HATS!

Lately I'm really liking hats.  I got this one from Athleta and wore it to my third chemo:



Lots of people are wearing hats this time of year, which I guess is one good thing about going through chemo in the winter--it's easier to blend in. Not that I don't like my bald head, but I don't always feel like having everyone notice. I got three more Pistil hats online:







I rationalized it to Ken by pointing out that hats I can wear after cancer, while I won't wear the headwraps. He asked how often I wore hats *before* cancer, which wasn't the point at all.

I think I'll wear the last one for Thanksgiving, when we're going to dinner with a couple of friends.  Obviously they know my diagnosis, but I think I'd rather look like a pretentious, hat-wearing-during-the-meal-hipster than a cancer patient. I'm hoping I'll have enough energy to stay... long enough to eat some stuffing, anyway! Ken's making a pie and I'm making some potato rolls to bring, so I know there will be at least a couple things I can eat. This last cycle most protein, especially meat, has seemed really off-putting to me, so I've had a lot of mac and cheese (Ken makes it from Alton Brown's recipe).

Gratuitous mac and cheese shot now:

NOM.

Loving Sephora

There's nothing like losing your hair to make you want to accentuate what you have left.  My spending at Sephora has seen a significant uptick since I went bald.  I'm currently lemming this lipstick in "Caress Pink."  I've only heard descriptions of it on MakeupAlley, but I want it.  Should lipstick really cost $34?  Would it look that glamorous in my bag with old Kleenex and gum wrappers?  Questions for another day...


I went to a Look Good, Feel Better event a couple weeks ago, which was a disappointment.  The event was supposed to last two hours, but the person running it was 45 minutes late, and the rest of the time spent was mainly going over basic makeup application.  I shouldn't complain too much about getting free goodies, but making a special trip post-chemo took a lot of energy that I didn't have.  There were a couple nice items in the goody bag, but also things like a rancid MAC lip gloss.  I did meet a woman there who'd just finished reconstruction, and she let me take a look in the ladies room after the class.  I'm sure whoever else was in there thought there was something hinky going on, but it was really nice to be able to see the results in-person, instead of just photos online.

Hair loss, a photo journey

Starting point. Trying to grow it out. Note presence of boobs:



Shorter:


The mohawk:



Buzzed, with a shout-out:



All gone:

The Hair Post

Big changes hairwise.

First there was the blond:


Good for a Halloween costume as Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby.

Then I went brown:


Which was fun for a few days until my next chemo treatment:

(Mmm, cream soda ice chips) when I noticed it falling out.

I didn't want to wait for patchy bits, so Ken helped me buzz it off, with a mohawk in between:

and a special message:


I've got several hats/scarves from www.softhats.com. In fact, I've got the one they currently have up on their home page. They're really soft and easy to sleep in. I was surprised how cold my head gets without the hair!

Several women on the breast cancer forums have mentioned this, but if you've got cancer, http://www.franceluxe.com/ is an amazing website. They give away, completely free, a scarf to a cancer patient. I ordered this one:

Isn't it cute? It should be here in about four weeks. If you're interested, e-mail laurie@franceluxe.com. It sounded too good to be true, but I hear from several ladies on the boards that they've received one and that they're absolutely gorgeous.

Anyway, it the first day after my second treatment, and I'm feeling a lot better this time around. I don't know if it's that the procedure was less overwhelming the first time around or what. But being able to read an entire chapter of a book and type coherently are great, and I'll take it!

Cancer still sucks

I'm feeling a lot better since the last chemo treatment, but the day-to-day reminders of having cancer are wearing me down This weekend I was running a slight temperature and had a headache and neckache. Luckily, the temperature wasn't high enough to need to go to the emergency room. Today my port site has started aching and I'm a little worried it's somehow gotten infected. Just when I'm feeling better, little things like this remind me that I'm not healthy and normal. I guess I have to remember that I'm in it for the long haul and that there will be a lot of these ups and downs for a while.