This blog will not only cover the events and process of getting a facelift but I cannot help but interject some of my humor and personality into the process.
Let me say this straight away, Alice’s choice to get a facelift was entirely her choice with no nudging or encouragement from this tennis playing photographer. I have however, been 100 percent supportive of her decision to do it.
Disclaimer
If you are considering a facelift or any of the procedures defined herein, I highly recommend you discuss this many times with your doctors and friends. NOTE: I am NOT a doctor, I am not even a professional writer. I am a professional photographer. Any medical information found here must be taken with that in mind. GO TO YOUR DOCTOR and do your own research! This document is my experience and my point of view. If you want an expert on F-stops and shutter speed, talk to me!
Alice’s Self Maintenance
We have been together for 2.5+ years now, spending nearly every hour of every day together, supporting each other in everything we both do and love. From moment one I found myself with a wonderful person who is totally into what she calls MAINTENANCE. Maintenance from hair cuts, manicures and pedicures, facials, massages, acupuncture, waxes, botox and now even multiple visits to the Palates parlor to stretch, bend, lengthen and well, just feel good. She has also been to her very good friend and plastic surgeon Dr Sassani multiple times with various beautification procedures done to her face.
Just in case you wondered how Alice looked a few weeks back. No surgery required lol. Dr photoshop was involved.
Dr Sassani
Alice originally met Dr Sassani when he performed her breast surgery after her survival from breast cancer more than 14 years ago. They have been great friends ever since. He is a great man, very talented and I immediately trusted him when I met him. During one of her recent visits to Dr. Sassani, he had mentioned to Alice that “its time” Alice. I am sure she had discussed face lifts with him many times in the past.
If you want to schedule a visit with Dr Sassani, click the following link:
Knowing Alice, she had been reserving funds in a separate bucket for this procedure for a number of years now. She is a planner.
Lets meet with the doctor to get all the details
On the 26th of October of this year we met with Dr Sassani to discuss the surgery and the process. We were both convinced we are a GO. So what did this mean? It meant a totally NEW diet void of many things she likes, and unfortunately it means void of things I like as well. The two weeks prior to her surgery she had to maintain a strict diet: off all vitamins, NO alcohol, no tomatoes, no salt, and the list goes on. No wonder I am now 85 pounds soaking wet!
Her surgery was scheduled for Wednesday November 2nd with another pre-operation meet on Halloween. So what was on the agenda?
Neck Lift (Platsmasplasty). I think this was one of the key areas Alice wanted to improve
Brow Lift Surgery
Blehparoplasty Survey: to remove excess skin from both upper and lower eyelids
Laser Resurfacing: a rejuvenation procedure that uses a laser to improve the skins appearance or treat minor facial flaws.
Alice’s original theory was to to do the lower half first, and come back and get the other half done. Based on her conversations with many friends who have been through this she along with the Doctors advice decided to do it all at once. Only one time under anesthesia, etc. etc.
We checked into a hotel near the doctor surgical center the night before the surgery so we could arrive quickly after the surgery and the drive back in the morning after the surgery would be just a few minutes.
Lets take a look at a few photos I took of Alice a few days before her surgery:
Surgery Day: Wednesday November 2nd.
7:30 am: Arrival at the doctors surgical center in …. Pajamas.
8:30 am or so: Dr. Sassani arrives and preps her for the operation including some lovely little rubber band pony tails. He also marked up her face with a pencil so he can know where to work, cut or say a prayer.
Time to mark your face up
Got to love those pony tails. Dr S didn’t realize how blessed Alice is with all that hair
9:00 am or so: I left the surgical center as she was clearly going to be wheeled into surgery.
Tom off to the Harley Davidson dealership
We forgot to pack any shirts for me so I headed from the surgical center to the Harley Davidson store to buy a shirt or two. What a great excuse to visit my favorite store. Here I am sitting on a beautiful new ORANGE Harley CVO. I did get my shirt! I will just dream about this bike…. Oh Santa?
Alices LONG 8+ hour surgery
I checked in multiple times to find out the status of my beautiful little blonde. All going as to schedule. HUMM, I thought the operation would end around 2:30 pm. Was told by the surgical center that was an error and her surgery would last until at least 5:30 pm.
