I finished chemo Aug 11, 2011. I did the ACT regime. My last Taxol that I was to receive was in short supply so I received Taxotere. I had lost just about all my hair; on my head, my legs, my bikini area (to my husband's amusement), arm pit hair. My brows had slightly thinned, same with my eye lashes. I still had arm hair....go figure that one? 2 weeks after my last Taxotere I finally lost just about all of my eyelashes and eyebrows. I tried the Latisse for my eye lashes but it only made the few lashes I had longer! It did not fill in my lashes. My eyebrows closest to my nose I did not lose bu they looked like 2 small bushy dots with threads of hair here and there that went out. It was suggested to me to go to the Benefit Bar at Macy's to have them show me how draw my brow in. It was a Godsend. The gal shaped my bushes and showed me how to pencil the brow in....I have to say I looked good! I had the arched brow I had always wanted but seemed to end up with a slight arched caterpillar look after my brow waxings.
The beginning of September is when I finally noticed my hair growing again. I had to shave my legs. I also had thick peachfuzz appearing on my head. It was white but growing. Each day, morning and night I would lean close to my mirror and look at the hair on my head. It was one evening when my husband said, you have alot of hair on the back of my head. I took a small mirror and held it up so I could the back of my head, oh my God, I did. It was thick, so thick I did not see my scalp. It swirled with a cowlick I must have had. It was still white but with tinges of blond. It was hair, real hair. I still wore my hat in public because I was technically bald still.
As time passed into the end of October my hair filled out more. Tips were white, roots were dark. I became more confident in my fullness and started going without my hat. I also started to gel my hair to give it a bed-head hair raised look. It looked good! Short but good. When you see yourself everyday you think wow I have alot of hair. When you appear at the grocery store or local coffee place, the people there don't think that....they think wow she must have had cancer, her hair is so thin and close to her head. I must say I am looking forward to the day when no one notices me as a cancer patient. When my hair is longer and full. When my hairstyle is just simply that, my hair style that everyone else has.
As of today I am back to shaving my legs every couple days. Getting my chin waxed (darn that came back!), and keeping my brows shaped. My eye lashes are to die for! They have come in thick and full...all with no help from the Latisse. When I use mascara, they are so long and full! The hair on my head is thick also. Same as before, white tips dark roots but thick! I do style it now with gel and it is a look that is growing on me, hahaha, get it? Growing on me-so bad but humor is needed. I am beginning to look like someone who has chosen to have short hair not a person rebounding from cancer. However.....there is a look I have that is recognized by other women who have had chemo. It's hard to explain but you can tell by someones regrown hair when it is short that is it chemo regrowth hair. I just had a stranger come up to my at the grocery store and comment "your hair looks amazing. It really sets off your blue eyes. I went through chemo 11 years ago". The 1st thing I do when someone says that to me is, I look at their hair with a sense of relief-it came back. I also notice the women who are wearing scarves or hats. I think about how strong they must be since I know what they are going through.
So here I am. My next big decision is do I color my hair or leave it this silver, dark, blond color? It's a nice quandary to have for now.
Radiation update: I am now 2 weeks out from my last radiation treatment. The days following my skin continued to react. I keep the lotion on the radiated breast quite often.The skin peeled in my arm pit with the leathery skin. Now the skin on my breast has begun to peel also revealing normal soft skin. I'm blotchy in appearance with the skin color but that is evening out also. I've started using full movement of my arm on the left side as well, stretching during my pilates class and lifting light weights. My next surgery will be mid Feb to change out the saline implants to silicone. My scars now have healed amazingly well. So well that you can hardly see them. If I wear a lace bando my breasts actually look very sexy and there is no hint of reconstruction. The looks I get after I say, I had a double mastectomy, are rather funny since I can see their look of puzzlement at my great cleavage. Oh well....let them look ;-)
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