PDT

What is (a) PDT? Well it could be Pacific Daylight Time or Product Development Team but this PDT is PhotoDynamic Therapy. If you know what it is you probably have had one or know someone close who has had one. The purpose is to remove precancerous spots and other blemishes from ones face. It is popular with some people because it can make you look younger by removing fine lines and wrinkles and shrinking the pores. Because my face is loaded with scary looking blemishes I recently had a PDT. I am going to give you my description on what happens and what it feels like.
The night before you wash the face thoroughly and then clean it further with acetone and cotton balls removing all protective oil. The next thing is to take a little tube that looks like cardboard but actually it has a glass cylinder inside that needs to be broken by crushing the cardboard with your fingers. As it is being crushed the glass breaking can be heard and felt with the fingers. Then the little cover is removed and the Levulan is to be applied over the face but NOT on the lips or in the eyes. Levulan is some sort of acid and it releases some fumes that slightly bother my eyes. The levulan makes skin very sensitive to light so when traveling to the doctors office a hat must be worn and sunglasses and anything else to shield the face - so basically you are driving and look like you on the way to rob a bank or have just done so and apparently are not in a rush. I somehow did not do it right (not me) and ended up getting too much in some areas and none in others and so I called Lisa in a panic and travelled all the way to her house so she could apply the contents of a spare tube that was at her home - the right way.
After arriving at the doctors office and removing the face coverings one can opt for the numbing cream but I got straight in the chair and prepared for the laser. After both the patient and the laser operator put on protective eye wear the fun can begin. The first laser feels like a person has a rubber band rapped around their index and middle finger and they are pulling it back about 5 inches and letting it hit your face. At first you first just grimace and bear it but eventually after about 30 times biting down down hard on your teeth and clenching your fists will get you through to the second laser. Now the second laser feels like a small sparkler is being held close to your face and it is a good break before the third laser. The third laser feels like a 100 watt light bulb being held 1 mm from the face and it is passed over the entire face. I was sure I could feel and smell flesh burning - mine. A cold ice pack that is used to follows it takes away much of the pain and then the whole procedure is complete.

So in a day your face will look like you are a careless sun tanner with some puffiness, some loose skin and much redness. In three or four days the new you will emerge and you will look 10 years younger or at least that is what I have heard but have not experienced that part.

Friday the 13th

We received a phone call on Friday the 13th from the local grocery store (Kroger) and the message was " This message is for Loraine Salmon and we are calling to tell you we have your purse and you can pick it up at Kroger customer service". Loraine went to pick up the stolen purse and learned that it was left in a shopping cart in the back of the store. ( I immediately thought lets check the camera's but since the police were on to bigger and more exciting crimes I knew we had to move on)- so much for CSI when we needed it) When she brought it home we checked to see what was missing and what was left in the purse. Remember this is a large purse and it still contained a lot of stuff. The first thing of note was all the glass pieces that we were able to dump out the purse ( I wonder if they cut their hands as they rummaged quickly through the purse) Dozens of other business cards and several plastic cards were still left in the large purse. Some things of note was the Safeway card, the Co-op card and a Smith's Foods card - two of which are from Canada (9 years old) and the third does not exist in the state of Georgia. An old Alberta drivers license for Michael was another odd item. A huge bag of paperwork and bank statements filled one compartment of the purse. Credit Card, debit cards and cash seemed to be the only things missing - 4 tanks of gas (which we did not fund) and less then 20 dollars was all they got and 10 of those dollars was a Canadian ten. Certainly a hassle for us but truly "Crime does not pay."