I'm Still Standing...Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (Part Two)

Hi Friends!

I'm happy to report that I have survived three whole days of face melting fun thus far.

WARNING: The images below may scare the crap out of you...so, if you're faint of heart, don't scroll down. IMO, I don't look nearly as scary as I had expected. (Side note: I'm a little disappointed I didn't get the peel during Halloween week...it would have made for an awesome costume [sigh]).

Okay, so here are some more progress pics:

 Day Two: swollen, but not yet dark or peely...

 Day Three: (Super swollen) I couldn't even get a pic of me with a straight face given how amused I was about my ridiculous make-shift sun shielding contraption. Our house is windows central (which I usually love), but it's been quite a challenge staying out of the stream of light and my floppy hats make too much contact with my face to work right now. As a result, I made a fedora hijab for myself. I look absolutely ridiculous, and love every freaking second of it, hahaha!

Day Four: Swelling is on it's way down, peeling is beginning around mouth, color is less brown/brick, more red.

Status Update:

PAIN: No more pain after the initial acid application (holy crap that was painful) and two hours post-application burning and slight muscle spasms in face. 

DISCOMFORT/SLEEP: I have been prescribed a few Valium pills that I used 30 minutes prior to procedure, Saturday night before sleep, and last night before sleep. I fall into a pretty deep and relaxing slumber after taking one. Being that I'm generally super pill-popping adverse, the meds are really doing their job quickly and effectively. Only problem is, I wake up at around 5am to adjust myself and spend the rest of the morning negotiating how to get comfortable on my back (I usually sleep on my sides, so this has been a challenge).  Another annoying piece of the puzzle is that, even though my hair has been pulled back all week (including during sleep), I keep getting fly-aways stuck in the vaseline on my face. It tickles and is hard to pull off without scratching my face, but oh well, not really that big of a deal. 

POST-PROCEDURE CARE: Lots and lots of vaseline on my face all the time. Doc said I don't have to wash my face, but can gently throw soap and water on it if I want. I'm a clean freak, so every morning when I shower, I fill my hands with gentle face soap and water and splash it all over my face. Doesn't do much because of the layers and layers of vaseline, but it makes me feel a whole lot cleaner. 

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY/ANTI-BACTERIAL PRECAUTIONS: I have been prescribed (and take) daily doses of both in order to keep the swelling at bay and to make sure that my exposed skin doesn't get infected. Like I said, I usually don't take meds until I have to, so it appears that my body is responding really quickly to these meds...so far (thank God!) inflammation is on its way down and I don't seem to have any infections forming. 

SPIRIT: I'm feeling pretty darn happy for a number of reasons. For one, I have been so frustrated with my acne scars for so long that I am just so excited and proud that I decided to take the plunge and do this. Regardless of how much of an improvement I see the first time, I am just happy that I didn't chicken out and that the pain was bearable enough that I could face it again. More importantly, I thank God that this was a voluntary procedure and that I am not, instead, recovering from one of the million awful, painful, and devastating operations that people with serious diseases and ailments have to endure daily. It is not lost on me that my peel is a luxury and that it is a privilege to be undergoing this process to make me feel better about myself.

Also, and more importantly, how could I possibly be in anything but a great mood when I have so much love around me? Dr. Love held my hand throughout the entire procedure and periodically makes fun of how ridiculous I look in my makeshift hijab :); my friend Jess baked me the most delicious peanut butter cookies I've ever had; my aunt and cousin came by Saturday with a ton of food and spent the whole day entertaining my bloated, scary-looking, snappy self (the meds were not my friend on Day One); my in-laws have been checking up on me daily; and a ton of other friends and fam have been calling, texting, and sending their love and well-wishes my way. I am so very blessed and love each and every one of them for being the absolute BEST!

ENTERTAINMENT: I've been catching up on my favorite trashy reality/tv shows, and read through ALL three of the Fifty Shades books. My review: The quality of writing in Fifty Shades of Grey was crap and wayyy too redundant...to the point where the exact same descriptions were being used over and over to describe things (in hindsight, I think I understand that the point of that was to really emphasize certain features of the characters and their relationship). Either way, it annoyed me. That being said, upon finishing Grey, I wanted to read more...so, a job well-done, E.L. James. I picked up Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed upon finishing Grey. Darker was far less annoyingly written then Grey, and focused on more than just bedroom shenanigans. By the time I got to the end of Freed, I couldn't even believe I was still reading the same story. That's all, don't want to give anything else away ;).

Overall, I recommend reading the books, but then hiding them or passing them on to friends. My biggest nightmare, at this point, is for my cousins or future children to find them and start reading them. They were a fun read, but definitely too graphic to just leave laying around. 

K, friends, that's my update! Hope I didn't scare you with the pics. Would love to hear your feedback/review of the Fifty Shades trilogy if you're reading and who you think should be cast in the movie as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.  Also, feel free to ask about any details of the peel/post-peel process that you are interested in and that I have failed to cover.

x