Babbles Nonsense
Welcome to my verbal diary where I want to discuss any and all things that is essentially on my mind or have wondered about. Sometimes I will be solo and then other times I will have some amazing guests to bring all different perspectives in life. The ultimate goal is to hopefully bring some joy, laughter, inspiration, education, and just maybe a little bit of entertainment. Don't forget to like, rate, and share the podcast with a friend!
Babbles Nonsense
Babbling about Chihuahuas, Heart Murmurs, and My decade long beauty blunder
#172: Ever had a seemingly small decision spiral into years of unexpected consequences? That's exactly what happened with my under-eye filler journey that began a decade ago. What should have been a simple cosmetic enhancement has turned into a persistent medical saga involving multiple dissolving procedures, surgery, and ongoing complications. The lesson? Some fillers don't dissolve naturally as promised, and under-eye treatments deserve extra caution.
But life carries on with its mix of mundane and meaningful moments. My Chihuahua recently needed dental surgery at age 11 (that's 60 in dog years, by the way – forget that "multiply by seven" rule we all learned). While under anesthesia, she provided some comic relief with her tongue hanging out while struggling to stay awake standing up. The procedure also revealed a mild heart murmur, adding another dimension to pet parenthood as she approaches her senior years.
Meanwhile, severe weather patterns have me contemplating tornado shelters, and my beauty routine has evolved toward more natural approaches. Face taping has become my go-to alternative to injectables – using specialized Japanese tape designed specifically for delicate facial skin to prevent sleep wrinkles. Combined with a satin bonnet for hair protection, I might look "hella scary" at bedtime, but wake up looking better than ever. As one wise person noted, "It's not about what we look like going to bed, it's what we wake up looking like."
This journey has highlighted the double standard in how society views aging – celebrating men who "age like fine wine" while expecting women to somehow stay youthful naturally while also pursuing every beauty enhancement available. Perhaps the real beauty breakthrough isn't found in procedures or products, but in finding comfort with our choices and our authentic selves. If you're navigating similar beauty dilemmas or pet parent adventures, you're not alone – share your experiences with me and join the conversation.
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What is up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Babbles Nonsense podcast. Today's episode is going to be short and sweet and it's just going to be literally me babbling about literal nonsense, just stuff that has happened over the past couple of weeks in my life that I was like you know what I haven't done. A quick little update in a little bit. So that's what today's episode is going to be about. All right, I hope everyone is having a very good week. It is a new month, it is may, mother's day is coming up, spring should be around the corner.
Speaker 1:Um, if you live in tornado valley I don't know, there's a lot of different places that people listen to. Weather has been absolutely insane. It's almost like for the past several weekends we have had nothing but either thunderstorms, that with crazy wind, or tornado threats, and I just swear it's getting worse and worse. People say that global warming is not real, but I beg to differ. Before all this stuff with my house, my next big project was to get a tornado shelter, but obviously I don't want to keep investing into this house until we kind of know what's going on. But that is my next huge investment that I'm going to do is a tornado shelter. It's a must.
Speaker 1:Living in Alabama, tennessee, my whole life we, you know, always been scared of the tornado weather and, like in more recent years, tornado season has like extended past April and May. It's then also been in the fall, in like November, december, which they say that's always been tornado season, but I just don't recall that until more recent years. But anyways, if you've been in the weather, you get it, you know, I don't know, but something about just getting older to storms just get more scary. I don't know, maybe it's because when you're younger you're not thinking about, I don't know, dying, and when we get older it's just like reality hits, like, oh, we're not immortal, okay, this is what it is. But anyways, last week was fun, not just kidding.
Speaker 1:Um, no, my dog ended up having dental surgery. Well, she had her teeth cleaned and then she ended up with a tooth pulled, which I kind of figured, because her breath has been absolutely horrendous lately, like she's always had bad breath, like her nickname is stinky breath, um, and her teeth are just gross. Like she's a Chihuahua. And before anyone asks me, she's a great Chihuahua, just ask any friends. My aunt had a Chihuahua when I was younger, so she told me when I got her that I had to socialize her immediately. So that's what I did. I took her to any friend's house that had a dog, small children, anything just in like let everyone hold her so that she did not become like that yappy, territorial, like little dog. So now she just thinks that she's a big dog, and the only time she really barks is like if someone's coming in the front door and I'm home. If I'm not home like if I have like leave a code for a guest or something like that, or my mom and anyone walks in the front door and I am not home, she doesn't bark. She only barks when I'm home, which you know. She's doing her job, she's protecting me, she's letting me know that someone's coming in the door, um, but anyways, um, she's a great Chihuahua. So if you know anything about Chihuahuas, y'all know that they have horrendous teeth.
