67 Year Tune-Up -Saggy Jowls Must Go. SC

I haven't seen a picture of myself that I liked for several years. I was looking more & more like certain aging family members of the past & present & it was not a good look for me! In fact, the only decent pictures of me were taken by someone else, in a dimly-lit room & usually involving some consumption of alcohol - by me, not the photographer. Now, I'm not on tv , I don't go to a job every day, I'm not running for office & I certainly don't socialize with a snazzy country club set. Sooo . . . "What difference does it make? " Well, don't know. It just does! I want to look the best I can for a frumpy grandma!

Every time I go into the plastic surgeon's office for Botox/fillers, I ask what he thinks I need. I finally asked for a quote for several different procedure options in October. My husband had some medical issues that put my plans on the back burner but once resolved, by January he was ready to travel & I was ready to look better. We scheduled a trip to Jamaica for late February, but when I went in for the Valentine's Botox Special, I had an impromptu facelift consult. Just so happens there was a surgery slot open for March 5. I already had ekg results from last year's cataract surgeries so things could happen fast. Pre- op was February 19 & we left for Jamaica on the 23rd, returning March 1.

Sidebar here: I wasn't planning to tell anyone at home, but I told all my new friends on vacation I was getting a facelift the following week. Without exception, the response was "Why?". Think my husband thought I'd change my mind, but we all know it's not about how others see us, but how we see ourselves. So on March 5, the surgery: facelift ( Dr. has since identified it as SMAS), upper/lower bleph & fat transfer to the NLF. I passed on the brow lift & hope I won't regret it, but my hair is thinning & my forehead is already so high. I have previously had a shoulder replacement, breast lift/arm lift & tummy tuck, but I've gotta tell you this surgery took a lot out of me! Not really a question of pain, just the uncomfortableness reported by others, but I felt like a truck ran over me. 10 days out I'm finally feeling normal again, but don't dare go out in public because I'm purple all over, including the inside of my mouth. Even the surgeon called my bruising "IMPRESSIVE" & suggested I use the back door like on the day after surgery! Because of my confidence in my surgeon, I'm not worried about results, which is good since I still can't see past the purple, my former favorite color!!!!

Day 11 since surgery & I returned to have the final stitches removed. I also got some clarification from my doctor about my procedure. I'm going to try to get this right. He said I had a MACS lift in which he worked on the smas! I'm guessing I didn't have as much neck work, since I don't have incisions running up behind my ears. At any rate I'm amazed at how good I suddenly feel. Just wish I looked ok to go out in public! One of the nurses asked if I've gone out yet. I told her I went to Dairy Queen last week & ate inside. She then asked what had they said, so I told her: "What do you want on those dogs?" Anyway, with a beautiful 82° day, no more stitches & no more dr. visits for a week, I threw caution (& pride) to the wind & went straight to Ulta. Those ladies were terrific helping me find some bruise cover make-up. Tomorrow I'm playing with my new stuff. If successful, I may just get a pedicure! I'm going to try to post some of my ugly recovery pictures. Even I can see some progress.