@alaethia-sometimes the nasal mucosa will congest to compensate for the new unrecognized airflow that you’re body is trying to register/get familiar with. Anytime the nasal airway is made more open, like from a coffee stir straw into a “normal” straw. I put normal in quotes because, our bodies are complex and when doctors use the term “normal”, your normal might be different to the next person. If you were perceiving difficulty breathing, that size of a coffee straw was normal to your sensory nerves, nasal mucosa etc...now that it is more “open” the air can be hitting your septum and adjacent nasal musosa in a different, uneven way than it didn’t before. I would ask to see a comparison of your CT scan pre/post surgery. If one side of your nasal cavity is more open than the other, that is enough to cause pain and discomfort as it is no longer a laminar/even flow. Often times when we have a deviated septum to one side, the opposite side will compensate to still make it an even flow if that makes sense. Congestion is often a reactionary/protective response. So the nasal mucosa could be compensating by congesting, where it didn’t used to before. The feeling of congestion is like your nerves sensing for that feeling of air resistance that it was used to feeling. On the side that was made more open, are you breathing better, feeling stinging on that side?