Now then, this particular round of chemotherapy, as well as making me lose my stomach lining, has also made me lose more hair than I have ever lost before. That’s not hard, I suppose, but I somehow feel like an old pro when it comes to this. Been there. Done that. Shed the tears. I might not like it, but there is something familiar about it, like a bloody nose.
The hair loss was expected and it was no where near as traumatising as it was the first time around. I do not like the end result, but as I have said many times since I entered the hospital, ‘I’ve lost it once, and I’ve seen it grow back. It will grow back’. It will grow back.
For those of you who have never personally endured hair loss, let me tell you something, it does not fall out evenly. You do not fall asleep with a full head of hair to wake up looking like an egg. It is slow and it is even. It is not a cheap haircut. My head currently looks like it is covered in a patchwork quilt. I described it yesterday as a pattern that would have been great on a jumper three years ago.
A Medically Trained Person shaved my head for me on Monday, however, I suspect now that he should have done a grade zero, instead of a one, if that is what it is called, I’m used to scissors, for I am still shedding. My face has permanently looked like I have been sat in a hairdressers for six days now. It’s amazing that even after the head was shaved, the volume of hair that has managed to appear on my skin, down my cleavage and in my bed. It’s everywhere. I have had to get my bedding changed twice a day because of the prickles from my bristles. I may enjoy pulling out my remaining hair, which makes my bed and surrounding floor look even worse, but I think this is just hurrying the process along. I do not find it soothing. Not at all. That would be perverse.
I am not allowing myself to touch my eyebrows. My chin? Sure, all the time, but I absolutely do not want to antagonise those furry bad boys. Ideally, they need to remain and so far, their are standing firm. My eye lashes on the other hand are not quite so steadfast.
I am not completely hairless yet, and I doubt I will be. It would appear that the hair I would benefit from losing, remains. I just investigated what was happening up my nostrils for example and I can confirm that they still have their own inbuilt central heating system.
I think it is only appropriate for me to add that the head was not the first place I began to lose my hair. Veet. Veet.
EJB x
