Friday, April 28, 2017
Day 18 post op
 

Saturday, April 29, 2017
Day 19 post op

 

The reason for the squinting in these pictures is that it snowed heavily at my house. The window that I stand in front of looks out on a very, very bright, snowy landscape!

Sunday, April 30, 2017
Day 20 post op

 
I made an animated gif image of the daily progress so far. If you reload this page (press F5 on a Windows machine), it should re-start. Or, you may have to click on it to start it.

Friday, April 21, 2017
Day 11 post op

The red mark on the underside of my nose is not a scab or lesion. It's just "ooze" that had run down from the top of my nose. I didn't realize it was there before I took the pictures or I would have wiped it off.

Saturday, April 22, 2017
Day 12 post op

Sunday, April 23, 2017
Day 13 post op

Monday, April 24, 2017
Day 14 post op

 I've noticed that when I walk through a store, people will stare fixedly at my nose as long as I'm not looking at them. Whenever I glance at them, they immediately look away. The exception, of course, is children. They just keep staring.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Day 15 post op

Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Day 16 post op

Thursday, April 27, 2017
Day 17 post op

 

The last couple of days, but particularly today, my nose has looked much more healed. There is new, pink skin visible where there used to be scabby sections. I'm pretty excited by this! I think the "end" is in sight!

Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Day 9 post op

If you use Dawn dishwashing soap to clean your nose, a word to the wise--do not get the soap in your eye! It burns like fire! In the straight-on photo below, you can see the redness in my right eye.

The Desitin definitely results in more oozing that the Aquaphor did. I awoke several times during the night having to wipe the mess off the corners of my nose, the bottom of the tip of my nose, and my moustache. For the afternoon cleaning, I applied the free sample that Dr. Smith gave me, Fougera. Hopefully, it will adhere better overnight.


Thursday, April 20, 2017
Day 10 post op

The Fougera ointment did not adhere better overnight. It was similar in ooziness to the Desitin. So there were many awakenings during the night.

 

 

Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Day 8 post op

I had my first post op appointment with Dr. Smith today. He said there's good news and bad news. The good news was that, even though my nose looks horrible, that's exactly the way it's supposed to look. It's healing correctly. The bad news was that basal cell skin cancer was detected in the tissue that was removed from my nose. There's no way to know what part of my nose the sample came from, so it'll just necessitate keeping a close eye on my nose in the future to detect any possible further cancer developments early. He said I should switch from Aquaphor to the diaper rash ointment with vitamins A and D. He gave me a sample of a similar ointment to use.

I asked about cleaning and explained my regimen with the toothbrush. He said to switch to Dawn dishwashing soap, to put a drop on my finger, rub it on my nose, let it sit for a couple of minutes, then rinse it off. It should cut the grease of the Aquaphor or diaper ointment better than the Dial. I asked about activities like exercising and tennis. He said anything I want to do is fine as long as I keep my nose out of the sun. I explained about my nose shield and he thought that sounded great. I asked about the other medication that was used by the anesthesiologist. He didn't know for sure what it was. I thanked Dr. Smith for removing the other spots on my face. He also said it would be three or so weeks before my nose is covered with new skin. I asked about whether or not I needed to shade my nose when walking from my car into a store, for example. He said I only needed to shade it for such activities as tennis and golf.

My next post op appointment will be in two weeks.

 

 

I went to Walmart later in the day and bought Dawn dishwashing soap (I got one that says it's antibiotic), some individually packaged alcohol swabs for cleaning the nose shield, some travel packs of facial tissues (for keeping in my pocket so I can wipe the ooze), and found some Kleenex brand, disposable hand towels. When I tried them later, they were much better at blotting my nose after washing than the napkins.

After I washed my nose using the Dawn that evening (it worked better than the Dial at washing off the Aquaphor), I applied the Desitin diaper ointment. It's similar in look, feel, and consistency to the Aquaphor. I'd expected more of a zinc oxide product, but this version is petrolatum based. Overnight, it seemed to ooze off the sides of my nose more than the Aquaphor had, necessitating more frequent wiping of the corners of my nose and moustache with tissues.