In summary this is what happened.
After carefully examining my growth and making an assumption based on the experience of the local electrologist who worked on my chest area and how long it took her to clean an area, taking into consideration the amount of vacation time and the cost per hour, hotel, and flight I thought I would schedule 8 hours with E3K. I spoke with Irma and she suggested 10 hours, 2 people 5 hours each. We agreed to that and I was pleasantly surprised that my initial facial clearing was accomplished in that time frame, it may have gone just a little over and I was billed but in one day I was done. Now my growth was not heavy and I did talk to another person there and he was on his second day and he was probably finished a couple of hours earlier than I.
I started taking 1 Advil or equivalent every 8 hours a few days before I left. The morning of my flight, I started taking 2 every eight hours or so per the directions on the bottle.
I arrived in DFW on Wednesday in the early afternoon. I had found through the airport website that there is a super shuttle van that will pick up and drop off people for a low $18 dollars each way. I had received information from E3K that they also had a person who would pickup and drop off people at the airport but his cost was approximately $150. He would also take you shopping if you requested it.
I had lunch at the Outback, next to the Best Western where I was staying.
That afternoon the shuttle van from the Best Western took me to a nearby Wal-Mart where I stocked up on drinks, lots of water, OJ and some chocolate milk along with cups and snacks. I left a tip with the driver to show my gratitude and it was still cheaper than a taxi or taking a walk and trying to carry all the bags back to the hotel.
I also purchased some other items that I did not bring because of the security restrictions.
That evening I planned ahead and ordered a pizza with salad, so that I could eat the pizza leftovers for dinner the next few days.
I was up early the day of my visit to eat at the Best Western breakfast buffet.
I loaded the freezer in my room with ice.
When 9:00 came around the hotel provided another free trip in their shuttle van to E3K, along with half a jug of water and the salad from the night before, I also tipped the driver, same as the night before.
I was a few minutes early and was asked to fill out the standard medical information form.
I met with Denise and she took me back to one of their rooms and she explained what to expect and how they did their work.
Star came in with a Nikon camera and proceeded to take pictures of me.
I was in the chair and the work started, there was no pain during the procedures except when they injected the lidocaine.
They stopped working on me for an hour around noon to take a lunch break.
While the ladies went out to lunch, I ate my salad and applied ice packs they provided to my face per their suggestion to help limit the swelling.
After they returned from lunch, they resumed working on me till approximately 4:30 when they had cleared the entire face and neck area.
Irma had called the hotel and the shuttle was there to take me back but they weren’t quite finished so I could have either called the hotel and they would have had the shuttle return or when I asked if one of the ladies would take me back, Star agreed and I rode back with her.
Per your suggestions I made sure to tip the ladies who worked on me all day, it was not a large amount but I think they did appreciate it.
E3K provided a set of printed instructions on what to do and what not to do so when I arrived back at my room, I applied a heavy coating of their zinc oxide and then I started applying ice to help minimize the swelling.
The way that seemed to work best for me was to wrap ice cubes in a hand towel and then make the towel damp by holding it under running water for a minute. I then put a bath towel down the front under my neck to catch the water as it melted and ran down.
I stayed up as late as I could applying ice, 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off till I couldn’t stay awake any longer. I drank as much water and juice as I could because I think that helps in the healing process.
When I woke up in the morning after a nice hot shower where I carefully cleaned the areas with a lot of warm water and gentle pressure with a wash cloth, I applied a light coating of the zinc oxide and went down to the breakfast buffet.
Through out the day I would put a hand towel in the microwave for 45 seconds or so and then wrap my face and neck with it till it cooled down. I did this every 20 minutes or so as I had with the ice.
I was startled to see some heavy bruising on my neck and realized that this is where they rested their arms during the procedure.
Well the bruises are starting to turn a little yellow on my neck and there wasn’t a large amount of swelling though it does seem as my skin feels a bit like leather in the areas where all of the work was performed. I am hopeful that the slight redness still around the upper lip and chin areas will be gone by the time I return to work next Monday. The puffiness around this area has diminished and I am hoping that it too will be cleared up. I am not sure what caused the ooze, whether it was reaction to the amount of heat applied during electrolysis or a reaction from the lidocaine but there is a small area under the chin where it has scabbed or crusted over. I suspect this will be healing within a few days also. I have noticed that the area is still warm to the touch so that indicates that healing is still proceeding. My cheeks and side burn area are almost back to feeling normal, just a little stiff, the numbest part of my face is the chin area and that feels like it is getting the feeling back, similar to when the lidocaine from a dental procedure wears off.
Well thank you for “listening”.
