My unveiling, however, was absolutely joyous. Dr. Romano started by removing the cast, then he removed the few sutures in the columella. There was only a very brief moment of discomfort as each suture was removed. The sutures inside of each nostril were not removed because they were dissolveable sutures. It usually takes a couple of weeks for them to fully dissolve.

After peering into my nose to ensure that everything was fine, Dr. Romano smiled as he handed a mirror to me. Using the hand mirror, I could look at my profile in the larger mirror. What a rush of excitement there was at the first inspection. Everything was as I had hoped it would be. There was significant swelling, but I could visualize a non-swelled version, and it was perfect.

Within hours of having the truth unveiled, my nose started swelling even more. Without a cast to constrain it, my newly liberated nose attempted to fill all known space. The good news is that the top of the dorsum didn't swell up too much, and I maintained a nice profile. The not-so-good news was that my nose got wide, and the swelling was apparent in a direct frontal view. Such an odd reverse had taken place. Before surgery, my profile was bad, and my frontal was fine. After surgery, my profile was great, but my frontal was, um, strange.

The swelling, however, didn't dampen my spirits, or confidence of the final outcome in the least. I saw my great nose at the unveiling, and it was just a matter of time until the swelling would subside. A week after the unveiling, I thought that the swelling was still noticeable, but not enough for someone to actually notice and comment about it. Two weeks after the unveiling, I could tell there was still swelling, but I don't think anyone would notice it unless I pointed out – fat chance that was ever going to happen.