Speaker 1:Um, so she lost one of her front teeth, like years ago, probably almost 10 years ago Now. It just fell out and then she's always just had bad breath. I've tried everything, from the you know, the stuff that you put in the water, the little powder you put on the food. Nothing was working. She doesn't do like raw hides or any hard chewing bone or anything like that. She only she's very picky. She only eats like soft treats and stuff like that. And, um, she also doesn't really like water, which she is not her mother's daughter because I love water, um, but anyways, I took her to my friend's sister who's a vet and I was like I think she's going to have to have several teeth pulled.
Speaker 1:I've tried looking in her mouth, oh, and before anyone says, well, why don't you brush her teeth? She won't let me, she won't let me. She shakes her head, she closes her mouth, she clenches her jaw. She's just, she's a great dog. I know it's not sounding like it, but she's a great dog. She just won't let me brush her teeth. Um. So I took her to my friend's sister who is a vet and I was like I think she's gonna have to have several teeth pulled. And, mind you, she's almost 12, she'll be 12 this year in September and she acts like a puppy still, um, although she has calmed down some, but they were like, no, I think she's only going to need one.
Speaker 1:So they did a full exam on her and I've never gotten her teeth cleaned before. I know that's probably horrible dog mom of me. So nobody come at me, you know, if you're a dog lover. But if you know it's, they have to go under anesthesia. And so me, being in the medical field, like it's just, it's kind of like anxiety driven, thinking about putting my dog to sleep Like I don't know, like once a year to have their teeth cleaned or whatnot. That just seems very excessive for them to have to do that. Plus, she's a small dog and she's older, so I just didn't want her. You know, I don't know, I feel I just feel like dogs or animals in general just process anesthesia very differently than humans. But she was hilarious.
Speaker 1:So, because this was my friend's sister, she took, she took a photo after she woke up from anesthesia and her eyes were like bugging out of her head. Now it's not her typical vet that I take her to, but I wanted her to go to my friend's sister, since I trusted her and I knew like she is in good hands Not that she wasn't in good hands with the vet I currently use, but I just knew her. So it just felt safer. I don't know, I guess y'all could relate to that, if you, if you know what I'm talking about. But, um, I took her there but she used to be her vet a long time ago and then I I just couldn't keep doing the drive where she was at, so we had switched to a new vet because my friend went to a new vet.
Speaker 1:Anyways, this is getting long and drawn out, but they ended up finding a heart murmur on her. So we do have to kind of watch her for that. But she said it's not bad, I just need to watch it. But of course, if you know anything about heart and teeth like you have, this is for humans too. You have to, you know, be on antibiotics. You have to be careful when you have a heart murmur or any like any kind of heart conditions, when you're talking about pulling teeth, cleaning teeth, stuff like that, just because bacteria can go straight from the teeth to the heart so you can end up with endocarditis or something like that, which is an infection in the heart. So she's been on antibiotics. Thankfully she has not had any diarrhea, thank the Lord.
Speaker 1:Um, but she was just hilarious after anesthesia she was like it was also hair wash day for me, so I came home to like wash my hair and she would not lay down without me. But she was falling asleep with her tongue out of her mouth standing up and it was just the funniest thing. And, like in the car on the way home, she was falling asleep with her mouth open and her tongue hanging out and I was just like it's just funny watching dogs on anesthesia. But she did great. She only worked. You know, she got one tooth pulled. She does have a little heart murmur.
Speaker 1:And then I was reading a chart while I was at the vet and you know how people think that dog years are like seven years. So we're always like oh, just multiply a dog's current age, like what we would consider their human age, by seven and that's their dog age. Well, according to this chart, that is not how it goes. I think I only like, like memorize like a couple of them, because I was looking. So she's currently 11. So according to this chart, she's 60. She's not 77 like we all thought. And then, like, when she turns 12, she'll just go up by four years, so 60, she'll be 64 this year in dog years.
