Feeling Vulnerable but brave

                     

Before

                                             

                                                                                    After

I had hoped this day would never come but no such luck! Over this past weekend, my hair began to fall out, slowly at first and then by Sunday morning it was driving me crazy.  The only solution was shave it all off.  I always considered my hair my best feature.  As you can guess making the decision to go bald was traumatic. I cried and cried some more. Good news was my son has experience with clippers.  He keeps his own hair short, so he knew how to do it.  The other good news was I had ordered a wig, anticipating the inevitable. You can see the wig below at the end of this blog.

So why am I posting this and putting myself out there.  When I started this blog, my main reason was maybe I could help someone else going through this journey.  The other reason was because my Son-in-law fights this battle every day.  It's his line of work, Cancer research.  I can't even tell you how invaluable it is to have him in my corner.  He goes to all my doctor appointments with me and my daughter, Tracy.  Doing a blog was his suggestion.  Tracy also goes with me to all my chemo treatments every Monday.  This isn't the normal procedure, but I have a hearing disability. We obtained special permission for her to be with me during treatment.  The infusion nurses are mostly ok with this arrangement. There have been one or two who give her a hard time about being "in the way" but she's a warrior and usually puts them in their place pretty quick. This is vitally important; you have to stick up for yourself especially if something doesn't feel right at any time. 

Let's get back to the hair subject.  My advice is "be prepared ahead of time".  There's a very good company called Paula Young Wigs.  Their wigs are good quality and affordable.  There are hundreds of choices and colors to choose from.  It took about a week and a half to receive my order.  The total cost of the one I chose was just over $60.00.  

RWJ/Barnabus also has a program called "Liz Inspiration Boutique" their number is 732-232-3110.  The first day in the infusion center, I was visited by Jane the Nurse Navigator.  She gave me this information.  The only drawback is, you have to wait until your hair is gone before you can get measured for a wig from them.  Apparently, the cost is covered by Medicare.  But don't quote me on that because I haven't called them yet to find out what it's all about.

I've now had six chemo treatments and for the most part, I feel really good.  Some of the things I've noticed, some foods taste different and not as good as before.  I don't get nauseous, but I do get heart burn.  Omeprazole or Tums usually helps. I also have noticed that the day of chemo, I have a lot of energy that evening.  That's due to the pre-meds I'm given to keep the nasty side effects from happening.  One of them is a steroid. After it wears off, I find I get tired more.  Luckily, I sleep very well.  I guess that's enough information for now so here is the much-anticipated last photo of beautiful me:

                     

                     Wig

💞