6:00 pm or so I arrived as Alice was just waking up from anesthesia still wearing those sexy pajamas. I was informed she had a few issues in the operation, one being her left arm was sore from the position it was in under anesthesia and the other being she had problems being incubated due to her “deviated” or misaligned esophagus with her wind pipe. She was warned she would have a sore throat. Alice was unaware after many previous incubations that she had this issue with her throat. We will drill down on this later!
Released from the Surgical center
7:30 pm or so we finally left the doctors surgical center toting a wheelchair to use at the hotel. I have to admit this was very hard for me to see.
Here are a few photos of our first night.
Did I tell you I am an RN….. Retired NERD
I earned my nerd degree from a lifetime of computer programming and using a slide rule as a calculator in high school!
Nurse TOM about got fired
Our first small disaster was when we could NOT find the CREAM for her face, WOOPS we left it at home. No problem I said, “lets try this other cream.,,,” “STOP, STOP,” tears flowing down her face. “That burns, TAKE IT OFF!” I still feel bad for doing this! Well, I just put a very small portion on her sunburned face. Now off to find the correct ointment: AQUAPHOR. Found it at PUBLIX. Now a night time of frozen peas and ointment applications. Poor girl, I felt so bad for her. She was clearly miserable in in pain. Her swollen eyes, and sunburned cheeks were the main mystery points. The “FACE LIFT” portions were not really even felt or discussed.
Night 1: in my opinion was very difficult and I wish I could have done MORE to make Alice comfortable. How about another frozen bag of peas on those eyes!
We had scheduled a 11:00 am follow up at the doctors surgical center. All went well and the doctor was pleased with Alice’s status. We checked out of the HOTEL and NO I did NOT ride her back on the orange Harley Davidson CVO only because I was wearing my sandals.
Oh did I tell you, NO CHEWING allowed. In addition to a very limited choice of food items no chewing was allowed and no straws either. FUN FUN. I can’t wait to get my face lift. No food, no achohol, no sex, no fun!
Lets get Alice home and in Bed
45 degree Pillow, only allowed to sleep on your back for 2 weeks following surgery! NOOOO!
Day 2 Friday november 4th
Now it is definitely time for me to put on my A Game. I have acquired many tiles in the past few days: Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, Chef Tom, Nurse Tom, Dishwasher MAN, PEA BAG man, Uber driver, Driving Miss Daisy, Personal Care provider, Laundry man, wash the blood out of your hair man and many others. I have certainly tried my hardest to fulfill all these titles and others to the best of my abilities.
Heart rate escalates, scare #1
Friday morning was a beautiful sunrise. Cool and no sun out yet. Let’s go of a walk around the block and work a little of this anesthesia out of the system. The walk was less than 1/4 of a mile, about 1 time around a 440 track. Alice walked briskly with a smile on her face. All was good. Alice picked up something off the floor at the house, bending over, A BIG Mistake. Her heart started racing and her Apple Watch showed heart rates of 150-160+ and would occasionally show 100 or so. I put her right to bed to settle her down. I immediately called the doctor and discussed the situation and the thoughts were that perhaps she had a reaction to her antibiotics. Off to Walgreens to get a different antibiotic perspiration. We of course had hoped this was the solution.
Day 3 - Saturday November 5th
Sunrise, no sun out, feeling good, let’s go for another walk around the block. All was very good, Alice’s pace was as fast as her pre-surgery pace. Chef Tom fed her another great breakfast and we relaxed during the day. How about a few more episodes of our new series OZARK. We watched about 1.5 episodes all snuggled up on the couch. While on the couch Alice said, “I feel like I am going to faint…”. Her heart was racing again. Thank goodness for the apple watch witch gave us details I could not even believe. Again 160+ and once in a while, 100. I thought her watch may have been broken. After about 1 hour or so of this I decided we must take her to the hospital immediately.
Did I tell you the Apple Watch worked flawlessly telling us vital information about Alices heart? We have now configured the Electro Cardiogram application and practiced it for future use.
Come on, smile for the camera on this beautiful day! Day 2
Delray Beach Medical Center Emergency room
Our drive to the Emergency room was less than 5 minutes from door to door. I could walk there in less than 10 minutes. Walked in the door, told them of her problem, they immediately took her vitals and I saw a panic look on his face. She was immediately taken in for an EKG, blood work and further tests as I was asked to wait in the lobby.
In the lobby:
Over the intercom I hear: STAT Code blue in ROOM X, STAT Code blue in ROOM X. My thoughts were racing that something real serous was happening to Alice.