Speaker 1:And then when they turn one because it's also based on weight, like there's, like this chart's like based on weight, and their eight, like what we would consider their human years and so, based on her weight and her breed size, like when she was one, she was 15. So like it's different in ages. So it wasn't like she was one and she was seven. Like when she was one, she was 15. So like it's different in ages. So it wasn't like she was one and she was seven, it was she's one, she's 15, and then the years go like by seven, and then they go by three, then they go by four. It was. It was just crazy, because I was just like that is not what we were taught. We were taught that dogs age by seven years, but whatever, she's younger than I thought, but she's still geriatric, but it was just, it was cute and it was funny. I did share a photo on my Instagram the other day about it and everyone laughed hysterically and I loved it.
Speaker 1:Um, anyways, um, some some other little updates. I know I haven't updated on my eye in a while. Um, so if you followed that journey about my under eye filler that I got when I was like, um, I don't know, I I want to say 27. So 10 years ago now that had to be dissolved multiple times, which ultimately ended up with under eye surgery, um, and then, if you followed that journey, after the under eye surgery that was three years ago now, um, last year I started getting swelling under the same left eye again, ended up seeing a plastic oculoplastic surgeon in Nashville and he did some ultrasound guided dissolving because it was still there, y'all.
Speaker 1:Filler does not just go away, like they told us, like everyone says. That filler, you know, get it done every three to six months. You know it'll naturally dissolve with time. It doesn't Like I got this filler 10 years ago under my eyes. It's been dissolved multiple times. I even had surgery to remove it and it's still like coming to the tissue, like so like it's been fine for a year since the doctor dissolved it last year.
Speaker 1:But then recently, within the past probably six weeks, I've started having swelling under my left eye again and I was like what is going on? So I talked to a physician's assistant in Nashville who used to work with oculoplastic and I told her you know the whole story and she was like I really think you should go back and have some more ultrasound guided dissolving. I think you still have filler there. That's why it's puffy, because my right eye doesn't do it, it's just my left eye and I know it's not that bad, but we're all our own worst critics, you know. And so I pulled up my MRI that I had.
Speaker 1:In January I did a podcast where I did a full body MRI and you know I mentioned in that episode that they still saw some remnants of filler and I'm just like, why will this stuff just not break down? It's so annoying. But also, at the end of the day, I have an autoimmune condition with my thyroid and you know it does weird things with different procedures and um, um, foreign bodies, I guess substances in your, in your body, even though it's supposed to mimic your natural hyaluronic acid, it's just not. It's still just not natural. So the plan is I'm going this week to back to Nashville to the oculoplastic for him to look with the ultrasound again and compare it to my MRI and see if any more has made its way to the surface and if it has, we're going to dissolve some more.
Speaker 1:So if anything is taken away from this episode, just, please, whatever you do obviously it's your body do what you want. You're autonomous. Also, consult with a doctor. But please, whatever you do, obviously it's your body Do what you want. You're autonomous, also consult with a doctor. But please, whatever you do, just don't get filler under your eye, like at this point in my life, like I wish somebody would have shook me and been like, what are you doing? Because I didn't even need it in the first place. And so now it's been this 10 year saga of now trying to correct something I didn't even need in the first place. I didn't even need in the first place. But everything happens for a reason. I'm trying to stay positive. It's made me who. I am right.
Speaker 1:But the reason why I was bringing that up is I would have never thought this about someone else. Like I started sharing this journey. I wish I would have shared it sooner, but I was just honestly embarrassed and it's. It is a vanity thing. And when people you know look at me even my friends they're like John, it's not that bad and it's not that bad and it's and it's not. But it bothers me because that's what my eyes focus on when I am in the mirror. Plus, we know, bathroom lighting, fluorescent lighting, is not the best. It just makes us all, you know, pick apart ourselves anyways. Um, but the reason why I was talking about this is because I started sharing this journey about two years ago. I finally got the courage to share it after I did a podcast with the Huntsville mom and I was telling her about everything and she was like you really should share it. So I ended up sharing the story, but when I got on, I think it was Instagram.
Speaker 1:This past weekend there's a local makeup artist in town who I've interviewed Mally. She does MLA artistry. She was actually sharing her journey as well, showing that she had some swelling under her eye, and I've just never met anyone locally Sorry, my dog is barking. So much for me for saying she's a good Chihuahua. No, she really is In my podcast room. She's sitting where she can look out the window and people are walking. So, no, she shared that she had some swelling under her eyes after filler and you know it didn't happen right away. It happened a couple of years later, which is kind of what happened to me, like it didn't happen right away, it happened a couple months later.
