Some Chemo Odds and Ends

July 4, 2009

It has now been 4 weeks since my last chemo treatment and my hair is SLOWLY coming back in. I was excited however that I had to shave my under arms for the first time in months. So now that I am on the back end, I thought I would share some little tid-bits of info that I have learned thus far in my journey....

1. You WILL loose your hair (at least for breast cancer) on Day 16. That is the day after your second chemo treatment. Yeah, you think that you have beaten the odds when you show up for your second chemo treatment. You look around to those poor bald women and feel a little superior and a little sorry for them because you have SUPER HAIR and it has decided not to fall out.... Nope!! The next day you ARE one of those poor bald women.
2. Your hair doesn't all "fall" out... Okay yes, the hair on head falls out, but the rest of the hair on your body just doesn't grow. I couldn't figure out why the rest of my body hair didn't fall out, but I found out that once I (finally) shaved my legs, it just didn't grow back.
3. You loose all your hair: legs, under arms, nose hair (and yes even pubic hair).
4. You might not loose ALL your eyebrows and eyelashes. I didn't (see picture below), But I lost about half, I didn't know whether I should even bother with mascara or drawing on my eyebrows.
5. Chemo doesn't hurt going in, it hurts about 2 1/2 days later.
6. Chemo is accumulative. So be proud of yourself that you are able to get back to "normal" a few days after your chemo treatment, next time it will probably take longer.
7. If you are unsure what to do or say to a friend that is going through chemo... BRING FOOD!! A Frozen dinner made (or bought) by a friend is the best gift you can give. The nights that we had an already prepared dinner would not only bring a smile to my face, but the whole family! During the whole meal, we would thank the friend (even though they were not there) and talk about what a great cook they are. Trust me, your ears will be ringing with compliments.
8. Talk to the rest of the "poor bald women" that you have chemo with. They are probably as scared, irritated, pissed, or just as bored as you are. Enjoy the company.
9. Finally, just because you are finished with your chemo, doesn't mean that chemo is done with you. I still lost some eyebrow and eyelashes two weeks after my last treatment. I remember just saying to myself when my eyebrows would pull off in my hands... "Seriously?? Now your falling out? Seriously??"

And lastly, there were some pics that I wanted to share with you..

The first picture, was before I lost any hair. My Mom took this first picture before my first chemo treatment, just in case I lost my eyebrows (so I would know where to draw them in).

The second picture was taken a few nights ago when I realized I was missing some eyebrows and eyelashes (mostly bottom eyelashes).

When I first shaved my head I thought I looked like Robert Irvine, from the Food Channel's "Dinner Impossible".

Lastly, One night after loosing all my hair, I was staring in the mirror and had an epiphany. I looked like that old cover of the Weekly World NEWS "BAT BOY"!! I told Meg at one of my chemo sessions, she laughed at me, until I took off my glasses, whipped off my wig and showed her... She had to avert her eyes. She said the image was burned into her retinas. Hahahaha

Love to everyone!! Enjoy your life, your kids and your hair!!

-LJ