Three days after surgery, I had the packing removed from my nose. Using
large tweezers, Dr. Romano teased out an end of the packing and gently pulled
the coiled packing. He pulled some out, and pulled some more out, and
then pulled some more. Finally, it unceremoniously fell out into a glop
on the waiting paper towel. It's amazing how much packing was up there.
Removing the packing didn't really hurt, and the mild discomfort was
momentary. It seemed that the cotton coil has been pre-lubricated, so
it came out quite easily.
What a relief it was having the packing removed; I could breathe
again. That joyous breathing only lasted a few hours, then the inside
of my nose began to swell. This swelling decreased the airflow, but it
wasn't so bad that I had to breathe through my mouth all of the time. On
the following day, I was breathing easily. The internal swelling didn't
unsettle me because I knew that it was only temporary.
Updated Sun Jun 22, 2003