Alice, are you OK?
Alice in the ER after her heart issues. Heart already calming down
A story I could not believe
As I sit in the lobby waiting for more information, an ER nurse met with a group of about 6-10 people right behind my head. This is what I heard from the nurse: “the patient had parked her car while it was raining, got out of the car and realized it was rolling… She then decided to try to stop the car by getting behind it….. the car proceeded to roll over her with wheels going right over her torso. Fireman and police had to dead lift the car to release her.” My ears were on fire. What? How can this be? “She should survive with multiple injures to her rib cage, face and others.” I observed the family in shock. I hope the patient is OK and will recover fast!
A nurse came out in the lobby and said, “Alice Haigh…” I was then ushered into her ER room. They put her on an IV with a prescribed DRIP to settle her heart down. At about 10:30 pm we met with a doctor who described her situation and she would need to meet with a cardiologist. 11:30 pm: her heart rate had settled down quite a bit. Now we are waiting for admittance to the hospital. We had been told it could be many hours before she was admitted. I decided she would get better rest if I went home, only 5 minutes away, almost like I was in the lobby of the ER.
Alices hospital food. YUK!
Day 4 - Sunday november 6th
8:30 am on Sunday, call from Alice: still in the ER. “I am hungry, bring me some STEEL CUT oatmeal.” Absolutely within 15 minutes she had her oatmeal hand delivered to the ER. At about 10:00 am or so she was admitted to the hospital with her own private room. I called it the Honeymoon suite.
Day 4 - OUCH!
2:00 pm we met with the cardiologist and it seemed all was under control with the medication they had put her on. Her heart rate was resting at 75-85 a very normal rate for her.
4:00 pm released from the hospital and the long 5 minute drive home.
I don’t think we will go for a walk tonight!
Day 5 - Monday November 7th
I played tennis in the morning with Alice at home taking care of her MUG. In the afternoon we drove to the Doctor Sassan’s office/surgical center for a follow up visit. “All is going ahead of schedule and you are looking great” says Dr. Nip and Tuck. Are all Dr Nip Tucks this handsome?Nearly 1/2 of Alices stitches were removed on this visit. Here is my estimate on stitch count: 50-65 staples behind her hair line and behind her ears, and another 200 or so stitches on chin, eyes, and other locations. All the staples remained on and were not removed during this visit.
Stiches still in and OHH that sunburn hurts.
Day 6 - Tuesday November 8th
Pretty in pink, and I am talking about the shirt.
Let’s talk about the FOOD chef Tom…. Scottish Salmon based in garlic butter, capers, lemon and love. Served with a wedge of lettuce!
Day 7 - Wednesday and Hurricane Nicole
When we went to the gas station on Tuesday we were wondering why the station was so full of cars waiting in line for GAS. We were so pre-occupied with the surgery we were unaware our neighbors were preparing for another Hurricane. We got lots of rain and just a little wind. Alice called it a SNOW Day. So I made her home made home made spaghetti and meat balls.
Spaghetti and meat balls by Chef Thomas
Day 8 - Thursday - More stiches removed
Dr Sassani and assistant removing staples and stitches.
Hurricane Nicole came and went with no damage to the house or neighborhood. Off to Dr. Nip and Tuck for another follow up visit. Anticipation of removing the stitches and staples was high because Alice has been complaining about how tight they felt. During her visit, all staples and stitches were removed except for the “gully” behind her ear. Gully, that is a technical term I leaned from the doctor. I watched Alice squirm as the stitches and staples were removed. “You did take some pain pills today…” says the doctor. Alice… “NOPE I stopped taking those long ago.” I think she had wished she took some before the visit.
Thanks you Dr Ricky Schneider
A follow up call received today from my old friend and 20+ year tennis partner and cardiologist giving us good information about next steps for Alices heart fluttering. Thanks Ricky!
Alices First 2 weeks photos
A follow up blog will be written
I will be writing a follow up blog covering weeks 2-6 including photos, commentary and a touch of humor. If you like my blogs, please let me know, I work by encouraging remarks!
You can read ALL my blogs in reverse order by clicking the link on the bottom of each blog which will provides the previous blogs link. You may be surprised to find out what my most popular blogs are…… “Pompey a city of sin…” is an example.
Stay tuned.