Day 1 Post Op

Well, I made it through the procedure -- thanks to a little friend, Valium. Arrived at the Mason City Surgery Center at about 9 on Thursday morning. As is the case in our surgical department at HCMH, the place was freezing and I was not dressed for it but that didn't really matter. I had to undress and put a gown and beautiful, stylin' footie slippers on anyway. At least they gave me heated blankets! Also had to take out my nose pierce (I totally forgot to do this before I left home!). After answering the same questions two or three times for two to three different people, Dr. Jalukar came in and numbed up my nose. A nurse came and wheeled me back to the OR where he then proceeded to remove a piece of my left lateral tip of my nose. After that we just kind of waited around for about 20 minutes to hear from the lab to be sure that the margins were clear. After that call came back, they then had to "fill in the hole" That seemed to take forever. First they had to figure out just how they were going to approach doing so. Then the actual procedure itself and the tedious sutures they put in took a while. I just laid there and listened to the suction and felt the tugging, etc. Once it was over, they cleaned all the betadine off my face and neck and took me to the recovery area where I had a diet Coke (aaahhh!) and a soda cracker. I was soooo cold that I sent Mike to Hy-Vee Drugtown across the street to see if they had a sweatshirt but the only sweatshirt they had was a Hawkeye one and he didn't think he dared come back with that one! (He was right!) When we left, I got in the car and turned on the heated seat. We drove through an Arby's at Clear lake for lunch and headed home so that I could take my Lortab, Keflex and a nap. I slept in a recliner all night so I could keep my head raised a little and it prevents me from rolling over (I tend to be a tummy sleeper!). The area was bandaged yesterday and this is what it looked like when I removed the bandage this morning. I will try and post again tomorrow with a day 2 pic. Hopefully this swelling goes down a little!