Surgery by;
Dr. Carli MD in Riverside, CA

I have decided to share with this site my overall experience with Dr. Carli, MD in Riverside, California. 

I have always been self conscious of my nose ever since my Junior High School years.  I never liked anyone looking at my profile and would always try to avoid it thinking that I was going to be thought less of by my school mates and that no one would want to be my friend.  Of course, this way of thinking was very childish, but then again, I WAS a child! Although I DID have MANY friends throughout my adolescent years, there was always that cruel classmate that would tease me about my nose.  I also had been born with my left earlobe deformed … not too bad, but it WAS obvious.  Kind of looked like a butterfly/butt cheeks LOL!  The teasing never helped of course and I started to notice my “defects” more and more every day. 

I have always sung since I was 5 years old and I never felt self conscious until, like I said, Jr. High.  For some reason when I was on stage I felt that I could not move around the stage freely and act how I wanted to because I was afraid that my profile would make the audience not like me and of course I would look “UGLY!”  As I got older this self-consciousness grew and grew and GREW!  I continued singing and my parents and family always assured me that there was nothing to worry about my nose.  I then met my husband when I was 18 and we married shortly after.  He loved me for whom I was and never EVER saw anything wrong with me… this helped me very much and I kind of forgot about the whole nose and ear thing.  But as my career scaled up to something more, I began to, AGAIN, feel self conscious about my appearance. 

Well, in a nutshell, those were more or less my feelings about myself, now let’s move on to my experience with the surgery. 

PRE-OP VISITS

I had 3 Pre-op visits with Dr. Carli, a WONDERFUL plastic surgeon in the city of Riverside, California.  I had been to other Plastic Surgeons here in Riverside and San Bernardino County, but didn’t feel comfortable enough to move on with them as I did with Dr. Carli.  I REALLY liked his attitude and seriousness about the whole procedure.  He was not the typical doctor that would laugh and crack jokes here and there.  He was EXTREMELY professional in every way.  He was realistic and made the procedure very easy to understand.  I asked him a bunch of questions about my voice, most importantly, pain level, recovery … etc and he was very helpful and understanding.  It was then that I decided that he was going to be THE ONE!!!

SURGERY DAY/Wed Jan. 25, 2006

Well, what can I say; I was a little more nervous than I had anticipated.  I have NEVER had ANY type of surgery in my life nonetheless been under general anesthesia.  My check in time was at 8:00am and I was there on the dot!  I took my husband and my Mother in Law with me for support since my Parents and siblings live out of state.  I was a little disappointed because they couldn’t come into the prep/recovery room as I thought they would.  But no biggie...  I am a big girl and I knew there was no turning back now.  I walked in and a sweet nurse greeted me and handed me a gown and a cap.  She told me to put it on, leave my underwear and socks on, and put my belongings in one of the lockers.  I did as I was told and headed back to my bed.  At this point, there were two nurses at my bedside and they were both as sweet as honey.  They were VERY comforting and caring towards me and tried to explain everything that they were going to be doing.  Then the doctor comes in to examine my nose and my ear, making sure what it is that HE is going to be doing.  He is also very comforting.  At this point I am no longer as nervous as I was walking in.  I was very relaxed until I saw the IV staring at me from one of those little rolling tables!!!  So at this point the doctor leaves and my nurse tells me that she will be inserting the IV now.  Next thing I know someone from behind the curtain tells the nurse, “WAIT!!  Don’t you want to numb it first??”  I then saw for the first time, my anesthesiologist, Marvin!  What a cool guy!  He came in, gave me a shot of numbing medicine on my hand and WHAT A RELIEF.  The nurse then inserted the IV and I didn’t feel a thing!!!  I felt so lucky!  After the IV was inserted my anesthesiologist told me that he was going to be giving me some “Happy Medicine” and I told him, “Cool!”  So he gave me the “Happy medicine” and after 2 seconds I was feeling as if I had a drank a couple of cosmos.  I was then wheeled into the operating room and the last thing I remember seeing was a huge light above me .....   then....  I woke up!  The surgery was over!  It literally felt like I was asleep for only a couple of minutes!!!  NO JOKE!!!

