March in with Love and Rage

Guess what? I finally let someone inject my lips, and that person is Nurse Lyne, the One and Only! Secondly, I wear a quartz crystal on my neck now. It is a self-love gesture, and thank you to Stephanie at @howardfinejewellers for gently guiding me to choose myself.

The last time I posted a deeply personal story in this SKin Phi newsletter was Oct 2023, that was me in my cute little nurses cap. I had just been hospitalized with a very rare and serious infection, an abcess of the psoas muscle. What’s a psoas? That’s what I said to the ER doctor. Anyway, I’m fine, and now I am so thankful that I had that experience. It taught me so much about medicine, the deficits in our healthcare system, the patient care journey, what makes a great nurse, and my own body. We all hold in pain, injury, suffering, hardship; when it’s not addressed or released it manifests in your broken body. I firmly believe this to be true.

A medical team of very dedicated professionals including: emergency medicine, general surgery, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, and Radiology were puzzled over my case. There was no known cause of my psoas abscess. They looked for acute disease in nearby organs, they looked for sources of infection such as a burst appendix or pancreatitis, they scoured by body for cancer. Nothing. In these cases, they say a pathogen just found it’s way to the psoas muscle and it lands in a vulnerable spot and a localized infection starts. My abscess was 4x4x9cm in size by the time I presented to Emergency. I had never been sick in my life and the only time I was in hospital was to birth my son 18 years ago. In 2023, I feel like I had enough CT Scans and MRI’s to last a lifetime. And the lessons, oh my, so many lessons to learn that I am STILL reflecting and having insights about that experience.

This is a reminder to everyone in our Tribe…listen to you body. Listen and carefully consider what your gut is telling you. If I had done that I would have gone to my doctor and been a squeaky wheel, instead of saying “I’m too busy to be sick or injured”, or this is just a golf injury and I will manage this with Advil and Aleve. Or if you are mother, a care-taker, a “giver” this is for you. DO NOT IGNORE PAIN, DO NOT IGNORE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS THAT SOMETHING NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION. AND YES, EVEN YOU CAN GET SICK.

When I recovered and got out with a clean bill of health, I had a massive gratitude practice surge, everything was awesome. Food tasted great, I was SO thankful my parents were visiting me during that Thanksgiving season, I loved fresh air, I loved all my friends and even some of my enemies, I was so so grateful for our SKin Phi Tribe. And my work family. I made everyone around me get on with taking care of themselves and being pro-active with getting shingles vaccines, insist on a colonoscopy, start moving and fighting for your skeletal muscle, get rid of turkeys in your life (they are toxic for mental and physical health!) After 50 you gotta do things differently. I have to take care of my vintage things with some TLC compared to the modern day wash-dry fabrics. Just a special kind of care, because that is how precious is it to age, to grow one year older, to enjoy mature friends, to one day enjoy grandchildren or grand-nieces and nephews.

When I was hospitalized and recovering, Lalaine and @dermnurseLara had me. They made decisions on my behalf, they were delegated things that normally I would only take on. They did this like bees in a hive, and I had total confidence in them. We have a trust so deep because WE WANT THE SAME THINGS. WE VALUE THE SAME THINGS. We want only the BEST for our patients and our community. We take care of each other, and there is love at the heart of it all. If one has a different priority (like profits, or selfish greed, or some other motivation) this does not work. It is so important to surround ourselves with the people that align with our values. “Get the right people on the bus.” I didn’t make this up, it’s out of a business book called From Good to Great. I’m very grateful for this gift from a former managing partner of Victoria Park Medspa. Your team should be full of people who are best at what they do, challenge you to be the best version, and collaborate to ALL work towards the same goal- ALIGNED VALUES. This is a golden lesson in life and in business.

(While working for a brief time for a corporate takeover group was a negative experience over-all, even those bad parts of history are a learning lesson. But that’s a whole other story. You can DM or email me directly if you would like to hear about the horrors of private equity take-overs of medical care and dental/vet medicine. It is NOT in the best interest of patients, that’s for sure.)

To align things in your physical, mental, spiritual life is a gift and power. We need this more than ever. If you have principles, make them hold true in all or as many aspects of your life. SKin Phi was all about aligning our values with how we practice our craft.

