It's (Still) All About the Hair

I know three women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer since I was (three women in eighteen months).  When we talk about cancer, first we talk about our doctors and where we were treated.  And, then they ask the "important" questions:  when did I stop wearing my wig?  And, when did my eyelashes and eyebrows grow back?  

It's (still) all about the hair.

So here it is, on the anniversary of my last day of chemo (my first chemo-versary), my hair before, during and after chemotherapy.  

February 2010
The day before my mastectomy.  A month before chemo.

April 2010
The curly hair wig.  My hair started "releasing" exactly two weeks after my first chemo treatment.
I had it shaved off and had my second "wig fitting."

July 2010
Three weeks after chemo (wearing the straight hair wig).
My eyebrows lasted for a long time.
Everyday I gently washed and patted my face dry--
I didn't want to disturb any of the lashes.
By late July I had maybe three eyelashes/brows left.
Elizabeth's first words when she saw me at camp
visitingday were,"your eyes look freaky."  They did.

August 2010
Six weeks after the end of chemo.
I had fuzzy hair under the wig and the beginning of fuzzy eyebrows and lashes.

October 2010
I stopped wearing the wigs two months after chemo.
Three months after chemo--soft downy hair and furry eyebrows and lashes.

December 2010
Five months after chemo--gray hair, full eyelashes and brows.

January 2011
Seven months after chemo--my first (semi permanent) hair color.
Thank you, Michael Casey @ Sally Hershberger.

  

February 2011
Eight months after chemo--lots of chemo curls.

April 2011
Nine months after chemo--more curls.

June 2011
Close to a year after to chemo.
Lots of curls--still no clue what to do with them.
 

July 2011  Third semi permanent hair color.

 

So a year after chemo this is what I know--cancer is not all about the hair.  Cancer is about one day at a time.  Cancer is about showing yourself and your kids that when life throws you a curve ball you find the best doctors, get them on your team and hit that ball out of the park.  Cancer is about getting yourself to all of your appointments no matter how sick you feel.  Cancer is about just getting through it all. 

But, cancer is also about the hair.  It just is.  When I was being treated, I didn't feel anything at all like me.  I can't even describe how much not-like-me I felt.  So, it would have been nice if when I was getting ready to swing at that curve ball, I could have looked a little more like me--and not a freaky, snake-eyed GI Jane.   That's why it's all about the hair. 

I know that I say I hate the curls and the barrettes and all of the hair products.  And, I do.

But really, curly or not, this hair is mine.
 



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