Ok, this review is may be a bit all over the place,
because I have not one but THREE topics to cover:
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Vitamin E Oil
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A new (to me) Trader Joe’s that I visited today
in Silver Spring, Maryland
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And a medical issue I have been dealing with for
the last couple of months but haven’t mentioned here, skin cancer
Which topic shall I start with?? Maybe the biggest – the skin cancer. Let’s discuss that quickly and get it out of
the way!!
Yeah. So. I had basal cell carcinoma. The GOOD parts about this kind of skin cancer
are: it is the most common form of skin
cancer and super treatable if caught early.
The BAD parts about it in my case were:
it wasn’t caught early (yes, I knew I had it and delayed going to the doctor)
AND it was in a hard to cut out place – the top/side corner of my nose – RIGHT
BY MY EYE… And the fact that it was
THERE is why I had put off going to the doctor.
It was a spooky location to imagine someone coming at with a knife!!!
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| I won't show the grossest photo here, but let's peek at a shot just 24 hours after closing surgery shall we?? |
But come at it with a knife they did. I had the cancer cut out with a surgery known
as MOHS earlier this month. It ended up
being a bigger “hole in my face” than they had expected, but I actually went
home with said hole covered with a bandage and waited until day 2 of surgery –
the CLOSE. The MOHS doctor did not want
to CLOSE, due to the close proximity to my eye…
So, she referred me to an ocular plastic surgeon to close, which turned
out to be just the right thing to do since it was a tricky hole to sew
up!!
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| Look! 96 hours after they sewed the hole up... |
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| And here is right after they took the stitches out! |
So, the long and the short of it is: I had basal cell carcinoma on my face, one doctor
cut that sucker out, and another doctor sewed me up!! It has been 18 days since MOHS now and I am
looking pretty good (if I do say so myself!).
and it is now the VITAMIN E STAGE!
This means that I am to put Vitamin E oil on the scar, with the intention
of making the scar less visible. I am
supposed to apply it twice daily until I go back to the surgeon in four
weeks.
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| Still the same price it was when I reviewed it 2 years ago - only $3.99 |
And where did I get the Vitamin E Oil?? Why, at TRADER JOE’S of course!!! I had a tiny bit at home, but bought a new
bottle today. So that leads to part 2 of
this piece – VITAMIN E OIL! It is great
for your skin. It can be found in most
drug stores. And it is expensive. That is, unless you but it at TJ’s! I wrote a review of it way back on day 77 of
this blog (in 2015), and I still stand by it today. Here you go:
Vitamin E Oil Review link
Now part 3 – A NEW (to me) TRADER JOE’S!!
Believe it or not there are still Trader Joe’s stores in
my vicinity that I have not ever visited!
CRAZY, eh?? Last night I passed
one in Silver Spring, Maryland but did not have time to stop and check it
out. So you know where I was today! Yup, right back at that Trader Joe’s to see
how it fared compared to the 27 other Trader Joe’s locations I have visited!
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| The way the parking lot is set up makes it hard to get a good photo of the outside of this store. |
First and foremost – the parking is NOT GOOD!!! Oh man, parking at this store is sooooo
hard! Granted, it was a Saturday morning
when I was there, which is a busy time.
But still!! NOT enough parking
spots. I even witnessed a PARKING SPOT
FIGHT!! It never got to actually
throwing blows, but it was a yelling fight! Here is what happened: when I got there I couldn’t find a spot to
park in the front, so I followed the “more parking” signs around to the back
and eventually found a tight spot. I did
my shopping, and on the way back to my car I heard a honk. I looked up to see what had happened: a guy in an Acura mini-van/SUV sort of thing
had been waiting in his vehicle for someone to pull out of a spot. As the person was pulling out, a guy driving
a Lexus stepped on the gas and whipped into it from the other direction!!! Oh, the Acura man was not happy…. He rolled down his window and yelled, “I WAS
WAITING FOR THAT SPOT!!! I WAS HERE
FIRST!” to which Mr. Lexus replied, “No you weren’t…”. Well that is a 3rd grade response
if I have ever heard one!!! Mr. Acura
would have none of it!! “YES I
WAS!!!! I WAS WAITING!”. And you can guess Mr. Grown-Up Lexus’ reply, “Nuh-uh….”. Repeat, repeat… Mr. Acura asked Mr. Lexus to leave the spot,
and of course Mr. Lexus would not. Mr.
Acura ended up screaming something like, “You and your Lexus are jerks!!!”. I stood around with my cart as the Lexus boys
exited their car and sauntered into the store and the Acura guy found another
spot. I wondered if there might be a
little “car scratching with a key” as he passed the offending vehicle, but he
just kept walking. Heaven knows what
happened if they ran into each other in the produce aisle of the store!!!
While the parking is sparse, the cars parked there seem cool. There were lots of hybrids, and some fun “hippy”
bumper stickers, like this one (which I left a sticky note on):
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| Cool sticker! |
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| And this was on another car was good, too! |
The store itself is nice.
It is clean, has good lighting, and is well stocked. The artwork is really good! One thing they do NOT have is any
alcohol. I always feel sorry for grocery
stores in Maryland because their regulations do not allow them to have even
beer or wine. What a rip off. This TJ’s location still carries the smaller,
double decker carts, which I really like to use. But it is odd that some stores have them and
others do not, because when I asked once why our usual store got rid of them,
it was because many employees were getting BACK INJURIES because of bending
down to take stuff out of the lower section!
That makes sense to me. What doesn’t
make sense is why some stores still have them?
Anyway, employees of the Silver Spring store were friendly. One guy working a register was super happy
and was saying loudly how he had his “swag” today 😊. Way to bring your swag to work, friend!!
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| Artwork is fun |
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New Items sign with a stork. Get it??? A stork!
|
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| This was my favorite artwork in the store. The Silver Spring piece has the Maryland flag on it. Cool! |
I ended up having to go BACK to the store after I had left and park again because I got a text from David asking me to grab bananas, milk,
and blueberries. This time I had to
drive all the way around the building, then still wait for a spot for a few
minutes. Ugh.
There you have it!
And remember friends – if you see something
odd/funky/weird on your skin, go get it checked out! Better to catch it early. And if you need Vitamin E oil, Trader Joe’s
sells it. And if you are not an aggressive
parker, don't go tot he Silver Spring, Maryland store during a busy time. Just don't.
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| My scar as of yesterday (before I started the Vitamin E oil treatment!). It is getting better! |
Vitamin E oil:
Price: still $3.99
2 years after the original review
Rating: still 4.25
