total recovery time?

Hey all. Just doing some research online (like all of you) and found this site. I was wondering how long it took most of you to be able to breathe normally through the nose. I am 16 days off surgery, and I have moderate breathing. I can breathe through one side or the other, and it switches every so often. Both sides still seem to be swollen though, as the breathing I can do is sometimes labored. Walking around helps to clear it up, but once i sit/lay down, it shuts off again and it's back to some mouth-breathing.

In addition, I wanted to share some of my experience. Had septoplasty, sub-mucosal resection, and a trimming of one middle turbinate (concha bullosa) on June 10. I guess that would make this day 16 for me. I went into this expecting a more speedy recovery. Everything I read said you would return to work in 7-10 days, so silly me I thought I'd be able to breathe at that point! Well, apparently, for me anyway, 7 days was the mark for external swelling and most of my bleeding to go down. Actually, just days after surgery I was having a lot of bleeding, to the point where drainage down my throat one night was so bad I woke up with a terrrible terrible stomach-ache from blood swallowed. I went back to the doctor and he cauterized a spot to help. It seems to have helped. Day 9 was the first time I was able to slightly taste a bit of food I was eating. Walking around at night on days 10/11 cleared my nose for the first time. Once I stopped to rest, it closed again. Day 13 was my first time with a few hours of nasal clarity. By that I mean one nostril or the other was clear, but not totally open. So here I am, day 16, typing. Had a tough night sleeping. One nostril was closed, the other open a little. Right now one is fully open, one is 40%. I hope it continues to get better.

It's a tough process. Overall, I have had very little pain and a good amount of bleeding for the first 7 days. Today, day 16, I have no pain, almost no bleeding, and just a lingering congestion. I am hoping another week or so and that subsides as well. I'd like to be able to go a day without thinking "can I breathe?". I just want it to be effortless and natural again.