LOOSING THE HAIR

I was told by others that most women start loosing their hair just before the second treatment. I decided to go wig shopping about a week before my second treatment so I would be prepared for the inevitable. I have to admit, I was relieved to find that wigs are not bad looking and cheaper than I expected. My sister who is a beautician and others recommended that synthetic was better than real hair so that was what I went with. I would have never known the difference, they all looked so natural. I actually had a great time with my daughter trying on all kinds of lengths, colors, and textures and found something I really liked.

I decided that there was no way to prepare for the loss of one’s hair. I knew it would be traumatic but was not sure what to expect. This was where I learned my next chemo lesson. I had been advised by those who have been in these shoes to shave my head before the hair started to fly away. I just couldn’t do it, the only thing I did was get my hair cut short. Also the timing was tough because I started pulling hair out about the same day as my second treatment. So my focus was on trying to get through the first few days without wanting to puke. Luckily I did do better the second time around. I made sure I ate and I took my backup anti-nausea drug before I felt so lousy. Still my stomach was churning right and left and I had to focus on breathing in and out. Once more about midnight, I felt all of the turmoil melt away and I slept great again.

Within 3-4 days I really start to see hair falling out. I wish now I would have heeded the advice to shave my head sooner. I didn’t and it was terrible pulling clumps of hair out, I felt like a radiation victim. Also instead of getting use to this change gradually, it was awful to look in the mirror and see my hair getting thinner and thinner seeing bald spots appear. I kept finding hair everywhere on my pillow and on my clothes. Finally I shaved my own head then had it done professionally on day seven. It ended up being a very positive experience. I went to lunch with some wonderful friends then we all went to my beautician/friend’s house where my head was shaved. Everyone complimented me on my “nicely shaped” head. My wig was much more comfortable with the hair gone.

The other negative thing with loosing the hair was how tender my scalp was. When I brushed against my stubble that was left, it was very painful. That was something I had not read about. My biggest problem was trying to sleep. Anything I put on my head would shift the stubble causing great pain, even moving my bare head on the pillow case hurt – long night. Finally I discovered that a fake fur pillow I owned didn’t shift the stubble so I could sleep. What a relief! That helped me deal with everything else going on.

That was my first really hard time. I guess it was the combination of loosing the hair and only being half way through the treatments. Everyone kept saying how exciting it was that I only had two more treatments to go, but to me it felt over whelming. My break this time was 2 ½ weeks because my third treatment would have fallen on Thanksgiving Day so they moved it to December 1st. I remembered thinking before how nice it would be to get such a long break allowing my body to heal and get back to normal. But the reality was the opposite, I felt I was waiting for the ax to fall; I just wanted it over asap! It ended up being a very long holiday weekend for me.