As soon as I woke up I felt very stuffed and somewhat thirsty but not nauseous at all, as I had been told I might feel.   I also did not feel any soreness in my throat!  That was very important to me because I'm a singer!  THAT IS WHAT I CALL A GOOD ANESTHESIOLOGIST.   I remember having these “things” in my nostrils that were suctioning out blood.  To my surprise it was the nasal packing.  I didn’t know it was going to be like this; all I thought it was going to be like was 2 tampons in my nostrils.  But not a big deal it actually felt good because it was taking out the entire gunk that was in there.  I asked the nurse for some water as I was beginning to get a little thirsty and she gave me some coca-cola.  She told me that she could not give me water because water would make me nauseous for some reason. 

I was recovering for about 1 hour and then the doctor comes in one more time and tells me that he is going to be removing my packing.  I was happy for that because it was a little uncomfortable and I was expecting to have it in for a couple more days.  So, he pulls out the packing on each nostril and it kind of felt like it burned a little but not to the point where I could not handle it.  As soon as THEY came out, BLOOD came out but I felt very relieved.  He then put a drip pad with tape across my nostrils, caressed my head, I told him thank you, and that’s the last I saw of him that day.  The nursed then helped me dress.  I told her I needed to use the restroom and they helped me along the way! lol  After that I felt like I needed to throw up.  I was scared, but to my surprise it FELT SO GOOD!!!  I drank too much of the coke and that's all that came out.  I felt so much better after that.  (Don’t be afraid to vomit after the surgery, it's not bad at all!  Just let it come out naturally!)  The nurse then wheeled me into the elevator and took me to my car, where my husband was waiting for me.

At home, for the first day, all I did was sleep and take my pills.  I noticed that I was hungry but for some reason I couldn't eat anything!  I felt too tired and sleeping was more important to me at the time.  Hunger did catch up, eventually, and my Mother-in-law brought me some delicious alphabet soup.  I ate a little and slept the rest of the day/night.

Day 2 Post-Op/Thurs Jan 26, 2006

Today I woke up a few times through out the morning.  My mouth would dry up because I was using it to breathe all night.  I kept apple juice by my bedside next to my recliner.  (By the way, if you are considering Rhinoplasty, PLEASE invest in a recliner!!  You will thank yourself for that!)  I noticed that water was only making my throat drier than it already was.  The apple juice was sweet so it left a film of sugar in my mouth making it sticky because all water would do was make it more dry.  Anyway, I decided to change my dressing because I felt it was getting a little too bloody and I got to see the tip of my nose for the first time.  I looked like a PIG!!  OINK OINK!  I totally expected that though because I have cartilage grafts on the base of my nose and tape pulling my nose up.  My upper lip and cheeks were very swollen and so was the tip of my nose.  I actually thought I looked kind of cute with my nose up like that!!  LOL Anyway, throughout the day I took my meds ate a little more, soups mostly, and watched lots of TV.  Oh yeah I forgot to mention!!  My husband invested in a humidifier for our room and it has been a very big help!  It keeps the room moist and it helps me breathe more comfortable through my mouth.  I’m feeling much better today and have only been talking Extra Strength Tylenol for pain.  I only feel pain about once a day and it just feels like a very dull headache.  

Day 3 Post-Op/Fri Jan. 27, 2006

Today I saw Dr. Carli.  My appointment was at 10 am and I showed up at 9:40am.  I walked in and the room had “potential patients” sitting in their waiting room.  They let me in to see the Doctor right away… I wonder why?  LOL  Anyway, I sat and waited in one of the exam rooms and Dr. Carli walks in to see me.  He has a huge smile on his face and greets me with much warmth.  He tells me that I look great and that I seem to be doing even better.  He took off my band-aid on my ear and told me that it was healing very well and that I can keep the band-aid off if I wanted to.  He then removes my nasal drip pad and smiles once again telling me that everything looks wonderful.  I am very excited because he likes what he sees!  He tells me to return next Wednesday so that he may remove the splint… depending on how much better I get of course!  I’m so excited and I can’t wait.  He then hugs me and tells me to be careful and keep up the good work.  Oh yes, forgot to mention.  On my Second Post-op day their office sent me a beautiful flower arrangement and I thanked him for that!  He said he only sent flowers to his “special” customers… I hope he didn’t mean special ED!! Just kidding LOL wasn’t that so sweet of them??  Awwww, they cheered me up!        

