All About the Hair

So I am sitting in the "chemo salon" (just heard a woman call it that so I am stealing it) and I decided this would be a good time to update the blog.  This has been an eventful week.  I have been feeling fantastic since about Wednesday of last week.  So it has been approximately 10 days of good, maybe the pattern will be...have chemo feel like poop for 10 days and then feel fantastic for 10 days.  We will see after this round. 


My friend Susan, who I have known since college came in town to visit, from Jacksonville, FL on Wednesday. We have had a couple of great days.  She is getting to enjoy the super exciting chemo salon today too, she hasn't gotten to see a lot of Austin but we have a view of the skyline from the salon - see it really is a pretty fancy place.  I am so thankful to her for coming.  I continue to be humbled and amazed at the amount of love and support I have.  I am so very blessed.


Skyline view - look way in the distance it is there.

Me in my salon chair

Last Friday which was day 14 after my first round of chemo I went in to see my super fabulous hairstylist Michael Nix-Tipton.  Michael has done my hair for about 9 years and he has always said I would experiment with anything when it came to color - he would die my hair purple and I could handle it - but when we started talking about cutting length that's when I freak out a bit.  So everyone was wondering how I was going to handle this appointment - me included.  Everyone says your hair starts falling out around day 13-14 so Michael and I decided we would cut it short so 1) It would be a good transition to ease me into being bald and 2) it would give me a cute new do to look forward to when my hair starts growing back. 


Now me and short hair do not have a good history.  When I was a kid my mom always gave me the "Dorothy Hamill Cut" for those of you who are not familiar, here is a photo of her (I did not put the heart around it but I thought this picture was ironic since I have not an ounce of love for this do)

I have never had short hair since.  I was traumatized by the Dorothy Hammill cut, deep seeded emotional trauma.  The kind a therapist would have field day with.   I can still hear Mom's voice when she told the hairstylist "Give her the Dorothy Hammill Cut".  UGH!
When I was in high school, My mom had a wall of photos of me at all different ages from birth to present and my friends would come over and look at all the photos and when they got to one specific one they would always say, "Who is that little boy?" - ummmm that was me when mom forgot it was picture day at school.  I had on a white t-shirt and brown corduroy pants, holding a bible, with the Dorothy Hammill Cut.  SCARRED FOR LIFE!


So back to Day 14, my hair had been look especially fantastic for the past week of course, but I had gotten myself psyched up for "the appointment".  I had a few tears on the way there but for the most part I was ready.  When I arrived the receptionist poured me a glass of wine - that on top of the two margaritas I had a lunch were providing the perfect amount of liquid courage to get into Michael's chair. 


He cut a fabulous do.  It really is cute, not anything I would ever choose for myself but I like it better than I could ever have imagined.  It is the easiest thing ever.  My normal one hour, getting ready routine, was cut down to about 15 minutes.  Very nice!  Michael hates this picture of him but I had to put him in here so you can see him, bless his heart he was staring directly into the sun.  He is such a sweetheart, I adore him :)

So now here we are at Day 21 and my 2nd round of chemo and my cute new haircut is slowly but surely falling out - in CLUMPS.   What a mess.  Yesterday we were walking down the street between two downtown buildings when a big wind came up and created a wind tunnel.  I just knew by the time we reached the end of the block I was going to be bald.  Wouldn't that have been a sight to the people driving by?  I have decided I am glad it hung on it this long (a whole week!) but I am ready to move on to one more milestone and shave it off.  So today when I leave the "chemo salon" I will head for the hair salon and I will have Michael shave it all off - just one more step and I think I am ready, I hope :)  Then we are heading hat shopping, wigs, hats, scarfs, who knows what I will be wearing next time you see me.