Sclerotherapy: Wearing Pantyhose, Feeling Pincushion-y

February 6, 2014 / Ally Bean / 20 Comments

I’m writing this post as I sit here wearing, of all things, pantyhose under my jammies. Not just any pantyhose, mind you. No, I have on light compression pantyhose in a most peculiar, unnatural shade called, Suntan Beige.

The reason for this deviant pantyhose-wearing behavior is that I had sclerotherapy on my legs. And once one has this voluntary, cosmetic, medical procedure, one must wear support pantyhose, of any color, for two weeks afterward.

# # #

For those of you fortunate enough to not have pasty white vein-y legs, I’ll explain what sclerotherapy is. You’ve probably never heard of it before. Lucky ducks.

Sclerotherapy, which involves a trained medical professional with a sharp needle + saline solution, is a way to permanently remove spider veins & varicose veins from your legs. Doctors have done it since the 1930s, so this is nothing new.

WebMD describes the procedure thusly:

“In most cases of sclerotherapy, the salt solution is injected through a very fine needle directly into the vein. At this point, you may experience mild discomfort and cramping for one to two minutes, especially when larger veins are injected. The procedure itself takes approximately 15 to 30 minutes.”

While the above description is technically correct, what it fails to make clear is that sclerotherapy is not just one injection, it is many injections during the 15 to 30 minutes.

# # #

Meaning, quite simply, that one becomes a human pincushion during this procedure. And while I’m the first to admit that it doesn’t hurt per se, it is damned annoying to be jabbed [oh say, 50 times] with a sharp little needle.

So it is at this point in my life that I find myself this morning. I’m squished inside a hideous pair of pantyhose, wondering how long it’ll be before the memory of this procedure floats out of my mind. And my legs look wunderbar.

Only time will tell I guess.

But Tuesday Is My Favorite Day

February 4, 2014February 5, 2014 / Ally Bean / 18 Comments

I AWAKENED THIS MORNING thinking that today is Friday. As it is Tuesday, I’m way off the mark with that thought. I’m rather amused that I’m confused. It’s like my subconscious is playing a fun little game with me called, “O Bean, Where Art Thou?”

~ ~ • ~ ~

I HAVE NO EXPLANATION for why this morning my mind skipped a few days ahead, but it did. I like Tuesday so it’s not as if I’m trying to avoid anything.

In fact, once upon a time there was a meme going around that asked specifically which day of the week was your favorite. My answer was Tuesday. An answer, as I recall, that made many people question my sanity.

Nobody likes Tuesday, they told me. I like Tuesday, I replied.

~ ~ • ~ ~

THEY SAID NOTHING MORE about my answer, but I was left with the distinct impression that I was a nobody, with no credibility at all, because I liked Tuesday .

People can be most peculiar. N’est-ce pas?

And with that bit of wisdom, I’ll take my leave to fly away [so to speak]. Now that I’m awake, Tuesday is calling to me. Catch up with you later, kids.

~ ~ • ~ ~

Of Blogs, Beans & Bears

January 24, 2014August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

All the cool kids are telling their stories about how & why they chose the names that they did for their blogs. Read this.

Naturally, I want to be a cool kid, too. So here’s my story of how this blog came to be named, The Spectacled Bean.

~ • ~

SHORT VERSION: I am nearsighted and wear eye glasses (aka spectacles) all the time. My blogging nom de plume is Ally Bean. Ergo, I am The Spectacled Bean.

LONG VERSION: I knew that I wanted to start a blog, but was dithering around about the whole thing. I kept thinking that if I could figure out the perfect name for a blog, then I’d do it.

Well, one sunny winter’s day Z-D & I went to the zoo. Many of the animals were at their best, loving the coldness. As a result of this, we stopped to watch some animals that until now I’d never paid much attention to.

One of said animals was the spectacled bear. He was moseying around his enclosure and looked rather dapper. Reading the information* about him I knew that he was just the sort of animal that had the right attitude.

I was smitten– and in a moment of divine inspiration I realized that by using a modified version of his name for my blog’s name, I could describe myself. Hence, this blog is called The Spectacled Bean.

~ • ~

{ source }

~ • ~

* Often described as small, adaptable and elusive, spectacled bears can “… while away the hours in treetops, occasionally feeling the urge to become productive when they build huge platforms out of broken branches, to help them get at out of reach fruit.”

A Funeral On Friday In Florida

January 13, 2014July 1, 2025 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

A view of Sarasota Bay & the beautiful clouds above taken from my hotel room balcony.

~ • ~

Last Thursday I boarded a flight to Sarasota, FL, so that I could attend my aunt’s funeral on Friday. Although my aunt’s health had declined during the last few years, it was still a strange feeling to travel for this reason.

I knew that it was likely that she would proceed me in death, but when the phone call came a few days after Christmas that she had passed, I was sort of stunned. Granted at age 88 she was the last relative of the WWII generation in my family, but I think that we all thought that she’d go on forever.

~ • ~

The waterfall by the pool at my hotel. It’s all about water in Sarasota.

~ • ~

Family members from all over the country attended her funeral, which was about as happy as a funeral can be. She had lived a full & unique life– and after years of chronic illness she was ready to go.

Talking with everyone at a casual dinner the night before the funeral, all were in agreement that our aunt– or mother, or grandmother– was: generous, funny, kind, educated, creative, determined & a church lady, in the best sense of that phrase.

~ • ~

Prettiness while looking across Sarasota Bay at a pink building situated underneath the blue winter FL sky.

~ • ~

The service on Friday was in a lovely Episcopalian church on Siesta Key. It was late in the afternoon and the light from the setting sun shone through the multicolored abstract stained glass windows that rimmed the top of the sanctuary.

‘Twas beautiful & inspiring in a way that perfectly summarized the goodness that was my late aunt. And I do believe, set the stage for a wonderful, loud, cheerful family dinner afterwards at a local restaurant where everyone lifted their glass of her favorite wine, pinot grigio [or whatever they were drinking], to toast her one last time.

~ • ~

So long, Aunt Mary Jane. You were the best.