a rite of passage

Yesterday we faced the much-dreaded-by-Mac day where he was going to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. You'd have thought we promised him a visit to a torture chamber followed by a delicious lunch of cyanide by the level of crying and carrying on that occurred as we were getting ready to leave the apartment.

We went to the consulate to practice on the basketball court (remember it's Carnaval here so the consulate was shut down Monday through today). Here's the first photo before they started:

Not five minutes into the "training", Mac told Jimmy that he needed to stand back so Mac could ride the bike without him hovering. He did really, really well (with the exception of this one little potentially dangerous crash.

We might have a bicycle convert on our hands!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the photographic evidence of a medical miracle!

Before the treatment. Photo taken on morning of February 11. Notice The Stain and the freckles and darker spots.


Soon after the treatment. Photo taken 2 hours after procedure on February 11. Notice how BROWN everything is. The Stain, the freckles, everything. How Now Brown (Greasy-at-the-Hairline) Cow!


Today! Photo taken today, nine days after the treatment and today's follow-up with the dermatologist. Okay, so I still have some fine lines and wrinkles. But wow, does my skin look like I'm pre-sun damage???? I am a convert of this procedure AND the use of high-level sunscreen!

The Stain has left the face.

I repeat. The Stain has left the face.

peeling freckles everywhere

This truly is the most bizarre thing ever. Freckles are literally falling off my face. This morning I work up super-early and moved to the couch to read so Jimmy wouldn't be disturbed by the light. As I was laying on the couch, I kept feeling little dry-ish spots on my face, so I went to the bathroom to discover that my face was finally peeling!!! Not all over but definitely in spots. The sunspot (not The Stain) peeled off and I was ecstatic. Needless to say, I helped the process along a little (VERY gently rubbing, but I did nothing extreme). And I did not touch the scab, Scout's honor.

So we went to church and after we got in the car, I looked down at my black pants and saw a freckle on my pants! How weird is that? There was a little freckle surrounded by white skin just laying on my pants. The freckle just fell off my face.

We went to the movies after church and upon arriving home, I realized that part of The Stain had also peeled off. I promise I did nothing but perhaps rub my finger on it. I did not pick at anything. All of The Stain except the scab part is GONE!!! The end is in sight!

Day 3 or is it 4?

I'm not sure how days are marked when waiting for the magic 4-14 day limit. I had the treatment on Wednesday morning. So if every 24 hours counts as a day, then we're on day 3. If it's calendar days, then we're on day 4. I'm hoping we're counting calendar days because I'd like to be within the range of the end result.

The part that I smudged with my finger has peeled off a little and there's a little scab now. Oops. Not sure if that's supposed to be there or if I caused it, but it's there. I'm a scab-picker extraordinaire, so I'm really tempted to pick it off and see if "the stain" goes with it. But I have promised Jimmy that I won't - plus I'm afraid it'll hurt - so I don't touch it.

The rest of my Pippi Longstocking freckles appear to be disintegrating. They haven't peeled off or maybe they have? I don't know because I don't see anything visibly coming off my face, but the freckles are breaking up.

This is honestly the weirdest thing I've ever done to myself.

Happy Valentine's Day from us to you!

treatment research

Last night I decided I need to do the research on this procedure that I probably should have done before I had the procedure. I found one website where people could write reviews and it turns out 49% were happy with the procedure and 51% were unhappy. Oops!

But it turns out the people who were happy had similar situations as me. They had fair skin with sun damage, freckles and dark spots - same as me - and the procedure removed all of that.

So I am still hopeful that this thing will work. Because I didn't really understand how the color was actually going to leave my face, my research was helpful. The pigment is being drawn to the surface and within 4-14 days of the procedure, it will all peel away in some fashion. A little weird, but that's what the website said should happen. So I wait.

I am also a little distraught that most people have used this as a beauty treatment. Some people sign up for multiple sessions at a time and go every few months for "rejuvenation treatment." I really just wanted to have that pigment spot removed and now I've joined those people that have had "work" done. I'm disgusted with myself because I said I'd never have "work" done. This is what too many years in Brazil does to you.

But if this "work" works, I may be a little happier and might can live with myself....

Pippi Longstocking in the house

Update on "The Stain"

The redness totally disappeared within a couple hours of the procedure yesterday, but it's almost like I became whiter at the same time, which makes the freckles all the more pronounced. When Jimmy got home, he said I looked like Pippi Longstocking without the braids.

An interesting thing happened yesterday afternoon that I hope didn't mess up the whole process. My face was really gunky from the leftover gel and the sunscreen they put on before I left the doctor's office. After a few hours, it was driving me crazy, so I decided to blot it with tissue. When I looked at the tissue after blotting, the tissue was brown-ish. Now perhaps the gel (which had mostly been cleaned off after the procedure) was brown, but I know the sunscreen was white, so was this pigment literally being wiped off my face???

After another little bit, I did my every 20-minute mirror check to see if there was any difference and I noticed "the stain" had a little glisten to it. So I just used my finger to try to wipe it off AND THE BROWN SMUDGED ON MY FACE AND ACTUALLY LEFT A LITTLE SPLIT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STAIN! Kind of like a "Moses parting the Red Sea" thing. So now I'm worried that I screwed up the chemical or whatever sort of process was happening and that it won't go away right and now I'll be left with two different spots. The trials and tribulations of vanity continue.

Today it's raining in Sao Paulo but that didn't stop me from applying the SPF 65 sunscreen the dermatologist told me I had to use right now. I have decided if I'm ever asked to be in the Miss America contest, my platform is going to be sunscreen use for all. Maybe they have a Miss America for middle-aged, sun-damaged housewives??