My nose is low and long. When I was about 4 or 5, I fell forward while going up some stairs and hit my nose. I don’t know how many stitches I got then, but from how it felt, I think the doctor bastard didn’t anesthetize me. I writhed in pain throughout the surgery. Anyway, I think that’s the reason my nose is low. It’s definitely not because my father’s nose is low.
Anyway, to say it in advance, I’m a bit of an ignorant guy. I was too lazy to go around to different plastic surgery clinics, so I just got a recommendation from an acquaintance and decided to have the surgery there.
The surgery date came, but since I’m the type who lives without much thought, I remember getting anesthetized while grinning and without being nervous at all until I got onto the operating table.
The operating table was cold, and they covered my body with something like a blanket, but the nurse’s touch was warm, which I liked. They tied my hands and feet to the operating table... and when they yanked out the nose hairs, surprisingly it didn’t hurt. Until the nurse accidentally pinched my skin, that is, lol.
I didn’t bring lip balm when I left home, but I hope you definitely do. I thought, of course it’s nose surgery, so they won’t touch my mouth, so I didn’t bring any, but they went hard with alcohol on my face, my lips, and even my ears. While feeling the lip balm on my lips get wiped away, I was thinking, ah... this is going to sting like crazy when I go home... and then the anesthetic went in, I yelled, “Kweh!” and passed out.
Only for a moment though... The director and the nurses started waking me up like crazy. “Wow! Is it already over?!” Not at all. I was half-dreaming, half-awake, thinking, “Where am I, who am I?” My face was still covered with cloth, I could hear the machine running, and it felt like my nose was being torn apart. I started to gradually understand what was going on.
A few years ago, I suddenly remembered something like awake surgery or return surgery, where someone wakes up in the middle of an operation and screams. Was this that? A bunch of random thoughts like that came up in my head.
So I figured I should let them know how I was doing. I screamed, “Kyaaah!”
The director said, “We woke you up because you weren’t breathing.” Ahaha, honestly, you should have just not woken me up. You should have just let me die, ahahahahaha.
I was the type of person who used to sleep on my side... If I lay flat on my back, there really were times when I couldn’t breathe.
Anyway, while he spoke so calmly and cut behind my right ear with something like a grinder, I strangely also stayed calm and thought, “Ahh~ So this is taking cartilage from my ear, wow~~~”
Maybe because of the anesthesia, the surgery went on without being too painful, just at a tolerable level.
I was still half-asleep, but I could think clearly. First of all, I really wanted to breathe properly, but it was hard because I couldn’t swallow my saliva. My mouth was incredibly dry
While I was going through this experience of having my face messed with(?), just when I thought, “This is actually a pretty interesting experience,” they must have anesthetized me again. I went, “Kweh!” and passed out again.
Then they woke me up a second time, and this time I had been sleeping so well that I almost cursed in my sleep;; This time the surgery was really over, so I decided to forgive everything that happened earlier.
I’ve seen people ramble after waking up from anesthesia, so I kept doing mind control, swearing to myself over and over that I would never make a mistake.
“Sir, please wake up~” “Please leave out the carrots in the curry.” “Excuse me?”
What kind of dream was I having, exactly?
So I lay in the recovery room for about 10 minutes, heard the instructions, and went home.
When I got home, I watched a few review videos, and some people were hospitalized for three days, and some had surgery while wearing a breathing apparatus or something like that, but I think not wearing one was a stroke of genius. Everyone said their throat hurt like it was being torn apart after the surgery, but my throat was completely fine. Instead, I had to experience my face being ripped around, but still;;
The hospital told me to come back the next day, so I just took the subway there, and it felt like everyone was looking at me. That feeling reminded me of my first love. She was at Sookmyung, and at a cafe in front of the school she was chugging an Americano and acting like a cool city guy. Then suddenly she pulled me and took me to the school cafeteria.
Was this what it felt like to be the only man left in the world? I remember not knowing where to look and following along with my face buried in my scarf like a turtle.
Sigh... are you doing well?.. I think of you sometimes.
Anyway, I got a similar feeling back then. “Don’t look at me... if we make eye contact, I’m really dead...”
Ah, so embarrassing..
When I arrived at the hospital, they asked, “If your nose feels uncomfortable, should we pull out the gauze?” At that moment my brain went into full gear. “Hm, if I take it out now, there might be problems later. And if I have it removed the day after surgery, it’s definitely going to hurt terribly, right? I should say I’ll have it removed on day 3 like other people.”
“No, it’s perfectly fine right now.” “Oh? It must be really uncomfortable though~?” “No, it feels like my nose is completely full, so the sense of fullness is excellent.” It was the perfect answer.
That day, after making a two-hour round trip to the hospital, I only got swelling management and went home.
And yesterday I had the gauze removed.
When I got to the hospital, they first removed the tape on the tip of my nose. There were self-dissolving stitches attached to the tape on the tip of my nose, so
“Sir, I’ll remove the tape first~” “Gyaaah!” “Oh my!”
As they removed the tape, the stitches came off with it, and my eyes welled up then. What kind of a man sheds tears over something this small? I’m sorry, Father.
I was confident the gauze removal wouldn’t hurt. Because I wasn’t having it removed on day 3, but on day 4.
“Sir, now I’ll remove the gauze~” “Gyaaah!” “Oh my!” “Gyaaah!” “Oh my!”
Why does the human nose have two nostrils? It’s good that the nurse skillfully pulled it out without any pause... Someone once said it’s pain like having your brain pulled out through your nose...
Wow... to me it felt like my soul was being dragged out.
If tears had just pooled when the tape was first removed, then tears actually flowed while they were removing the two of them. What kind of man cries over something like this? I’m sorry, Father.
The problem was, that wasn’t the end. “Sir, now I’ll disinfect it~” “Gyaaah!” *snort*
I think I heard a snort of laughter.
And then they told me to try breathing through my nose, but it hurt too much so I couldn’t even imagine doing it. I think I almost cried. At least breathing was okay, and after the swelling management ended, I could gradually breathe more or less.
My pain was worth it, and I felt like I had been reborn. I still had that protective device on my nose or whatever it was, but I was proud of myself for enduring all that pain! So on the way home, I no longer walked hunched over like a turtle, and instead walked with my head held straight up. Whenever I made eye contact with someone, I thought, ‘Hehe, you guys don’t know this kind of pain, do you?! This hurts like crazy~’ while walking.
But when you pass through the subway ticket gates, there’s usually a mirror or something like that, right? I stood in front of the mirror wanting to see my proud face once, but because I had cried so much earlier, my eyes were all puffy and bloodshot red. And I had been walking around confidently, making eye contact with people with that face up there.
Ah, so embarrassing