Ready for part one of my nose surgery story? Here’s the last..

Ready for part one of my nose surgery story? Here’s the last ever selfie with my original face, lol. When I was a kid, I was playing netball like crazy! One evening during a training session, I wasn’t paying attention… I copped a netball straight to the nose and my god… I was in agony. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had fractured my nose. As the years rolled by, my breathing steadily got worse, and I put it to hayfever and severe allergies. Which I definitely had mind you! By the time I was in my early 20’s, I went to 8 different doctors in the space of a few months, looking for answers. But their answer was always ‘take an antihistamine and go home.’ By the 8th doctor, I’d had enough. I could never breathe through my right side, and most days couldn’t breathe through my nose at all from the allergy swelling. I demanded a referral to an Ear Mouth Throat specialist. While this was going on, I also hated the way my nose shape had developed, and it just didn’t seem to stop growing! I’m a tiny chicka, small face, small facial features, and I can’t even put into words how much I dreaded seeing myself from the profile side. Finally my specialist appointment came around, and I took in my CT Scans I’d had done in advance. The surgeon examined me… or tried to… When he attempted to put an endoscope up the right nostril, he found it was impossible to get the scope past my bridge. He loaded my scans up, and went very quiet. He muttered ‘oh dear…’ and stared intently so for long I finally had to break the silence and ask what he could see. Triple the amount of nasal passage tissue, a stupidly small opening to my nose, evidence of an old fracture and a deviated septum. He told me on my right side there was a maximum opening of 2mm, so the second I had a little bit of swelling, no wonder I could never breathe through that side. The fix? A $15,000 surgery. Being freshly 21, having just bought a new secondhand car and no savings to my name, and finding out this surgery couldn’t be covered by private health insurance, I turned around and left. Another ten years passed, and the breathing difficulties had tripled. My throat and ears were constantly itching, the daily pain and the sheer amount of aloe vera tissues I was going through just became a nightmare. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I did my research and booked in to see a new surgeon. This time I was quoted $17,500, and not only would it be medical surgery, but also cosmetic. If I had wanted to break that over two surgeries, I would’ve had to pay that twice… He had a cancellation and was able to fit me in just 3 weeks from then. So I did the only practical thing… I sold my car and booked it in! Prior to this, I’d never had surgery before, never gone under, nothing. I’d lived a very sheltered life haha! So with all the anxiety in the world…. I walked into hospital at 7am, on my own because of Covid restrictions. The whole team were lovely, kept me calm and reassured, got me into this wonderfully fashionable gown and gave me a heated fluffy robe to wear. Not long later, a nurse walked me to my operating theatre (I do feel robbed I wasn’t wheeled in on a bed and lifted onto the operating table like in all the movies and tv shows…) It was very surreal. The anaesthetist loaded me up with drugs, and suddenly a nurse panicked and realised she had to legally get me to say my name and birthdate before going under. I don’t even remember answering (apparently I did). A gas mask appeared, and everything went dark. An hour and a half later… I began to stir. My eyelids wouldn’t open, and I couldn’t move. But I heard something… I concentrated hard… it was music. As I tried to wake up, I realised “hang on, I know this song,” and wondered what the fuck had gone wrong… I was waking up to Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ Stay tuned for part two… Did I get Rick Rolled, was I waking up during surgery…? Or was I dreaming? 😉👃🏻