Recovery: 11 Days Post-Op

SUMMARY:
Pain = none
Congestion = much better than a few days ago, it feels like about 50% back to normal nose breathing
Swelling = still a tiny bit on the cheeks, swelling on the nose seems noticeably better than yesterday which is cool
Bruising = some faint yellow on my cheeks, can mostly cover with makeup, though I think my face overall has a yellow tint now? or maybe it's my imagination. Either way i need new foundation.

Today feeling like things have improved pretty noticeably. If I remember correctly, when I woke up, my mouth was closed! This is amazing. It means in my sleep i was able to breathe through the nose like normal, and not sleep with my mouth open for the first time since surgery. We'll see how things go tonight, but overall the congestion is better. Both nostrils have air coming through, feels like 50% congested compared to normal.

I still feel kind of strange touching my nose. I doesn't hurt, a little tender but no pain. Mainly it just feels like it's not my nose, like someone glued it onto my face. This is probably due to the numbness, overall tenderness, and also stitches are still in there, so there is some tightness. But a couple stitches came out today! They should all be out by week 4. When the stitches come out they look like little tiny yellow boogers, and it's very satisfying, haha.

I probably look at my nost as often as I used to, the only difference is now I am thrilled with how it's shaping up, whereas before i would always imagine how it could look without the hump.

As far as daily ritual goes, i've got a system down that seems to be working well. I tape the nose as much of the day as possible, and all night during sleep. It's great that I work from home, so most days I'm only a few hours without tape. The tape acts like a light version of a nose cast, and helps keep the swelling & congestion down. I can tell it really does help, when i take it off you can see a tiny indent where the edge was. Also since it's only been 11 days, it helps me feel more secure and less fragile with the new nose, especially with a very active toddler around. I've never used so many q-tips and vaseline in my life. Already gone through 2 huge boxes of q-tips and the big size of vaseline. Seems like you can't do enough of the vaseline in the nose.

Congestion still being my main issue, I obsessively put vaseline in the nose like the doc said, and alternate that with tons of Ocean saline spray (non addictive). It does help keep the nose moist, and as I read on a few other helpful blogs, it can make any mucous stuck up there soft enough to gently blow out, thus clearing your nose more. Helps me feel like i'm getting stuff out. So basically doing this all day, all night long, and will continue for the next month. I'm anxious to get back to my neti pot rinse daily, but i'm going to wait another week so i'm sure there won't be a repeat nose bleed gushing out.

Hoping my yellowish jaundice tint goes away soon, and also looking forward to each day, as there really is significant improvement overall day-to-day, it's pretty exciting.