June 25, 2016 - I'm bald!

Well friends, I finally gave in. After my last post, my hair was falling out progressively more and more each day. It was causing a mess everywhere and making me very depressed. Every time I looked in the mirror I felt like I LOOKED sick, regardless of how I felt. It was kind of like a weird, sad, elderly circus clown. After much debating and a heart to heart with one of the other women that attends a monthly support group at Karmanos, I had Alan cut my hair and shave my head last night.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. If you have never had a shaved head before, I highly recommend it. The feeling of a cool breeze across your bald scalp is the best kept secret of hairless people everywhere. Although I had been on the fence about doing it, it was an instant mood lifter. A nicely shaved head looks 1,000,000 times better than the random bald patches did. The whole process did wonders for my mental and emotional health.

Now, to find some cool scarves and hats for scalp protection!

I also had round 2 of treatment this week. Today is day 13 and overall I felt better than last time. Hopefully the next treatment is just as smooth. Also, only one week until the wedding!

June 8, 2016 - Round 1 Update and Hair Loss

Well, last Tuesday (day 9 of the cycle) I woke up and felt almost completely normal! I also had a check-in with the nurse practitioner that day to report on my side effects so far. 

Since I was feeling better, I decided to go ahead with my plan to attend the Dashboard Confessional / Taking Back Sunday concert at Freedom Hill on Saturday, including my VIP meet and greet with Chris Carrabba. My tickets for the actual concert were General Admission Pit, and I was worried about having to stand all night, plus I had come out pretty beat up after the last TBS concert I had been to, so I called the venue and was able to be switched to an assigned seat while still keeping my VIP status. The concert was great and I quickly realized that there was no way I would have made it through the night without at seat, so I was very appreciative of that. 

The bad news is, when I woke up on Sunday (day 14 of the cycle) I noticed that way more than the normal amount of hair was coming out in my hairbrush when I was getting ready. Since then I have been afraid to wash it. More and more has been coming out every day when I brush it, and even if i just happen to touch my head or run my fingers through it. Today I finally washed it for the first time since Saturday, and SO MUCH hair came out in the shower. It really was devastating to see all that hair. There are definite spots on my scalp, especially around the center part, where you can see small bald spots. I am really worried with the wedding coming up. Alan's sister is going to take me wig shopping this weekend. 

Off to Round 2 next week.