Not Exactly Seven Days

Gone, vanished, nowhere to be found.  And that was the second time last night that my ScarAway strip fell off my face.  4am.  I don't know what time it was when it fell off the first time.  Interesting how losing the strip must have woken me up.  Makes it hard to figure out how to wear the strip "at least 12 hours a day" when it won't even stay on at night.  And since I'm somehow waking up after the strip falls off, it's interrupting my sleep.  And sleep is good for a lot of reasons, including helping things heal.

I never did find the lost strip--must be stuck on the sheet somewhere, but I couldn't find it this morning.  I had used a second strip during the day and evening, after I got back from teaching yoga, so I used that strip for the rest of the night (one hour, since I get up at 5am.  I did fall back to sleep, luckily).  Today I started with the silicone serum, and will switch to a scar strip this evening after my flute lesson.  I like the little massage ball bearings on the serum applicator, so I also massaged my lower lip, where I have fairly pronounced lines, and also at my brow line, where the creases looked deeper because I forgot to wear a Frownie last night.  (Too many things to remember--wound management for the two spots she removed; scar strip on the cheek; Frownie on the forehead...)  I have no idea whether silicone does anything for "fine lines" but it's worth a try.  Extends the amount of time it takes me to get ready in the morning, though.  And as a result I totally forgot about a retiree breakfast get-together this morning.  Too late to go now, since it's at least a 20 minute drive.  And I have to be back for my 11am yoga class (participant, not teacher).

Not the first morning appointment I've totally forgotten about.  I'm trying to train myself to look at my calendar first thing each morning, after I missed two other meetings, but I forgot.  This is an issue with much less structured time--I'm fine with the routine appointments--my yoga teaching and flute lesson, and I work hard to remember doctors' appointments, since there's a cost to not going (both in terms of maybe having to pay for a missed appointment, but also in terms of how long it might take to get another appointment).  So there's a theme here:  if a meeting or appointment involves money (either me getting paid, or me paying) I'm much better at remembering than if it's a volunteer activity or social get-together.  I'm sure that says something about my priorities.

Back to the scar:  This is the first time I've posted a photo to my blog--here's me this morning (11/01/13) and how my scar looks.  I don't know why I looked jaundiced--must be the lighting.  But the scar looks redder "in person".  But you can see the gash line near the corner of my lip--that's the area that's thick and red and raised.  On the other hand, the lines on my face don't look as deep to me as they look in this photo.  So I guess the world sees me differently than I do.

Here's how my scar looked in early September (09/11/1) about 2 1/2 weeks after the surgeon stitched me up (08/30/13):

I know, it looks worse now, but that could partly be the lighting.  Almost looks like I had makeup on in the Sept. photo; I don't in the Nov. one.  I'll take a photo every couple of weeks or so to see if I can document the progress.

Meanwhile I will Google to find out if there's another silicone scar product that gets better reviews than ScarAway...