Blepharoplasty Surgery Before and After

Hi there everyone.....guess I have been "Missing in Action" again.....BUT I do have an excuse!!! Had surgery on my eyelids to lift them up a bit and get rid of those ugly yellow patches on my lids. The Doctor said they were cholesterol patches. NOOOOO...I did not like them at all. Can't understand why the cholesterol decided to take up residence above my eyes. Look how old and tired my eyes look.....uge! This picture was taken maybe a couple of days before the surgery.

This picture was taken a day or so after the surgery....doesn't look too bad here but the discoloration and black and blue spread down and around my eyes. This picture actually looks good. Doctor put 3 stitches in my eye lids and taped up the rest. The tape falls off after a couple of days. I used a lot of warm water compresses a couple of times a day....that felt so good. Doctor said, "no cold compresses." There was just a bit of pain as the numbness was wearing off, took a Tylenol and that made me sleep most of the afternoon. No pain after that.

So in the picture below....it was taken today. I had an appointment with the Doctor and he took the stitches out. He said most of the discoloration will be gone in a week or so. See my beautiful eyelids??? (That's what he said, my eyes were beautiful) Can you see the difference? One thing I have noticed is that my eyes did not water so much since the surgery. Doctor said that is because the sagging eyelids were not letting enough tears flow which caused eye dryness. I guess that is a miracle.....I would tear constantly, people probably thought I was crying all the time.

I told the Doctor I looked like a Mack Truck hit me.....he laughed and said, "and that Mack Truck's name was Dr. Neilitz!!!" Hahahah...he has quite the humor.

Since my cataract surgery last year, I now have 20-20 vision looking far away.....but up close I have to wear readers for now. Doctor asked me if I want glasses, but I said for now I will wear the readers cause I kinda like not having to wear glasses all the time. We will see....maybe at my next appointment in November I will have changed my tune. Cheaper to buy readers then new glasses.

Been doing a lot of nothing this past week or so. Making cards has just been on my schedule. Tomorrow is our Hospice meeting, so hopefully I can get a few more cards made tonight. Valentine cards are pretty much done, but need to make a few simple St. Patrick cards yet tonight. I will take some pictures and show you what I have been up to.

Well, it is going on 5:00 and it's still pretty light out. So I think Kylie and I will go take a walk.....she will like that. Finally the days are getting longer....Daylight savings begins March 12th. So yay.. we have something to look forward to. Oh and doesn't the Ground Hog come out on Feb. 1st or 2nd.....I don't know, it always seems we still have 6 more weeks of winter whether he sees his shadow or not.....superstition is all.

You all have a great evening and keep looking up BETTER DAYS ARE HERE!!!!!

Cheers ~ Louise

A Card Making Kinda Weekend

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good and productive weekend. Saturday I went to Betty's for a card making session....the next 4 cards are from Betty's. The last 2 cards are from today's Stampin'up Camp at Kathy's. Lots of great ideas for future use.

As I look at my calendar....I am wondering why I have not posted anything since the 6th....nothing much has been going on....just living life I guess. Keeping house, cooking, making cards, shopping here and there, sleeping.....is this retirement? I have no idea. JP started a new job this past week...same company...different building, instead of 3 buildings, he does one building....hopefully it won't be so much wear and tare on him or our car. We shall see.

Wednesday I have a appointment with the eye doctor. He is going to do a procedure called Blepharoplasty (surgery to lift the eyelids) I have been told it will only take 20 minutes for both eyes and is a very easy surgery. I have confidence in Dr. Neilitz, so I shouldn't worry. He will also be able to remove the yellow patches over my eyes....so maybe I will look like a new spring chicken. NOW if I can just drop some weight in the next few months....I'd be a happy camper.

So following are the cards we made at Betty's. She is going to have knee surgery on the 25th and then the other knee March 8th. So she will be out of commission for a couple of months. I told her I would bake her a pumpkin pie.....can't forget the Kool Whip!!!!

The "Happy Bird-Day" card was fun to make....we colored in the flowers and birdie with copic markers. The birdie is from the Tim Holtz Crazy Bird Set. Betty stamped the bird on cork then it was cut with the Crazy Bird die. I still want to get that die set for this set of birds....otherwise "fussy cutting" will have to do for now.

"Peek-a-boo bear"....he is colored in with copic markers. The background is punched out and run through the cuttlebug. Flowers are placed where flowers are embossed on the card. Wonder if I should have moved the background over a bit more...

This "Heart" card was easy and fun. Betty drew a heart and we stamped around the heart with little stamps, added embellishments of gems and butterflies. I already made one card like it....need to make some more for Hospice.

I like this card very much....the black cat looking out the window at a cardinal. Do you like my pink background??? I brought some material with me so I could take pictures of each card after we made them....Betty has better lighting at her tables, so the pictures turned out better then usual.

These next two cards were made at Kathy's Stampin'Up camp. (I took these pictures at my dinning room table....light was okay, but not as good as at Betty's) So the above card was the Dancing Girl....sure did like this set and was seriously thinking of buying it. The girl is colored in with watercolor pencils. Who knows maybe in a couple of months I buy her.

This was a lovely card, just simple pairings of paper and the dragon flies are a die.....I bought this set...just thought it would make a great card for Hospice. The picture does not do the card justice.

So there you have it.....it's always fun to make cards, very relaxing and good therapy for the soul. Hope you have a great week and watch Trumps Inauguration, it should be exciting to watch. Keep looking up cause better days are coming!!!!

Cheers ~ Louise