Dealing with hair loss and round 2

Some people might wonder why losing my hair is such a big deal in the grand scheme of things, in fact, my sister, Rosanne was ready to shave her own head in solidarity. I put the kabosch on that! She was actually looking forward to not having any hair, she is a bit weird.

I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my wig when each day I found more hair in the hair brush. Last Wed night I was feeling well enough to go on a garden tour, Rosanne came up to be the chauffeur. I carefully fluffed my hair out and sprayed the heck out of it to disguise the thinness and was happy with the result. Bruce and I were going to Minneapolis on Saturday to a wedding and I had great hopes that I would still have hair.

Wed afternoon, Karen from Design Masters called and said that the wigs had arrived and we agreed on early afternoon, Thursday. It's not my hair but I'm very happy with the curly one, Karen was wonderful, gave me lots of information and tips.

"Don't wear it near high heat or it will melt!!"

That would be a revolting development!!

She had me wear it home, I need to get comfortable with it but by the time we got there, it was irritating with my hair underneath. Thursday night Bruce and I were going to see Mary Poppins at the Cherokee Comm Theatre staring Laura Kohn, his golfing partners daughter.

I showered and carefully washed my hair and suddenly it was coming out in handfuls! AAUUGGGHHHHH!!! I told Bruce to get the clippers out, it was time. As he was buzzing me I asked how he liked it and he said, "I don't." I was grateful for his honesty, he knew how hard it was for me and it also took him back to his younger days when he started losing his own hair to the dreaded, Male Pattern Baldness. With the sparce wisps of hair, I looked much like a baby bird before they feathered out.

I will always be grateful to Karen for getting me in that day, I wasn't ready to make my debut in the wig but had no choice. I tried to remember everything she told me, got the little tabs centered in front of my ears and then tucked in so they didn't stick out. I finger combed and fluffed and then forced myself not to fuss with it.

The play was fantastic! There was no one who could have played Mary Poppins better than Laura and the theatre knew it. They had to talk her into it and we are so glad they did.

Friday morning I found a headscarf to tie around my poor bald head but wasn't very happy with the result. I tried a cap but have never worn one and really didn't like that. I was looking on the internet and found a 'chemo hat' knitted of fun fur and loved it. I emailed the picture to Alex and asked if she could possibly make me one. She didn't hesitate, she jumped in her car and drove to Spencer to the yarn store where she pored over all the colors before settling on a light, multicolored package. They even had the pattern.

Saturday morning Bruce and I packed out wedding clothes, I tied the dreaded headscarf around my head and put the wig and stand in a sack and took off for Tom and Carol's where we were spending the night. On the way, Alex emailed me that the hat would be done by the time we came home on Sunday.

We had a short but nice time with the Waldack's before going to the wedding, I still feel self conscious in the wig but there were a lot of home town people and it seems that everyone knows what we are facing and  wish us the best.

The wedding was beautiful, the food wonderful at the reception, both bride and groom are fishermen so one of the choices was walleye, which we both had. When in Rome......?

Thanks to the GPS on our phone, we got to and from the wedding, reception and back to Carol and Tom's, although it was turned around and took us on a little scenic tour before straightening out. At 10 PM that was not appreciated, we stayed up as long as we could but the early morning finally caught up to us and we retired to their lovely guest room. Sunday morning Carol made us fried egg sandwiches before making our farewells and heading home. To go by Alex's, I had to read the map to tell Bruce when to cut off and only made one teeny, tiny mistake that didn't make a big difference.

I fell in love with my hat!!! It was everything I wanted and more, it is so comfortable, I can (almost) forget why I'm wearing it. Alex is going to make me another one so I picked out some different colors, the next one will be colorful.

Bruce was not able to bale all the hay he had down after all so he got to relax in the air conditioning and watch the Twins, I think they finally won a game, hallelujah! Zoe and I napped in the gazebo, listening to the birds and chickens.

Now its Monday morning and we are in Storm Lake for my 2nd chemo. I have my 'Salty Girls' bag packed that Sara brought us from Alaska, with the prayer shawl from our niece, the tablet and a book in case the tablet runs out of power and a lovely, soft blanket that our friend, Opal made for me when I told her it was always cold in the chemo room. She was here with a car full of food for us and asked me if I'd like her to make me a blanket to take for treatments. I'm no dummy, I said I'd love it and was so surprised when Opal called the next day and said she had it done and would bring it up. It's so soft and comfy, I had to hide it from Clyde, he'd lay claim to it.

After this treatment, we will go back to Omaha to see if the chemo is doing what it's supposed to, hoping to have the little buggers back on the run so I'm closer to the transplant.

I know we have more people praying for us than we even know so time will tell. Zoe and I will be in the gazebo recouperating, you know she works so hard.