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You know how when you are a little girl, your mother is brushing your hair to get the tangles out? She gets frustrated and pulls too hard and screams at you to SIT STILL, and keeps smacking the brush into your head to get it over with. And, after your tears dry, you are left with a sore head.
Or, remember when when you were a teenage girl and you put your silky hair into a high ponytail. You are just the cutest thing, walking around with that swinging, shining piece of hair behind your head. You feel so sassy. But, after 12 hours of back and forth swaying, you have to peel the elastic out, pulling chunks of hair with it, and when you brush it out, your scalp is tender from all the pulling.
Maybe you were 20 and saw the latest style: tiny waves all over your hair. The fashion magazines say it's easy to get at home! Just wet your hair and braid it in small, very tight braids and sleep that way overnight. You spend hours taking 1/2 inch sections of hair and braiding them together. The next day, you brush out your braids, carefully from the bottom. Disappointingly, your hair is more frizzy and tangled then wavy - and the pulling from sleeping on the tight braids left a painful scalp. You have to scratch your head all over to make it feel better.
Maybe you are old enough to remember the Toni home perms. Maybe you tried it. Maybe you burned your scalp a little.
Tender scalp - we women have all felt it at one point or another.
That's what mine feels like now, five days after chemo. It's a sign that my hair will go. Supposedly hair goes between 10 and 20 days after your first treatment.
The way it feels, I'm betting on 10.
Haven't lost a one yet though.
.
Ann
ReplyDeleteI am the husband of a wife, Deborah, from Boston. You are a wonderful writer, and lots of fun to follow...and you energy is contagious.
I have been following for few weeks now - we go to onco for final CHEMO plan tomorrow. Expect chemo to start around xmas, Single masectomy 10 days ago - all is fine. She recovered very quickly.
My wife had a 5cm tumor, ILC but no nodes (Sentinel check)....wonderful news.
I really like following your blog, because it gives me some insight into what we may expect.
Good luck, and keep writing, you are great!!
Keep kicking Cancer's ASS!
Thank you very much! And, give your wife a big hug for me, and maybe a diamond ring. They do help, you know. :)
ReplyDeleteScary as it all seems at first, this is doable and another part of life. My very best to Deborah and congratulations on negative nodes. She'll be around to nag you for many years to come. :)
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ReplyDeleteIt always amazed me, in the beginning, how I would always think, "I can't...." but when it came right down to it, I always did. Somehow, you find the guts to deal with what you have to deal with. You're about to find out that you have more guts than you ever knew. You go, Ann! You go, Deborah!
ReplyDeleteHi I came across your blog and thought I would reply... Yeas we have to be our own advocates when it comes to treatment. When I was finishing my last chemo protocol the Dr told me I would be starting Tamoxifen. I had been researching post chemo drugs because I am positive. What I did learn is that you have a higher than 3xs the chances of getting uterine cancer, if you have had endometriosis the risk higher. Or that Tamoxifen only reduces the death rate marginally and most don't survive longer than those who are not taking the drug. Damaged eyes, menopausal symptoms, liver cancer is more prevelant so why would I do anything that will have serious side effects to this extreme...
ReplyDeleteRead get all the info you can before treatment. Know what your side effects expected. Don't settle sit and wait..
Great blog.....Alli xx