The last year has been crazy for our family and we have worked through a lot. One of the things that I have been personally working on is being my best self - emotionally, physically and spiritually. Emotionally - been through a lot of personal and marriage counseling and am really working to be the very best version of myself. Physically - have lost and kept off 20lbs in the last year and have been working out at least 4-5 times/week. Spiritually - Have been journaling a ton, and have never depended and turned to the Lord as much as I have over the last year.
Well, after losing all of that weight, my face got pretty thin and I just started feeling very frustrated about how much bigger my nose has become, and how the tip has really become curved over the last 5 years. I also knew I probably had a deviated septum because I sleep and run with my mouth open, and can barely breathe through my nose. I prayed about this for about 4 months and then talked to Jason about wanting to fix my nose, and that is when this became a reality.
I saw Dr. Spencer, he is the only board certified facial plastic surgeon in nose jobs, which basically means he only works on the face so that is his speciality. He's not a doctor that does noses one day and boobs the next, only faces and does at least one rhinoplasty a week. I got 4 recommendations from people in the area, and even talked to a friend that had a rhinoplasty with him 10 years ago. Everyone had wonderful things to say about him and I felt pretty confident in my decision.
Beginning of January: Talked to Jason about it
Feb 3, 2023: Consultation appt (was originally scheduled for May 19 but I kept calling and calling and got in on a cancelled appt)
July 5, 2023: Surgery date
July 13, 2023: Cast removal
October 20, 2023: Three month check up
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| Consultation appt in Feb, I am just giddy to be there |
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| The doctor told me that my deviated septum was like the top right pic |
Pictures of my nose from February at the consultation appointment:
Pictures before surgery on July 5, 2023:
The surgery was supposed to take 4 hours, but it ended up taking 7 hours. Dr. Spencer knew that I really hated my curved tip, so actually ended up re-doing that again as he wasn't happy how it turned out the first time. He also said that I had a lot of extra skin, and there were just a lot of things to focus on for me - deviated septum, bump, curved tip, shorten length and thin up the tip. I was asleep for all of it, and Jason was there to take me home.
Over the next 8 days with the cast, it actually was nothing like I thought it would be. The hardest part in the beginning was just controlling the excessive bleeding, knowing how much to clean, and sleeping upright. I stayed on top of the drugs and always knew when I was hitting the 3 hour mark because I would start hurting. Jason and Taylor honestly took incredible care of me that week (other girls were at camp), and I felt very lucky. I took a picture each day:
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| Day 1 - driving home after surgery |
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| Jason changed out my bandages every few hours and never complained |
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| End of day 1 |
I had a lot of drugs that I had to stay on top of. I was not really loopy at all so I was easily able to manage all of this:
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| Day 2 |
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| Day 3 |
On day 3, I was really nervous that I couldn't make it through the weekend as my Oxy was going to run out, so I called the doctor and he gave me another prescription. He then requested that I come in because he wanted to check and see how all of my extra skin was healing. Jason had a meeting but was able to drop me off, and then I ubered home cuz I couldn't drive and I really didn't want to bother anyone.
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| Day 3 in the office |
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| Day 4 |
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| Day 5 |
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| Started getting really nervous about not pooping in 5 days so brought in some goodies |
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| Day 6 |
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| Day 7 |
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| Day 8 |
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| Day 9 - last picture with the splint |
When they removed the cast and the splint inside, it felt SO GOOD to get those things out of my nose. I didn't get sick either which I know can be common. It was just such a relief to have everything off. However, I sort of had an emotional day and didn't really love what I saw. I thought that it looked too big and didn't turn out as great as I thought. However, Jason was actually the one that made me feel a lot better when I got home reassuring me that it looked awesome.
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| The splint is out! |
Splint off pictures on day 9:
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| End of day 9 - was getting excited about the results and how natural it looked |
Here are the before and day 9 comparison pics that I made in order to make sure there was an actual change (these pics made me feel a lot better about the improvement):
Here are the comparisons on my 3 month check up:
I'm feeling really great now. It is still sensitive and swollen on the inside, so it isn't optimal breathing yet, but I love my nose so much now. It just finally feels proportionate to my face!
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