Hello, this is Catalena. I brought a review, but it will probably be more like chatting haha Before and after surgery, I was really, really all over the place. I couldn’t get a grip on anything... ㅜㅜ
First, the day of surgery - in Catalena’s world, the two things that made me anxious were enduring thirst until before surgery and the pressure of having to sleep flat on my back going forward. Some people say these are nothing, but I can tolerate hunger, not thirst, so it was quite exhausting. Right before surgery, they weighed me, and I was so shocked it felt like I had hit the heaviest weight of my life... Seriously, I only ate hard at home, and I gained weight... a lot.
After roughly getting ready, I think the consultation was when I was the most nervous. Because I was so desperate ㅜㅜ Still, I stayed sharp and carefully listened to the final explanation of how the surgery would proceed, which was easy to understand, and then went into the operating room. The anesthesiologist came in, I greeted them, and I don’t think we exchanged many words, but general anesthesia happened in an instant, and my next memory was me waking up. Did the nurses call my name... And I heard Dr. Hyuntaek’s voice, so while my throat hurt, I mumbled and asked, “Did it go well?” He kindly said the surgery went well haha ^^ Hearing that made me feel so relieved. I was under general anesthesia for quite a long time, but waking up was not hard. After a little time, I walked with support, tottering over to the inpatient room, and I did not have major dizziness or pain. But when lying down, I had a thick needle inserted in one arm, and autologous costal cartilage had been harvested from the other side, so I was at a loss about where to lean when lying down and getting up. As expected, every time I got up or lay down, an “ugh” sound came out automatically. There was a mirror there, but because I saw myself already swollen like now, I have no idea about the nose line. It is really very swollen, but I kept thinking, how did that severe contracted nose become this much... It’s fascinating... and I’m wishing in my heart that as the swelling goes down, the nasal tip will come down a little more haha
It was a truly awful night physically. Even with water right in front of me, I had to wait two hours before I could drink it. Of all days, I was on my period that day, so even normally, just sitting still makes my body unusually swollen, sore all over, and exhausted, so it would have been normal for me to keep dozing off, but sleeping comfortably has to be postponed for a while anyway. Then eventually I couldn’t stand it anymore and just drank the water. I thought, I can finally live... and then hiccups started...... ㅜㅜ My upper body shook, and I panicked, wondering if my stitches would pop out, but after doing that about five times and drinking as much as I wanted, I got used to it. Later I asked the nurse, and she said she had never seen a case like this before... hahaha oh my goodness.. After that, I drank water very carefully and gently. I drank one and a half bottles of water. Because I kept waking up and couldn’t sleep, whenever the nurse came at good timing to give antibiotics, I was already awake and getting ready to go to the bathroom.. After repeating that a few times, just when I thought I might finally fall asleep, it was morning, and I was told they would remove the IV and I could be discharged, so I ended up being discharged. I was still half asleep.... I only realized after arriving home that I hadn’t even shown my condition to the doctor, but then I got sleepy again and fell asleep. So in the end, the coordinator called twice to check on me, asked if I could come the next day, made an appointment, and I went again this morning hahaha
From the time I got home, only my nose and throat hurt badly, and my rib or ear did not hurt at all. Still, because of my nose and throat, I am continuing to take Tylenol together. This morning I went in, saw Dr. Hyuntaek, had my condition checked, and was happy to learn that, in conclusion, the surgery was done without silicone, using costal cartilage for the nasal bridge and support, and using ear cartilage. It also made me feel reassured that it was made only of my own cartilage, and I was happy to hear once again that the surgery went well. ^*^ After that, they told me to receive one session of oxygen therapy before leaving today, so I went into an oxygen tank? and came back out. It was cozy, so... I almost fell asleep haha Since they did almost everything with costal cartilage, it took nearly six hours. I was under general anesthesia for quite a long time, so I understand it probably helps with recovery, and since I like unusual things, it was fun lying inside haha (My ears felt a little blocked. It was tolerable.)
Right now I am very swollen and constantly tired.. enough that I’m postponing everyday conversations with acquaintances..ㅜㅜ I’ll recover slowly and share more stories. How do doctors perform surgery for hours like that? I truly respect them. I may have just been lying there under anesthesia, but they proceed with surgery while continuously caring about the patient.. It really is amazing.. and I feel so, so grateful that they put in that much effort. I’ll focus on recovery so that my progress can stay good until the end!!
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