I am now 11 days post-op. For me, it has gone fast. Probably because I have done a lot of sleeping. For the rest of the people living with me it has probably been slow. Probably because while awake I complain? My main restriction is that I cannot lift more than five pounds. That is virtually everything! This is hard to do and annoying for everyone. Isaac and Chris has been awesome in helping out! Eli has done fairly well understanding I cannot lift him and we have figured out ways for him to climb on my lap and me to use my legs to give him a lift if needed.
Since before the cancer diagnosis I have wanted to get my hair done. I have made appointments and for one reason or another had to cancel. When I was diagnosed and found out I would be receiving chemo that would take my hair I thought, what is the point of spending all that time and money getting an awesome hairdo. I have gone back and forth with this over the last month and half.
As chemo draws closer, about a week and a half away, I decided that at the least I needed to cut my hair shorter to make the losing of it less of a mess. I was trying to remember the last time I got a haircut. I am not one to spend money on “girly” things so hair is often put on the back burner. As I thought back, I believe it was just prior to Eli being born. Roughly two years ago! There may have been a cut since, but I cannot remember it. Regardless, my hair was long. Nearly to my waistline!
A sweet friend had offered to cut my hair for me and has been my hair lady for a while now. We finally were able to get a time and date scheduled and she, being her awesome self, came to my home! I didn’t get a before picture and almost missed the cutting of the ponytail. She had just snipped the first snip and I said, wait! Chris take a picture!
The ponytail measured about 14 inches! She took off an additional couple of inches to make a final cut of about 16 inches. I have saved the ponytail so that I can donate it. I am still researching around for the best place and would love feedback if you have donated your hair in the past. All I know is that there are a lot of people out there who want/need wigs and prefer real hair over synthetic. The amount needed to donate varies by the organization, but I encourage all of you to donate. Hair does a lot for your self-esteem and overall attitude.
This is one of the hard parts of cancer. I know it is just hair. I know it will grow back, eventually, but knowing I will lose it all in a matter of weeks is difficult. Maybe even more difficult to me than losing a breast. I know that this too shall pass and that hopefully this time next year my hair will be back. But this has been hard! I’m actually excited to see if comes in curly or a completely different color! I have thought about getting a wig, but have decided to just do wraps and such. I can change them up and there are a ton of cute ones out there. I can show my personality through the headgear I sport.
Why did I decide against a wig? There is only two months where I will be getting chemo that kills my hair. Then the hair will begin growing back while finishing up the final chemo medication. I can’t justify the cost of a wig for such a short amount of time. There is no way to k ow how long it will take for my hair to return, but since it will be wintertime And would be wearing beanies and which anyway, I will take that route and use the money I would have spent on the wig to her an awesome hairdo once it all comes back in.
We were told that roughly two weeks after starting chemo (my start date is Oct. 6) I will lose all hair from head to toe. For some they eyebrows are spared (weird). How it falls out is different for everyone so we have to decide if we shave my head beforehand or let. Happen naturally. If you’ve gone through this I value your input!
I will leave you with the after picture of my cut. I love big earrings with short hair and I think I will enjoy big earrings with head wraps. So look out for some cute ones and share with me where to get them if you find some.
