Monday, October 14, 2013

How AVON Literally Saved My Life

In 1983, many years ago, I was a young mother of 3 children trying to make ends meet.  In order to stay home with them in the daytime and care for my youngest nursing baby, while the others were in 1st grade and preschool, I did AVON sporatically, Tupperware and a newspaper route at night.

My husband did the first part of the route and then would switch so the children were never alone.  When he gave me the car, he failed to warn me that he had just had a fender bender in the middle of the night.  I went on the route and due to a damaged fan/fan belt, the car started to over heat.  The alternator was not working and the headlights were dying.  I could hardly see to drive and the car was getting too hot, so I found a gas station and decided to put water in the tank.  After a few attempts to get the cap off and wait patiently to make sure nothing would spray out, I leaned over the hole to see if I could see any fluids at all in there.  When I did, a delayed reaction, a virtual snake of water as in "The Abyss" came out and made impact with my face, including mouth and neck, then followed me, blowing my glasses off and hitting my chest, arm and thigh as I turned to flee. 

The pain was searing followed by the anguish that the station, at 4:30 in the morning, did not have any hoses attached to the outside of the station, and of course, they had turned the pressure way down on the water to keep people from stealing water, so as I tried to splash sprinkles of water on myself, the blisters started spewing and growing to the size of lemons.  I could look down and on my chest, I could see the water from my own system, dance inside the blister as if I had sprinkled water on a grill.  My skin was hissing and blisters were growing exponentially until I could barely close my mouth and my ability to speak was impaired. I felt that my air supply was diminishing when I tried to breathe from my mouth, so I tried to calm myself down and only breathe through my nose. I felt like I was fighting to survive, I rushed to the car and grabbed a handful of change from the ashtray, and leaving a trail of coins, ran to the phone booth.

This was the pre-cell phone era of 1983.  It was now about 5 a.m.   I first tried to call the newspaper office, but everyone had left.  I tried to call my sleeping 1st husband, but the battery on the other car was dead and he said he couldn't leave the kids alone.  He told me that an ambulance was out of the question and if I called one, I would be responsible for the payment if the insurance did not pay for it.  I then called a friend, Karma who was up getting her kids ready for an early morning religion class called Seminary.  It was difficult for her to understand me, but she understood enough to know she was needed and said she would be right there.

While I decided I might be able to survive this, I turned around in the phone booth to see a man, who apparently had heard my screams from the gas station across the street and was trying to be a good Samaritan.  He was standing exactly in front of me with eyes wide open.  Staring at me in horror, his wild eyes told me that I was probably going to be attacked or raped.  Suddenly, he started screaming, "Oh my GOD, look at her face!", over and over again as he ran away.  I sank to the bottom of the booth in shock and relief and disbelief and thought that at least I could be grateful that I had been saved from multiple traumas that day. 

I got my wits about me and my Girl Scout training kicked in.  I took off my wet sweatshirt and made my way to the car.  The doors were open, water was on the ground, money was all over the ground and I, as calmly as I could, rolled up the sweatshirt and placed it under my feet, lay back and did Lamaze type breathing to try to calm myself down.   I wasn't sure where my glasses were.  I thought I could last until my friend got there when suddenly the Samaritan returned, now screaming that he could help me.

I was a little panicked, in shock and he told me to lie still and he, with black greasy hands, proceeded to rub a first aid cream with the consistency of lard on the hissing blisters.  Of course, with the lemon sized taut skin, the cream melted instantaneously and the blisters started ripping open at his touch.  He was crying and a voice told me to do what I could to calm him down, because clearly he was negatively impacted by this event.  My right hand had one huge blister the size of the entire hand, so I reached over with my good hand and touched his arm and tried to nod that it was going to be ok.  He ran out of cream in nothing flat, turned and disappeared into the morning fog.

Moments later, my friend Karma arrived, surveyed the situation, found my glasses and helped me into the car where we proceeded to the emergency room.  Not knowing if my insurance would cover the Sherman Oaks Burn Center, I opted for the local emergency room, where a series of mistakes were made, leaving me wrapped like a mummy, with a serious and almost fatal infection called pseudomonas, resulting in 3 weeks of antibiotic in patient stay, and severe keloid scars.

Fast forward 9 years.  Depression and 2 burn repair surgeries miraculously accomplished by Dr Bryan Slywka, had removed some of the scaring but I was still horribly depressed and my husband was interested in other things. I felt like I was a failure and contemplating exits.  The love of my children kept me going and I could not bear the thought of abandoning them with a selfish action, so I turned to ANEW which after using on a regular regimen, slowly but surely started repairing my skin and dissolving the scar tissue.

 Now, in 2016.... years later, 5 children and now in Arizona with an adoring NEW, appreciative, supporting "high school sweetheart" husband, I am an Avon Gold Ambassador, and my skin certainly does not make me look like the 63 year old woman that I will be in November.  I feel like I am an AVON miracle.  AVON does not promise this will work for all people, but I am telling you that when you see the scars on my chest, you would never believe that the face and chest were in the same accident.

Now, my regimen is to use ANEW Ultimate Multi Performance at night while I sleep after I put the ANEW night cream on my face while kicking back and watching television.  I put it on and even though I have thoroughly removed my make up and washed my face with 1) remover wipes and 2) ANEW cleanser, I am always aghast at what happens next.  After I put a thin layer of the Night cream or Night Emulsion on, I wait about 15 minutes then start to rub in gentle circles.  Within minutes, brown dead skin is rolling off and my face is as soft as a baby's skin.

I love ANEW - let me show you the newest product in the line.   You can also watch Skin Care Videos I made at http://www.youtube.com/kdaymayday.  This is a fun, fulfilling business to be in.  Call me today and let me show you how you can become a consultant and help others solve their skin problems and make some cash to save your little family in this economy.  I also have a page called http://www.avoncatalogonline.avonscottsdale.com  or http://www.meyer2consult.com  Below are other ways to follow me!  Join my team by going to www.start.avon.com and using my code:  kmeyer2352

Karen S Meyer,
Avon Unit Leader, Elite DSWA Coach
FACEBOOK:   Http://www.facebook.com/AvonSkinCareAZ