And had to have surgery to fix it that required at least one overnight stay in the hospital. I never had any black and blue eyes or any noticeable swelling. All I got was a little bit of yellowing under one eye. I was fine the next day except for feeling sick from the antibiotics. Also, I had a little dried blood that came out of my nostrils for a few days after using the saline nasal solution I had to spray up my nose for a week or two once or twice a day. Didn't have any pain either. The one night I spent in the hospital after the surgery was a nightmare of blood but it had all stopped the next morning - I couldn't be discharged in the morning if it hadn't stopped bleeding, but it did, and home I went. I didn't even have to wear the nose splint after being discharged in the morning.
When my nose had been broken two years before there was NO visible damage that even my own family members could detect - the damage was all on the inside which was why I couldn't breathe through one side. I had no bloody nose, no swelling and no bruising. Though it hurt at the moment it happened, it felt fine a couple of hours later other than being sore to the touch. I only knew it had broken because I instantly couldn't breathe out of that side of my nose, and when I looked down at it, it seemed to be not quite in the same exact place though I could only really tell by holding a pencil up to my nose to see the very slight skew in comparison to the straight pencil.
I put off the surgery for two years because after looking at the x-rays and being examined it was determined that it was a significant repair surgery that would require an overnight stay in the hospital (which scared the hell out of me) and a significant amount of bleeding would be involved (which utterly terrified me because I can't stand blood particularly my own). After two years of only being able to breathe out of one side I finally bit the bullet and had it fixed... only to have it broken again about 5 months later, but after running frantically back to the surgeon terrified out of all reason that I might have to have surgery again it was discovered that it was a very mild break that wasn't causing any blockage but I just wouldn't have the supremely perfect nose the surgery had given me (thank the gods, because I'd have to be dragged back kicking and screaming to go through that surgery again). Since it didn't look any different to me, I didn't have any desire to have the surgery again for purely cosmetic reasons... there was just a VERY slight dent in the cartilage on the bridge that's not visible but I can feel a bit with my finger. All these years later it's still there and still feels like the same bitty little dent.
Only very few broken noses are extreme - most don't show much if any visible damage especially if it's not a perfectly straight nose to begin with (and VERY few people do have a naturally perfectly straight nose) but can very often require surgery because of breathing or sinus problems (the openings from the sinuses into the nasal passages are naturally VERY tiny, so even a VERY slight bit of damage there can close one or both enough to cause sinus problems significantly uncomfortable as to warrant surgery. Depending on the break, surgery can mean a simple in-office procedure under a local all the way up to major surgery far more significant than mine.
A broken nose that needs surgery needs to be be done within first two to three weeks of the injury or the surgery is going to be more significant as the nose will heal itself wrong. If a person that has had a nose injury and goes to the hospital to have it checked out the surgery is usually done in the next few days because of the need to repair the damage before self healing has a chance to occur thereby making the surgery more significant and more expensive.
I dated a guy that had his nose broken in a drunken fistfight. I took him to the hospital immediately afterward and he had the surgery the following day. Within a couple of days he was fine other than having a little black and blue bruising under both eyes.
One of my brothers has broken his nose four times (that I know of). Each time he "fixed" the break himself immediately, and generally speaking his nose doesn't look any different than it ever did. He does have some problems breathing while laying down and sinus problems in the spring and fall that he didn't used to have before one of the break injuries, but he has no desire to have his nose fixed. Since the breaks I (and he) think it looks a bit better because his natural pristine nose was a less prominent "axe blade" he inherited from our father... after all his breaking and self-fixing it's very slightly less "axe-ish".
Yep, it's entirely possible that Zimmerman could have gotten a broken nose during his altercation with Martin, but it doesn't matter since if he did we have no idea how severe it was and was likely something more mild like most are. I would be willing to bet that many many people have had nose breaks they don't even know about because they never had any significant problems from them and don't see a significant difference in the appearance of their nose.
There very well could be medical documentation that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose of some mild or not very visible degree, but it doesn't matter because what DOES matter is that his description of how he got his injuries (more specifically to the back of his head) does not match what we saw on the video nor what the fire department treated him for nor what the police saw. THAT makes him a liar. A LOT of things about his story make him a liar.
We don't need to pretend he couldn't possibly have suffered any minor injuries whatsoever when we KNOW that some minor injuries were reported by the police and that he was treated at the scene for them, and that we KNOW that there was some kind of physical altercation between Zimmerman and Martin during which he may have suffered some minor injuries. What is significant is not whether or not they exist but their severity, how he got them, and that whatever injuries there were do not match his story along with a LOT of other things that don't match his story.
Bottom line is that we DON'T KNOW whether or not Zimmerman had a broken nose because of the physical altercation or not, and it DOES. NOT. MATTER. It ESPECIALLY doesn't matter if it was HE that started the physical altercation.
Why are people wasting time and effort on this nonsense that doesn't matter especially since they very well could be proven to be wrong instead of spending that time and effort discussing those things that DO matter... like so much of his story not matching the timeline or the witness statements or the evidence.
Soooo much of this case is FULL of legitimate reasons that point to Zimmerman having murdered that poor boy, so why not spend the time and energy on them instead of pretending that he couldn't possibly have suffered any injuries whatsoever that medical science disputes, the police report disputes and which the medical report from the fire department personnel that treated him will dispute, and there may very well be other medical documentation of his injuries that he may have had seen by medical personnel the next day as his first dippy attorney said. Why not spend the time and energy discussing what medical reports are likely to say especially in comparison to his story? Why not focus on what DOES matter rather than on what doesn't and is going to be legitimately disputed?
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