50th Birthday bucket list Galapagos trip ticked! I’ve spent the last 8 days fulfilling a childhood dream to visit the Galápagos Islands – as a massive fan of nature documentaries and being a science/biology geek growing up, the Galapagos has been high on my bucket list for a very long time… and it was absolutely incredible!
Stepping over iguanas while navigating our way around sea lions and giant tortoises lying in the middle of our walking tracks was mind blowing – the animals are so completely unafraid of humans. On day 1 we were welcomed by dolphins around the boat and a humpback whale with her calf, and the animal encounters just accelerated from there! Swimming with marine iguanas and sea turtles, watching albatross, frigates and blue-footed boobies’ nest and feed their babies, and playing with young sea lions in the water were all highlights for me. I took way too many photos of the cute young sea lion pups, and we saw several who had just recently been born. I have filled my phone with incredible photos, and my heart with cherished memories.
For my actual birthday on 29th August, the wonderful team on our boat ‘Natural Paradise’ crafted a beautiful surprise for me in my room, with amazing towel art, gifts and even a birthday crown, reminiscent of our TFP birthday crown for many years!
As a bucket list item, my Galapagos tour over delivered. I chose ‘Natural Paradise’ as it was a smaller boat with just 14-16 passengers, but I underestimated how wonderful the crew, and our guide Andres would be. Everything was made so easy, the food was varied and delicious, the wildlife and scenery were spectacular, and while it was busy with 3-4 activities such as snorkelling and hiking every day, it was well paced to allow us to see as much as possible and still have some downtime. I will post some more of my photos from the Galapagos on my Instagram @drcatstone if you are interested! I would like to extend a big ‘thank you’ to the people who reached out to wish me happy birthday… I’m still catching up on messages after my trip, and it was heart warming to receive so many beautiful messages!
My other big news, if you haven’t seen it on my Instagram already, is that I found another lump, this time in my other breast. In the week before flying to Denver I had a flurry of tests, including biopsies, which revealed a high-grade precancer (DCIS) in my right breast. In view of my previous recurrence and multiple scares on the left side, and my inability to tolerate Tamoxifen, my oncologist has recommended that I proceed straight to mastectomy. I have an online meeting with my breast surgeon this week to discuss the plan forward, so the Galapagos and Denver trip has also been a wonderful opportunity to have the time and space to process this news.
It was a busy few days before I flew to Denver, not only with all the medical tests, but on the day I flew out, I delivered a 75 minute keynote presentation for the NZ Observ Conference on ‘Facial Ageing in 3D’ and in the afternoon was interviewed on the ‘Little Things’ podcast by Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey about a variety of topics including ageing, medical uses of Botox and sexual rejuvenation. You can listen to the podcast here if you’re curious. It was a load of fun!
Our full skin team attended the Observ conference, and I was proud to see them in the front row centre stage! They also attended the Environ conference last month, sustaining our team focus on continued learning.
Our medical team have also been busy with training in the new Profhilo Structura, which (as per its name) helps support the structure of the face with bio rejuvenation of the superficial fat pads that deplete as we age – it’s designed to help those who have started to notice their face ‘sagging’ or ‘sinking’.
The medical team is continuing our trials of polynucleotides, exosomes and similar products, and I’m excited to see the results of these trials. As you probably already know, we trial a lot of different products and treatments, but only a small selection makes it past our rigorous trial process, where it has to be simple, effective, naturally based, medically proven and we are happy to trial it on ourselves. When we proceed with trials, we want to ensure that what we are trialing is high reward, low risk and good value for money. As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, these treatments would need to give a significantly better result than PRP for us to consider offering them in clinic, as PRP is such an effective treatment, and as medical professionals we are obligated to consider the delicate balance between risks and benefits for every treatment.
Eve, Queza and I will be flying to Sydney at the end of this month for the relaunch of Allergan’s Volite product as ‘SkinVive’. There are apparently new techniques and ways of using the product, so I look forward to sharing more with you in the next newsletter.
Also coming up in the next month for our training academy is our Hyperhidrosis Workshop on 16 September discussing all things sweaty and the multiple ways to treat excessive sweating, and on 9 September the online preparation call for our Challenging Cases Masterclass next month.
Our industry is constantly changing, and I have noticed that many clinicians in our industry are unsure in how to explore and critically appraise the research literature to understand how to confidently implement evidence-based medicine. The online call will discuss the various portals available to access the medical literature, and provide training on how to assess the quality of the research and how applicable it is to a specific challenging case. To practice this skill, each attendee will then choose a case of theirs that was challenging in some way and explore what specific question(s) they want to answer so they can review and appraise the relevant literature and develop guidelines for how they might manage a similar case in the future. They will each prepare a 25-30 minute presentation, and present their case, literature review and guidelines at our Challenging Cases workshop on Monday 7 October. It was a great success last year, and I’m looking forward to the presentations this year!
The last month has been quite the rollercoaster of highs and lows, so I’m beyond grateful for all the support from our incredible team, and from you as one of our patients. Thank you so much for your ongoing support,
Love and hugs,
Dr Cat 😻
PROFHILO® STRUCTURA containing low and high molecular weight Hyaluronic acid is a class 3 medical device for face treatment and for restoring adipose tissues -in the dermal tissue repair process, and in cases of acne scars. PROFHILO® STRUCTURA has risks and benefits. Do not use it along with treatments such as laser resurfacing or medium/deep skin peeling. Do not inject into inflamed areas or intravenously or intramuscularly. Possible side effects are pain, itching or swelling at the injection site. All medicines, medical devices and treatments carry risks and benefits. Individual results will vary. Speak to one of our qualified Cosmedicine Nurses or Doctors to see what might be right for you and to explain the possible side effects.
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