Days 19 -20 - All things Tenzing

This blog is to help others contemplating this treatment.

Days 19-20 All things Tenzing

If Day 19 was base camp, then Day 20 is summit. What a road!

As you'll see below I'm finally out of Efudix - didn't quite get to 21 days but the drug will be active in my skin for another 18 hours, so near enough.

Day 17 to now have been very dark days for pain and itching. Each night I'm only getting 3-4 hours sleep and I'm an 8-9 hours guy, always have been. I've taken two Ibuprofen on the 18th night leading into Day 19 - it may have taken the edge off a little, while I was lying in bed, but not significantly. The tricky thing I find is the pressure of the pillow on your stubble - each little hair seems to catch and scrape and seems directly wired to an itch generator in your skin. But that's all the pain medication so far. I'd advise anyone considering pain medication to discuss the matter with your Doctor as to what their recommendation is, and use accordingly.

I'm utterly weary from not reacting to my face. My face has been perpetually 'sunburn hot' and itchy. I just want to get my fingers in there and claw the hell out it. It seems like that would be so relieving. It's getting crusty now also. What a delight. It usually takes three minutes to shave and is now taking about 10-12 minutes.

Day 21 is the first step towards 'home'.

I feel like I'm in the middle of the hardest week in all that this will amount to be.

Day 19 left

Day 19 right

Day 20 - white section on my nose is a massive blister - well into erosion either side of my chin and on parts of my forehead, the rest has to follow.

Day 20 left - last day on the juice!

Day 20 right - erosion = severe itch

Summit...

Learning:

It is no longer just a dream, a high dream in the sky, but a real and solid thing, a thing of rock and snow, that men can climb. We make ready. We will climb it.

Tenzing Norgay

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Day 39 - Pink!

This blog is to help others contemplating this treatment. Day 39 Final Post - Pink! This is my final post and the past week has just been about recovery. My face is still very pink and I suppose that will slowly fade, but it's still disconcerting. There is no itching or pain anymore. Shaving is back to normal too (thank God). I'm still applying Paw-Paw ointment as noted in the previous Blog post, hence the 'shine' in today's photos. I'll be using it for some months yet. In summary: This was a tough gig for long periods; Staying indoors and out of the sun was difficult, that surprised me more than I thought it would. I may not be suited to living in Canada in the winter 😊; I still have to get a blood test to check my Vitamin D levels as a result (yes, seriously); I'm glad I'm through it, that I made it, and I'm glad I had the sense to read other Blogs before starting, to get the lay of the land; The reason I'm glad, ...

Days 22-23 - A Close Shave

This blog is to help others contemplating this treatment. Days 22-23 - A Close Shave The pain has been worse over the past two days than at any other time, especially at night, which I find completely surprising probably because I thought the 'healing phase' would be, well, healing. I talked it up in my head! The reality is that I have very painful zones either side of my chin, shown below, which are challenging (read bloody painful) when chewing or talking. This is made worse as whiskers push through the skin as the day progresses, and at night, the rubbing of whiskers on a pillow case lights up the hypersensitive zones which are pretty much everywhere. As a solution I'm going to try shaving twice a day! If you have read the Blog elsewhere you'll know my general view of shaving through this process is: a 'necessary evil'. To commit to twice a day indicates the level of the pain problem. Resorted to Ibuprofen for only the ...

Days 26-27 - Another 48 hours...

This blog is to help others contemplating this treatment. Days 26-27 Ok, another 48 hours and I'm stowing away the time (gratuitous Steely Dan reference 😀). I'm thinking the wheels are starting to turn in a positive way. There's a little bit of spontaneous bleeding from spots, but that's not new, and generally speaking I'm more pink than red. Good thing! Less itching also, which is a very good thing! In the morning, with the moisturizer gone overnight, my skin feels uncomfortably tight, but less uncomfortably tight than two days ago, so that's progress. It feels like your skin is painted on and is drying and it's a laminated shiny surface (haven't explained that very well). The routine is: Advantan on the whole face once a day in the morning, leave that for twenty minutes then cover over with Aqueous Cream. More Aqueous Cream at about 2.30pm and 6.00pm after shaving. Shaving late in the day is working for me as it means no stubb...

So let's see how this goes...Efudex/Efudix

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