 5 miles! But I kept it at a really, really slow pace and made sure I could breath through my nose the whole time (I typically run 20+ miles/week, so this whole "no exercise thing" has been a real bummer for me). Still sleeping elevated, I was able to wash/clean myself w/o getting my nose cast wet... taking some pain pills but... no real pain and the discomfort has gone down considerably. A little black and blue under my left eye.. but it was covered pretty well with make up yesterday. I am thinking about taking off work on Tuesday (I'm a teacher and have been on break since last Monday) but I really don't think it'll be necessary. No softball for another 2 weeks though...

Tell you the truth, before my nose job I was breaking out with acne, my knee was really bothering me, I had big bags under my eyes... with all this no alcohol, bed rest/sleep and relaxation my skins cleared up, my knees feel great and I'm feeling way more energized.

I'll post some pictures once I get the cast off and let you have a gander... =)