Speaker 1:And then you know a lot of the times, if an injector is not well versed, or they don't know complications, or you know they haven't updated their education, they may tell you well, this isn't from the filler and mine didn't do that. I'm just saying some may, because I did go to numerous you know plastic surgeons to be like, hey, what is going on? And some didn't believe that it could be filler, and those were some older you know plastic surgeons. And then there was some that were like, yeah, I see this all the time. It's a really hard complication to fix and I was like great, of course, when I do something, I do it really well, not, and I'm not happy that she had that complication. It's just that it made me feel good to know that. You know, I'm not alone in this journey and I'm sure other people have not shared their journey, because it is kind of embarrassing because you're talking about something that's vanity.
Speaker 1:Now, fortunately for her, she did dissolve all her filler and her swelling went away and, um, me and her got to talking. I was like cause she was like she's going to try to go the all natural route and do no Botox, which is the huge trend right now. Um, my friend sends me stuff all the time about Botox possibly causing strokes. I don't, I'm not going to say it can't happen, I just feel like if that was causing it, there would be way more younger people having strokes and again, I'm not gonna say it can't happen, but there's got to be other things going on there which I'm not getting in down that rabbit hole, um. But she said she's gonna try to go um, no Botox and stuff like that, and I actually have been wanting to do that. We'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1:But face taping is a thing and I don't know if I've talked about face taping on this podcast yet, but I have really enjoyed face taping lately because it really does work. Now you look crazy as hell going to bed, but you know it doesn't matter for me. I'm single, nobody's here. So that's one positive. But I get some face tape from I think her Instagram is naturalfacebible. Let me look it up real quick. Yes, her handle on Instagram is naturalfacebible altogether and I purchased her face tape because it's Japanese face tape and it's safe for the skin and she goes into a lot of stuff about how you have to be really careful about what kind of face tape you buy. You can't just get anything off Amazon or anything like that, because it's not made for skin, especially delicate skin on the face and especially under the eyes.
Speaker 1:But like face taping, like cause I'm a side sleeper. I've tried sleeping on my back. I just cannot do it. It's just not comfortable. I can't even fall asleep in that position. So when you are a side sleeper, then you can get deeper lines or wrinkles just because you're stagnant in a position all night. Now me, I don't know. I move around a lot per my aura ring and I get up probably two to three times a night, so I don't know. But you can like face tape where your lines are on your forehead or around your eyes, for your crow's feet, even your nasolabial folds, and any kind of like static line that is getting deeper. You can just kind of put face tape over and you do that three to four nights a week and then you let your skin breathe like I think again, y'all consult somebody else who's experienced in this. I'm just telling you my experience, um, but yeah, so like I've gotten into face taping, mouth tape, I now wear a satin bonnet to go to sleep in to help my hair and my hair has literally been so good, like I have been getting so many compliments on my hair in the past few months because it's just growing, which I also attribute to taking Mary Ruth's hair vitamin, that liquid vitamin that was viral there for a while.
Speaker 1:There was like a TikTok special not too long ago and so I purchased a bunch and I really think that stuff helps your hair grow. Not even going to lie, but the satin bonnet definitely helps you from tossing and turning at night and so that it's not as frizzy. But I'm telling you, I go to bed hella scary and just made me so much better, feel so much better when I was telling her all this stuff and she was like you know what? It's not about what we go to bed looking like, it's what we wake up looking like, which I do hate that there's all this societal pressure to stay young and, you know, age aggressively but stay young and don't do anything and do everything natural for women and it's, you know, a catch 22, because it's not that way for men, because if men age, it's just like, wow, you know he's. So what is it that people say he's so aging? Like fine wine, or I love me a mature man and stuff like it's just so crazy the differences between men and women there Speaking of I didn't even introduce this or say this at the beginning of the episode, but also want to shout out and thank everyone for reaching out.
Speaker 1:After last week's episode I was super nervous about putting that out, but it did really well. Y'all responded really well to it. So if you haven't listened to that episode, definitely go listen because I'm super proud of it. It may sprinkle some of that in and out, you know, through the next few episodes. I don't know, we'll see. Is there anything else that I need to update y'all on? I'm trying to think. I think that is it. Those are the two main things I just really wanted to hop on and just you know kind of babble about. So if you liked this episode, you know, share it with a friend, or share any of the other episodes with a friend, and I'll see you next week. Guys, until next time, bye you.