Last night was still a little rough for me.  I found my mouth very dry again and I'd sometimes get a little anxious.  But I did manage to sleep a couple of hours.  Now I know why I feel kind of tired today, even though I'm no longer taking my meds!  I thought the meds had me that way, but it's the sleeplessness more than anything.  I think they're all coming out of my system now.  As for my actual nose, I don't feel any pain, just pressure still on the base of the nose, where my hump used to be (because of the bones being broken,) and my upper lip (that's because of the cartilage graft.)  I'm hoping that this Wednesday Dr. Carli will remove my splint.  Bruising is subsiding as well as swelling.  Dr. Carli had given me a little container with Arnica Montana pellets to take 1 week before surgery until I finished them (after surgery.)  I SWEAR THEY WORK!!!!!  TAKE THEM!!!!

I finally washed my hair tonight!  I was so scared to get the splint wet.  I felt that it was my only protection and nothing could hurt my nose if I were to bang it!  I was really careful though!  My lovely step-daughter helped me wash it and it felt so much better afterwards!  No more itchy head... YAAAY!  Anyway,   last night I COULD NOT SLEEP AT ALL!!  I don't want to scare anyone away from rhinoplasty and I have to admit that I am a very big baby when I'm sick!  But I'd get anxious easily if I thought about not being able to breathe through my nose.  It's SO dry now.  All the crusty blood and mucous has settled into almost a rock hard form.  Last night I wanted to breathe through my nose so bad but still couldn’t with ease.  I felt as if I had a DRY stuffy nose.  Those are the worst, in my opinion!  I had a bad stomach ache also because I have not been eating right.  I've had heartburn for almost 3 days now and every time I eat it comes back.  So you can't blame me for not wanting to eat and feel that again.  But my husband has been SOOOOO helpful and was bringing me light snacks throughout the night (i.e.: yogurt, ice cream, toast) to kill the hunger.  I DO have an appetite, but I'm scared of the heart burn!!!  AHHHHH!!  I took some alka-seltzer and it helped some.  My nose feels a little less hard today though, still feels like wood, don’t' get me wrong, but a little less!!  I still feel stuffy this morning and I'm hoping my nights get better from tonight and on.  Tomorrow is my appointment with the Dr and I REALLY hope this splint and tape (yuk!) come off.  As the day ended I was starting to get anxiety again and I GAVE IN!!  I took a sleeping pill and it helped calm me down very much.  I went to sleep and felt much better.  I hope I don't need to take them again!

Today I saw Dr. Carli.  I had to reschedule my appointment because my husband had a meeting at work and he really wanted to be there with me when the Dr. took off my splint.  It didn't hurt at all when the splint came off but my nose did feel very hard.  I then saw myself in the mirror and I could not believe my eyes!!!  I LOVE MY NOSE!!!  We thanked him, scheduled and appt. for Monday, and then left home.  My husband could not stop staring at my profile.  He said it was beautiful.  When I got home, I took a shower to rub off (gently) the glue that the tape left and then put some make up on!!! Yeah!!  It looked so good!  I am so happy.  Within a few hours I then noticed my nose started swelling up a bit.  I knew this was going to happen because the Doctor told me it would.  I can't say how happy I am though with the results.  I can't wait for all the swelling to go down now!!  The pics I took below show me with TONS of make-up.  I still have bruising around my eyes, but it's yellowing out more and more each day.  My nose and lip are still very stiff, swollen, and it's hard for me to smile.  I'll take an updated photo next week so you can see the progress!  Talk to you then!

Week 2 Post-Op/ Wednesday Feb 8, 2006

Swelling is subsiding tremendously.  I love my nose because I still look like my old self... only a more polished version!

One final comparison to before and after.....

Before           &        After