Only Once

Fiorella was on a sailboat only once in her life, and she loved it.  The silence was total and complete. She was at peace.

Fiorella tried skiing only once in her life, but that was enough.  She had a horrible time trying to fit into the ski shoes, she nearly banged into the lodge when she was skiing down the bunny hill, and it took a couple of people to get the skis off of her because they were so tight.

Fiorella has had just one facelift, and that's the limit.  A perky young face on top of a decrepit old body would look sort of freakish.

Look at Me!

How disappointing.  No one has ever questioned my driver's license.  And I've had a facelift and several photo-facials since the picture was taken.  And my hair has turned blonde.  And I've lost weight.

Is it my blinding beauty, my engaging personality, or do they figure I'm too old to do any harm?

All in the Attitude

As you've probably figured out, Fiorella is a serial self-improver.  Why else did she have the facelift?  Why else is she working with a voice pathologist?  Why else did she sign up for physical therapy to treat kyphosis?  Why else does she play the piano every day?

Which cleverly introduces her latest project--improving her attitude while tickling the ivories.  Fio's already admitted to you that she's a lousy pianist, but what she hasn't told you is that she browbeats herself the entire time she's playing, as if excoriation will make her fingers function better.  It doesn't, so she's trying to concentrate on the music more and not herself--visualizing people dancing to the minuet she's stumbling through, for instance.

She may not be playing any better, but she sure feels better when she gets up from the piano.

Getting Personal

Today will be a good day for Fiorella if she doesn't second-guess tomorrow.
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Friend Katie doesn't think anything of it when she swims 100 laps.  Fio considers herself an Olympian if she takes the dog twice around the driveway.
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Fio's still waiting for her surgeon to call her in for post-facelift photos. Could it be that he is not as thrilled with the results of the procedure as she is?
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Better Tomorrow than Today

Fiorella likes to fix things, especially herself.  Yes, Fiorella is the self-improvement queen.  Born with Haverlock teeth, she went through orthodontics as as adult, later acquired a couple of caps, and recently had the last of her silver fillings replaced with porcelain.  Currently she's considering Invisalign.

And then there's the cosmetic surgery--the upper eyelids, the lower eyelids, the lower face and neck lift, not to mention the botox, lasering, and electrolysis.  It's a wonder Husband and kids still recognize her.

Fio also gets her hair highlighted semi-regularly and strives to maintain the forty-pound weight loss she achieved last year.  And if there's any medical problem, she signs up immediately for the appropriate treatment.

You could say that Fio is insecure in her own skin, but she thinks of it as presenting her best face to the world.  Smile--you're on Candid Camera!

Facelift, Two Months' Out

A stranger used to be able to tell Fio's age at a glance.  Now it would take two glances--one behind her right ear, one behind her left.
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Fiorella's facelift must have worked--when the was in HEB yesterday, not only did the cashier refrain from calling her "dear," but she didn't automatically signal for a carry-out.
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Fio's gotten so used to her facelift that her old photos look foreign to her, like they're of . . . her mother.

Self-perception

Whenever Fiorella encounters people she knows, the women realize she looks different and gather around, asking her all about her facelift.  The men don't notice anything, or, if they do, can't figure out what's different.  One of them even asked Fio if she was wearing new clothes.

Fio adheres to the theory that women's feelings of self-worth are tied up with their appearance.  Like stage actors, we advertise ourselves with how we look--dress our parts, so to speak--and nothing represents us as much as our faces which, as we age, can be deceiving.

Now, Fio knows we shouldn't judge ourselves by outward appearances, that we should go more than skin deep, that she's being sexist, etc., but she is also a child of her culture, and all she can say is I HAVE MY TRUE SELF BACK AGAIN!

Facelift Up, Up, and Away!

Exactly five weeks out.

I know you're tired of hearing about Fiorella's facelift, but it's a never-ending source of wonder to her.  She looks the same, but less tired, which translates into looking younger and more alert.

When Fio signed up for this venture, she knew it might go bad, that her face could end up looking like a Transylvanian patchwork quilt, that an ear might get inadvertently lopped off, that her whole face might slough off.  In fact, she'd heard a second-hand story of a garishly botched facelift from her hairdresser--the surgeon pulled the stitches too tight and the patient's skin died off around them.

Or that she might receive the wrong anesthesia or painkiller, or have a heart attack mid-procedure, or bleed out because too much coumadin was still in her bloodstream.  Or a homicidal nurse might decide Fio had lived too long.  Or terrorists attack the surgery center.

Now you know why Fio writes fiction--she needs an outlet for her all-too-vivid imagination.  Actually, all she's having to deal with is some residual swelling and minor numbness.

Smile Lines

Fiorella's post-surgical face was a blank slate, like a mask, but the character is starting to return.  For "character," read "smile lines," and Fio wants to keep them.  After all, they're inherited from her father, and they were one of the most beautiful things about him.  Even into his nineties, his smile  announced his pleasure with life, his joy with the world,  his good will to all. 

