..::Thursday, March 25, 2004::..
I had 2 diffrent surgerys done to my nose. I had a cronic sinus infection that needed to be taken care of and that what brought me to Dr. Brettshnider. I found out he did Rhinoplast as well and told him I was interested. He told me he could do both for me. After a couple months back and forth in the "Nose, Throat, & Ear Specialist" office I got a phone call 3 days before my surgery telling me there was an opening. I was ready... excited, not nervous at all.
I woke up around 8 on Thursday morning [hungry and not aloud to eat...] ready to go to the hospital. My mom drove me, we had to be there I believe at 9 but the surgery wasn't until 10. They took a small test first then they placed me in a room only divided by a curtain and popped in the movie "Mouse Hunt" for me to watch while I was waiting. My mom and dad waited with me but my mom left shortly after to go pick up KT and Joey from school so they could see me go. During this time they pumped all these fluids through the IV in my arm and explained procedures, made me squirt this nose stuff up my nose every 5 minutes [it was gross.]
It wasn't until 11 they started rolling me into the operating room. I don't remember much, they put me to sleep. I just know I woke up in another curtained room with my mom, dad, Joey, and KT sitting around me. I remember telling my mom to shut up or something cuz she was trying to talk to me and I was out of it. I left the hospital around 4pm that evening and went to my dads house.

..::After the Surgery::..
I couldn't breathe b/c they stuffed these damn gel packs up my nose [part of the sinus surgery] it made me cry all the time. I had to breathe out of my mouth and sleep in my dads leather lazy boy chair with my head elevated. I took pain pills that would either help me get to sleep or make me loopy. I remember waking up that night twice in tears but my dad woke up with me and brought me water and stuff.
On Friday I woke up and took the 3 diffrent kinds of medicine I was perscribed. My dad made me breakfast and I ate it all. I remember him being surprised I ate everything. My neck was hurting because of how I had to sleep. All i did was watch TV that day, I few friends stopped by including my cousin Auds and her boyfriend. I know that made my night. I got plenty of phone calls too and they helped probably more than they know it. I think most people thought I didn't want to talk and tried to keep it short but it was the other way around... I needed to talk to people, I was about to be housebound with a 2 week recovery. ahh.

..::The next few days...::..
I woke up crying probably the next 2 night and then I was fine. I had occasional pain but nothing serious. Not much of the pain I had was from the Rhinoplasty, most of it was from the sinus surgery. I went to the doctors on Tuesday. They put me in a seprate waiting room so people wouldn't stare [there was lots of people in the waiting room and he was running late.] I remember him taking the gel packs out, I was in tears... it hurt. Those things were huge and there was more than one in each side. I remember him squirting this stuff up my nose that dripped down into my throat and it tasted and smalled NASTY. eww. I took a pain pill as soon as I got home, it was a relief to have the gel packs out, and I could kind of breathe again.

..::Getting the Cast off::..
Wednesday, March 31, 2004. 8:25AM was my appointment. I was nervous because I had read on the internet that this was the worst part of the whole surgery, getting the cast off. I found out soon this wasn't true. He put alchohol on my nose and it slipped right off. What hurt was when he took the few stiches out from underneith my nose. OUCH! He pulled them out one by one and of course they were bleeding. This was what I thought was one of the worst parts of the surgery. He gave me a mirror, it was still yellow, bruised, and swollen. It still looked good though, I was happy with the results. Pleased. He told me I still had to sleep in the chair until next Tuesday [damn it] and that I couldn't take a shower until Saturday [another damn it... i had been taking baths about every other day... it sucked] He patched up where the stiches were b/c they didn't heal how he had wanted. It's kind of like a band-aid though.

..::April 1, 2004::..
There are small bruises still under my eyes that I attempted [unsuccessfully] to cover up with make-up. It is still swollen and is still an ugly yellow color. Looks good though. I'm happy.

..::April 6, 2004::..
I had another doctors appointment today. I went in and the first thing he said was "Still swollen" and it is. Most people can't see how swollen it is though, and you can't put too much pressure on it yet cuz there is a slight pain. I get headaches over little things because it throbs inbetween my eye brows which I believe right now is where it may be swollen the most? I'm probably wrong though. He told me I will still be sleeping straight up with my head elevated for at least another half of week. He put lots of pressure on my nose with his hands and it hurt. You could see his finger prints on my nose afterwards. He said "I'm just doing some molding, I won't be able to do this in a week." Basically I think he was moving some bones around in there and it hurt like hell, I had a bad headache for sure after that. I love the results though, I can't wait until the healing is complete... I only got about 5 1/2 months to go.