We love our community so much, we love to give back. We receive so much, we learn and exchange so much goodness with our Tribe.

This is what it means to have each other’s back. We got you.

Here are some recent SKin Phi magical results,

Love the BBL-HEROic and Moxi experts (and here's the proof below!)

1 BBL Treatment 1 BBL/Moxi Treatment 1 Moxi Treatment

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“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”

The Trifecta Nurses

This weekend I took all my good kitchen knives for their annual sharpening at Knifewear in the Glebe. This store is so special, I have a couple beautiful Japanese knives from here, but I also take my 25+ year old Henkel set here for sharpening. As many of you know, it is an absolute JOY to use exquisitely sharp knives in the kitchen (I also hold my special grater in great regard, it peels potatoes and carrots like butter!)

I share this wise proverb with you because since Nurse Lyne joined us in December, we have been sharpening each other with new challenges, shared knowledge, encouraging one another to grow, to change, to get better!! The coincidence does not escape me, that we are putting the Sciton Tribrid through it’s testing paces right now. Now that @dermnurseLara and I have another awesome nurse in the mix, we love being able to collaborate even more about our patient cases, how to optimize rejuvenation programs for each individual armed with even more knowledge and resources. The SYNERGY that happens when 3 passionate minds work together to make magic happen for a patient. Well, it’s nothing short of amazing…for YOU!

And the last thing about hanging out with other sharp knives in the drawer... surround yourself with people who support you being the very best version of yourself. Every gal needs a gang, where you take turns taking care of one another. We share good things, and try to learn from everyone's mistakes. Brene Brown teaches about vulnerability and shame, if you can't be yourself around your inner circle, when are you truly seen? I cherish my lady gang, "and when we laugh together, all is well with the world"

Baby Botox for a light touch to rejuvenate some lines and roughness.➡️

Make 50 look like 40 with undetectable facial harmonization with injectable hyaluronic acid gel or biostimulatory agents.➡️

In celebration of ALL things injectables and all things 3, we are extending our promo from Feb into March too.

Any 3 combination of injectable products (Juvederm, Restylane, Radiesse, Sculptra) gives you a gift of $130 of complimentary Botox.

(injectable skinboosters such as Skinvive or Vital Light qualify as 2syringes=1)

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Coming soon…. New Vivier selections for the Tribe

Vivier GrenzCine serum, eye cream, and a selected few other gems: Radiance Serum (for pigmentation issues), and Serum30 (a powerhouse anti-oxidant VitC all-in-one)

We staunchly oppose skincare that is clinically under-whelming but costs a lot, and only want to endorse products that actually do something tangible for your skin! Ask us about how Vivier invented this GrenzCine line and how it all started with a little tube of wound-healing salve called V-Stat! And of course, we love Canadian companies that give back, just like us!

It’s a hard audition to get on our tiny shelf space. Honestly, we tell patients to use inexpensive and easily accessible products when that is the BEST and least expensive option (example, La Roche Posay Cicaplast B5 Baume. For any skin irritation or extremely barrier impaired skin, rashes, cuts, burns, post Moxi laser recovery. It costs less than $20 from Shoppers Drugmart or Rexall)

I also fell in love with a Korean skincare serum which works for me, when my rosacea and melasma are flaring simultaneously; Tosowoong Azelaic acid 10% with Niacinamide/Zinc in a hyaluronic acid base. It costs $40 bucks and I get it from Amazon because it comes from South Korea. When one of the medical skincare lines makes something as good as this but with growth factors added, I will check it out. But until then, K-beauty sometimes gets the win for best-tech and inexpensive. PDRN is also a hot thing started by K-beauty dermatology and skincare, but there are so many competing products and delivery systems, I think this one will require an in-person research trip in 2027. 😜 Who’s coming with me to Seoul??

Nurse with the Most Heart

This week @dermnurseLara is hiking and relaxing with some beloveds in the red rock warmth of NV. She is in high demand this winter laser season, but she needs to recharge her batteries for the schedule ahead!

Recently she had some bloodwork done and when she took her bandaid off, "look at this guys, a heart!" Of course the most compassionate nurse of all time literally bleeds a heart emoji.

Have a beautiful March our dear ones,

See you soon!!

With Love and Rage

Sunny 🫶