Well, today is the day Dr. Lev removed the awful head bandage. YAY! I was up all night in eager anticipation of the event. Of course, I would have been up all night anyway, because sleeping with that tighter-than-a-wrestlers-stranglehold bandage isn't exactly what one would call "comfy cozy"...

Anyway, Dr. Lev showed up in the morning because he knew that the afternoon or evening wouldn't be okay with me and he didn't want to hear my whining. Fortunately, he didn't have surgery that morning and so he was free to come early.

So after my breakfast smoothie, Martin (who I call St. Martin because he's truly a saint who cares for the patients like they're his own flesh and blood) called my room and announced that Dr. Lev is on his way to remove my head bandage.

I was so excited I got out of bed and shuffled my way over to Room 2 (the medical room where Dr. Lev does all his postop stuff like stitch removal...drain removal, checkups, etc.) and sat and waited for him like a good little girl. Hands clasped in my lap, sitting up like an obedient dog, Dr. Lev walked in and said...."Well, helloooooo DEEEEEEEEDEEEEEEE how are you today?"

I quickly responded with "chkayyyyyyayagroykh" which, in head bandage speak means, "Excited that I'm getting this sucker off today, so enough with the chit chat and let's get cracking!" Of course, when you have Mohammad Ali strangling you as you try to speak the words don't come out that clearly.

He grabbed his tools, put his cute little coal miner's headlamp on (it looks so funny, but of course I don't say anything.....not because I don't WANT to say anything about how silly he looks with that silly headlamp jutting out of his forehead, but I literally, physically COULDN'T make fun of him cause my voice wasn't working so well, so he was spared.... but I really really wanted to!!!!!!!!!

Sooo he snipped and cut and pulled and in a matter of 60 seconds, it was OFF! I felt like I had been released from prison! Although it still felt very tight around my neck, nothing like it felt with the bandage.

Dr. Lev told me that between the lipo he did on my neck and the muscle work afterward, my neck would be quite tight for quite awhile. At first, I thought..Oh NO!! I hate this feeling, but then I realized that a tight neck is exactly what I wanted and I had faith that after the entire healing process runs its course (six months) the feeling will be gone and I'll still have a beautifully tight, youthful looking neck. I could already see what it's going to look like once the bruising and swelling goes away. Plus, after nine years of working with Dr. Lev and tons and tons of patients, I KNOW exactly what's going to follow in the weeks and months to come.

The bruises have come out in full force today. Wow...I'm getting dark bruises on my chin area and there's a huge crescent-shaped dark eggplant bruise under my left eye. I know all about these "eggplant" bruises. They last the longest....like four weeks or so. Some people get them...some don't. I'm one of the "lucky" ones, I guess!

It's always a mystery as to why people who don't have their eyes done get eye bruises anyway. He didn't do anything but suck a little fat pocket out of the corner of each of my upper lids. I didn't get any bruising whatsoever under my right eye, but my left eye is as badly bruised as some people who've had their eyes done.

Well, I'm always so amazed when I'm down here with a group...to see the different varieties of bruising that occurs among the patients. If there are five people in a group....and they all had facelifts, you will see five different arrangements of bruising on the five different faces.

I guess it all depends on the individual...their general health, age, skin condition, etc.

Dr. Lev told me today that I'm very bruised....more than most people get. I even had an eggplant bruise on my arm where Anabelle gave me a shot of heparin in the hospital the night of my surgery. Dr. Lev is doing that now for all the patients to prevent possible blood clots from forming. It's a great preventive measure....can't hurt and it is a very good idea, especially for people, are going to be sedentary for a couple of weeks at a recovery facility.

As Dr. Lev was removing my head bandage today, carefully checking his handiwork...checking the stitches, the drains, looking at everything with a careful and critical eye, touching gently here and there....I watched his focused attention with great admiration. He wasn't my dear friend at that moment....but my amazing, talented and skilled doctor. He was treating me like he treats all the patients...with gentleness, nurturing, loving care. He is proud of his work and its results. He loves what he does and it's so obvious.

I always enjoy watching him with the patients....and now I'm a patient. It's so funny this time around. Ten years ago when he did my first facelift, I didn't know him at all...didn't know anyone here in Costa Rica. I, like every other patient I book for surgery with Dr. Lev, was a stranger in a strange land having major surgery. It's most definitely a leap of faith, for sure.

Of course, now, ten years later, I couldn't ever even imagine trusting any other doctors (I'm referring to both Dr. Lev and the anesthesiologist) to do my surgeries.

Anyway, Day 4 the head bandage came off and after checking my face and head, Dr. Lev told me that everything looked great and he was pleased. Of course, that news made me happy.

I said goodbye to Dr. Lev (with his big, yet gentle hug, which is his signature greeting for all the patients) thanked him for everything and then went back to my room. I went to the bathroom and accidentally looked in the mirror.

The sight I saw almost knocked me for a loop. MY HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!! OMIGOD......MY HAIR!!!!!!! OMIGOD!!!!!!

You've heard of "hat hair"? You know, the way your hair looks after you take a hat you've been wearing for a few hours off your head?

Well, imagine what your hair would like if you'd been wearing a tighter than hell head bandage over cotton covering your head and under your chin and it covered your wet head and matted it down like that....WET WITH FLUIDS....for four days! Believe me, the word GROSS just doesn't cut it! And forgodsake HOW am I going to get all this gunk out of my hair? Will my hair ever be completely clean and soft and nice ever again????????

Then I realized that I was uttering the same exact words uttered by every patient I work with. I've heard and seen it all before....but now that it was happening to me...I was ready to gag at the mere sight of the mess on my head.

I shuffled back out of my room and up to the front gate (just a few step away from room 9) and caught Dr. Lev as he was driving out. I asked him if I could wash my hair asap. He said no...I had to wait till the next day to wash my hair.

That was the wrong answer!

So, I spent the rest of Day 4, waiting and praying for Day 5 to arrive so I could get started on the mission of cleaning all this stuff out of my hair. I knew it was going to take three or four washings over a two or three day period to actually get everything out and get my hair back to normal again.

Fortunately, working with patients for the past nine years, I've seen pretty much everything one can imagine that has to do with facelifts, before, during and after. So I knew this hair thing was not going to be easy.

Since I was the only patient at the retreat, I decided that even with my matted, gross cotton head, I would show up to the dinner table instead of staying holed up in my room for dinner yet again.

It was great. Martin and Ron joined me at the dinner table (a luxury that never occurs when patients are there and I'm there with the patients) and we had a lovely time together. I was still on antibiotics (you need to take them for five days postop) so I couldn't indulge in a glass of wine with them, but we toasted anyway...they with their glasses of wine and me with my glass of agua.

Dinner for me was soft and easy to eat. I really just wanted more soup and so I had two bowls. There's nothing like Ron's soups....so I could eat just that every day for the rest of my life....no problem.

After dinner, I shuffled like an old woman, back to my room and hit the hay. I stayed in bed, watched tv, read, did a Soduko puzzle, enjoyed my newfound freedom from the head bandage and looked forward to the next morning when I would start the process of getting my hair groove back!