Hi Mama,
With the ear cartilage I had stitches behind my ear and a large bandage around my ear as well as on nose. It was difficult sleeping on my side as well. With the rib/sternum cartiladge I had the stitches but they were under my breast. It was painful when sitting up and moving those muscles that were involved in the surgery but I recall that both recoveries were about 10 days. If you're going to it, in either scenario I would recommend what my doc did and have them harvest enough to sew under your scalp in case they need to revise later. This was not an ENT I went to. His practice was limited to facial reconstruction. He warned me it would be about a full year before everything felt completely normal again and he was correct on that. It wasn't a painful year at all but there are a lot of suture sites that need to heal completely on the inside. It still ranks as one of the top 5 happiest days of my life when they took that bandage off and I saw a nice straight nose.