On the Road to Recovery

So I went back to the plastic surgeon today and he took the "stent" (rolled up piece of gauze) out of the one side of my nose. That was gross. But the aftermath absolutely NOT gross. All I have on my face is a stitched-up cut. When you look at my nose from straight ahead, the nostrils look completely in proportion. It is like a miracle. Of course, when you look at it from underneath, the nostril opening on the surgery side is very depressed, so it is obvious from that view that there was trauma. But since I'm shorter than everyone except, well, kids, I'm not too concerned about that. The doctor said that he could do a procedure to fix that, which would involve shaving off some of the scar tissue that is developing inside that nostril. OUCH. He saw my look of panic and patted me on the shoulder, saying, "Later, later. Let's see how it does after the swelling goes down. Maybe we can even wait a few months for that."

There still is a lot of swelling, but all things considered it looks a million times better than I thought it would at this point. I think even the doctor was surprised how well it was healing and how well the skin had re-shaped itself around the stent. I am totally awestruck by my body's ability to heal itself and to recover from the kind of physical trauma I've been subjected to this week. There is still a risk of infection, and I still need to be vigilant. But the doctor said I should return as much as I can to normal life. He even told me I should go and watch my Golden Girls play hockey tonight, even though he said I should not play for a few weeks until I've healed more. He thought it would be good for me to go and see them and to be in a supportive environment like that.

So a week that started out terribly has turned out to be pretty positive in the end. I am still a little sore, and I still have a big gash on my nose. But I am healthy, I no longer have skin cancer in my nose, and I'm on the road back to normal life.