Welcome to part two of my nose surgery story! (Part one is j..

Welcome to part two of my nose surgery story! (Part one is just below if you wanna catch up!) ... My eyes were tightly closed and refusing to open, I couldn't move my arms or legs. All I could do, was lay there listening to Rick Astley. 😑 A voice spoke from my left, a nurse explaining I was in the recovery room and waking up. "Can you open your eyes Elizabeth?" "No... They won't open" I replied. The nurse laughed, and told me she'd come back and check on me soon. I started trying to wiggle my fingers, and eventually got some movement going. Finally I could peek out, spotted a clock, and that damn radio on a shelf nearby. As if a private hospital couldn't afford a speaker and a Spotify account... Fast forward to getting dressed and moved into a chair, I took the first selfie on this post and sent it to the group chat of friends and family to let them know I was alive. My surgeon came to visit me and pulled a grimacing face. Uh oh... He assured me the surgery went perfectly, however to expect some shocking black eyes and to ice up and not to fall behind on my painkillers. Did I listen? Oh no. Little Lizzie underestimated what was to come. So I walked into the hospital at 7am, and was wheeled out in a wheelchair at 1pm. No overnight stay! I had to walk with assistance, and once back to the Airbnb I followed the surgeons orders and a pack of frozen peas became my best friend. (see image 5, my favourite photo 😂) I learned fast why you're meant to take every painkiller the hour you're meant to... I woke at 4am to a strange feeling. It wasn't a burning pain or anything you'd typically feel. I knew I was in serious pain, but I was feeling it in a very odd way I can't even explain. I'll never forget the desperate wait for the painkillers to kick in. A rigorous medication schedule was created, and never disobeyed after that. The next morning I experienced an unforeseen complication. I didn't know it then, but I was having an allergic reaction to the tape. (image 7, she's beauty, she's grace!) My eyelids continued to swell from that photo, and it got downright scary to the point I could barely see and there were concerns my airway could become compromised. Luckily this was solved by a huge dose of antihistamines! If you're wondering what on earth is up my nose in all those photos, they put silicone splints in there (basically tubes) that were stitched in. I tried my hardest not to think about it for that first week. Before this, I'd ever had stitches in my life. Sometimes I could breathe through them, but after day 3 I couldn't at all and went back to being a hot mouth breather 🔥 👄 Over my nose was a big plastic cover, then taped over to an inch of its life. It was seriously uncomfortable and possibly one of the worst weeks of my life towards the end of it. I was finding it hard to sleep, and then I experienced hallucinations while coming off my pain meds and simultaneously going through nicotine withdrawal. I kept hallucinating about a creepy man dressed in black breaking into my bedroom. (Really it was my coat stand with my black work coat on it... 🫡 ) Finally the splints came out, which goes down as another shocking experience. It's pain-free for most patients... I, however... Was completely numb outside my nose, but could feel every.little.thing. on the inside. Hell. Actual hell. After that followed 9 weeks of taping up my nose every night and watching it like a hawk every day as it changed shape. 6 months on, I'm half way there in the healing process! I'll be considered fully healed 12 months in, so July this year! Even day to day now I'll notice swelling come and go, and sometimes I'll have a day or two of my nose looking wonky because just one side is misbehaving. The tip of my nose is still numb and I have a dissolvable stitch who decided not to fully dissolve, giving me a run for my money. Overall, I would say my breathing has bettered by 100%, no joke. Food tastes better, I'd say taste has increased by 30% than before! I'm still coming to terms with how different it looks, especially from the side. It's going to take awhile to adjust. I spent YEARS disguising my huge nose, so much so, that a lot of you probably don't see much difference. But when I show side by side photos, it's a little hectic. I'll post some before and after photos in a minute, and then I'll be done with my surgery story! Feels nice to write about it and reflect. Although I'm SO glad I did it, (zero regrets!) I just don't think I could ever do that again. That was a once in a lifetime experience for suuure! 👃