Now The Real Healing Process Begins
My nose is finally free! Not fully healed of course, but give it another three or four months.
The process to remove my splints was pretty straightforward. I'd read many comments on the septoplasty subreddit, with mixed results. Some said it was painful, others said they barely noticed a thing. But there was this commonality: the relief that immediately came after. Along with the ability to breathe, smell, and taste food again.
First, they had to clip a few stitches holding my splints in place. That part sucked. It was annoying and briefly painful. But I kinda forgot about that as the splints came out. Those I barely felt, but I was amazed to see how big they were! As long as my pointer finger (or my nose, really). If you're curious to imagine it for yourself, trying placing a finger against the length of your nose. Now, imagine a strip of plastic the width of your nose, pinching it from the inside and out.
Those splints didn't bother me so much in the first few days after my surgery, but as the packing came out and my nose healed, they became a goddamn nuisance! By the day of my follow up, I was close to ripping them out myself. My sense of taste and smell were nonexistent. I was especially melancholic a few days ago, and while suffering from an obnoxious sinus headache, wrote a sort of joke post on Mastodon:
The year is 2089. No longer will our children cry themselves to sleep in hunger. For we have created and spread The Mush across the globe.
The Mush needs no spices or any form of seasoning. Nor does The Mush require heat before consumption.
The Mush is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. A cup of Mush three times a day meets all dietary needs.
Enjoy your Mush. You can't send your children to the lunar mines without their daily allotments!
Just two days prior, I was eagerly scraping the remnants of mashed potatoes straight into my mouth, all because I could (slightly) taste the garlic in them. It was an anomaly. A delicious anomaly.
But yeah. That was the headspace I was in when I got my splints removed. So it was nothing to endure that pain for the benefits.
I went home, ate my lunch of chicken noodle soup and a Naked Mighty Mango drink, and was delighted to actually taste them! But I didn't allow myself to get too optimistic. The real test came later that day, when we had dinner. I ordered a savory sub from Firehouse and went to town. And the flavor hit me like a rock! So yummy, so satisfactory. No longer was I eating just to provide my body with the necessary fuel, but also for enjoyment and appreciation for the people who made it.
My soul (in the symbolic sense) is finally at ease.