It’s hard to believe we are now officially in winter in New Zealand, and we have some exciting new treatments and initiatives at The Face Place to help you through the storms of winter and life. The new EmFace under eye applicator is here for the puffiness and lines under the eyes, and you can take advantage of our ‘4th peel free’ winter offer by purchasing 3 peels and completing your first peel with us before 30 June 2025, to receive your concession card.
Sheridyn has written an excellent article this month about the effects of stress on your skin, and for the cosmetic injectors who read our newsletters, Marjorie shares about our upcoming training courses on Hyalase and Complications Management and Regenerative Cell therapies.
If you’ve been following my journey, I last wrote from Sanoviv Medical Institute (www.SanovivMedicalInstitute.com) where I was receiving treatment for my 3rd and most serious tussle with breast cancer, in the hope that the treatments help me become permanently cancer free. I completed my 3 week course of treatments and over that time saw multiple ‘miracles’ of patients who turned around cancer and other serious autoimmune, neurodegenerative and lifestyle diseases in 2-3 weeks. I’m grateful that thanks to surgery last year and chemo earlier this year that the cancer is already out of my body, and I was not as sick as many of the patients at Sanoviv, but hearing their stories has given me great hope that the treatments I’ve had will work well for me.
I had the seroma around my recently reconstructed breast drained another 3 times at Sanoviv, along with fully packed days of treatments, medical consults and regular spa treats to keep us sane! If you have any questions about Sanoviv, I’m happy to answer them privately, just contact me on Instagram @drcatstone. I’m beyond grateful that I’ve had the time and space to fully focus on my health, thanks to our incredible team who have continued to provide excellent ongoing care to our patients with remote support from me.
In my final week at Sanoviv, my dear friend Janine joined me from Bali, flying 33 hours to be with me. Janine is the founder and owner of the incredible women’s retreat Escape Haven (www.escapehaven.com if you want to check it out!). It was so wonderful to have her alongside me as my companion for that week, and we then had another ‘bucket list’ week together in Mexico City after we left the retreat.
Janine intentionally organised everything for the week so I didn’t have to think about making decisions, and it was an incredible week! We did a taco tour of the streets of Mexico City on bikes, visited the Frida Kahlo museum, went to a Lucha Libre show (the extremely popular Mexican version of WWF wrestling, masks and all) with a super fan, had a Cuban salsa dancing lesson, and – my favourite – went hot air ballooning over the Teotihuacán pyramids and then breakfast in a cave.
My hair has been growing back in the patches where I had gone almost bald thanks to chemo, and my mum had suggested cutting off the straggly bits at the back – all that remained of my original pre-chemo hair – and having a pixie cut to make everything more even. I was struggling with the concept of cutting my hair off super short due to the trauma of cutting it short when I was 9, and then having to grow it out. I’ve had long hair ever since, and even cutting it to a bob before chemo last year was traumatic! Janine agreed with mum and booked me a hair appointment in Mexico City so I could choose either a gentle trim or go the full pixie hairstyle. I got brave and decided to cut my hair off… and then burst into tears as soon as I left the hairdressers! As my dear friend Maree pointed out to me, I was likely grieving the loss of more than just my hair, but also for the whole journey of losing both my breasts, my uterus and my lymph nodes, and the hair was just a trigger for the grief. While it’s taken me a period of adjustment, Mum and Janine were absolutely right, it does look a lot better, and the great thing is that hair grows! The whole trip has felt like a bookend to the 5 year breast cancer debacle and cutting my hair off really feels like it’s symbolic of shedding the cancer journey and starting to move back to living life fully again.
Speaking of living life fully, Beauty NZ Magazine did an incredible article on my life, founding The Face Place, and my breast cancer journey. They even put me on the cover of the magazine! You can check it out here if you’re interested (link)
I had to get the seroma around the breast expander drained again while in Mexico City, and I’m now back in Zipolite recuperating at my mum’s. It really has been a wild ride this last 5+ years and I’m thankful for all the wonderful support I’ve received from our team and our patients. I’m grateful to you for continuing to support The Face Place as I recognise the last few years have brought challenging times to many people.
I’m hopeful that we are all turning a corner and I’m a big believer that when things go down, they come up again afterwards and usually even higher than before, so I’m excited to see what the next part of our journey brings!
Sending love and hugs,