It also took years off his age.  Yes, Dad's facelift was natural.

Forty-three Forever

The faint lines and wrinkles are returning as the swelling goes down, and those pretty cupid-bow lips have thinned out.  But, so what?  Fiorella doesn't want to look like a perpetual sixteen or even twenty-five.  She just wants to look her own age.  Well, except better.

And to think, all this started with an upper eye lift because Fio ran a red light she didn't see. What next?  Maybe Fio will get her arm flab taken care of somewhere along the line.  Or maybe a tummy tuck.  No, not a tummy tuck,  She's heard those things are P A I N F U L.

Fio Has Her Face Back

Fiorella has just returned from the bathroom where she was checking on her face for the fifth time this morning.  It's still got some swollen lumps and  splotchy bruises, but she's in the final stretch and is very happy. 

In fact, she thinks everyone should have a facelift.

Dismissals

Just as newspaper news gave way to TV news, TV news has given way to internet news.  What next?

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Fio is bored with the leftovers of her facelift.  She wants the bruises gone NOW.
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You'll notice that Fio hasn't gone on any political rampages lately.  She's given up on right and reason.  People vote the way they want to for then own motivations, then make up ways to justify it afterwards.

Chapter Two

Here's the latest on Fio's medical front: the ninja mask is off and the doctor has set her next follow-up at three weeks, which means that now it's nature's turn to take its course.  The swelling is already going down, but the  bruises will take two more weeks to fade.  Still, Fio thinks she looks good--battered, but good.  She'll wear her new face to her RWA chapter meeting on Tuesday and see what kind of reaction she gets.

As if there's any way she can take it back for a refund.

In Maschera

Sonya's not the only one in the family with a mask, but unlike Sweetie Dog's, Mommy's mask is on her neck, jaw, and the outside of  her right eye.  Also, Mommy's face is lop-sided, puffed out on the upper right cheek and the lower left cheek.  (Mommy drew herself in the mirror, so the sides of her face are reversed.)

Mommy went into Austin to visit her surgeon again yesterday and he took out the stitches under her chin and along her hairline in front of her ears, then gave her a black elastic ninja-like head stocking to wear till Thursday, when he takes out more stitches.  He also suggested taking Vitamin C and Arnica to help with the bruising.

Sonya's mask, on the other hand, is permanent.  And Mommy wouldn't want it any other way.



                                                                                 
                                                                                                                          

Facelift Report

Fiorella looks awful right now.  Her face is swollen like a circus balloon and she's got big purple bruises along her jawline.  On the other hand, she now has a jawline.  And her mouth in repose no longer resembles a tragedy mask.

Better and better, day by day.

Jig Jag

Yes, when Fiorella isn't hurting, hurting, hurting, she's bored, bored, bored.  And Fio is more difficult to to live with when she's bored than when she's hurting.  TV helps some, but it gets boring too.  And she's not up to playing the piano now.  And Lord only know what sort of poem or story she would write while she's hopped up on massive doses of hydrocodone.  Which leaves--obviously--A JIGSAW PUZZLE!

Fio adores jigsaw puzzles, although normally she refrains from committing herself to them because then she wouldn't get anything else done.  But now's the time, and lines and shapes are the thing.  She's giving herself through Sunday to finish this one off, and then she should be able to plow into PRINCESS RED again.

Headdress

How can Muslim women get used to wearing the hijab, that headdress thing that leaves only the face visible?  Fiorella is going crazy in the medical version of same--ace bandages wrapped around her head and neck.  They come off on Sunday, but Fio doesn't know if she's going to last. She's already stuffing folded paper towels up under the elastic because it itches so much. And her skin's swollen, which doesn't help matters.

Surgical Deprivation

Fiorella is in recovery today, just like Sonia.  Doggie had one end of her body operated on--she was spayed--and Fiorella had her other end fixed--her face was lifted.  Both of us are feeling miserable, Sonia less so than Fio because her operation was last Friday.

Sonia's not supposed to run, jump, or climb for ten days, just like Fio isn't supposed to drive for two weeks. TWO WEEKS WITHOUT DRIVING?!

No way.

Facing the Future

Pray for Fiorella. She's scared, but she's going through with it--the surgery, that is.  You got it--she's getting a facelift today.  That passport photo was the final straw.

Fio's Addiction Rebounds

Fio's at it again--cosmetic botox this time. She got her forehead done last week and has been admiring herself in the mirror ever since. Later this month, she'll also be talking to the doctor about a facelift. Not that she's planning to sign on with the first plastic surgeon she talks to. Your Fiorella has just one face and doesn't plan more than one lift so she wants to be sure she gets someone who will do a good job right off the bat.

Then again, she may decide to leave things as they are--it all depends on fate and circumstance.