Hair

From my last blog entry things pretty much seem to have been quite positive. I have seen friends, studied, pottered around the house and even attended a zumba exercise class with my friend, which I was only able to do half the exercises due to my limbs feeling quite tired but I thoroughly enjoyed the music - I could even shut my eyes and pretend I was abroad! I met with my friend in the afternoon of that day and felt so good when I got home I threw myself into gardening - BIG mistake. That evening I knew I had overdone things and very rapidly developed a sore throat and a heavy cold. Seems I havn't yet learnt to relax and take things easy - but I certainly will now - I didn't sleep well from feeling so bunged up that breathing was difficult and made my 'good' days not-so-good. Rested and relaxed as much as I possibly could as a trip to Thorpe Park had been planned if I was ok and the weather good. This did indeed go-ahead and being very cautions and practible in what I wore as well as using sun-cream on exposed skin, the family and I had a thoroughly enjoyable day - all of us was tucked up in bed by 9.30pm as we was all completely wiped out by the days activities!

It was around late last week I had noticed a few loose hairs from either combing or washing my hair - as I had read from other websites hair loss from chemo started around 2 weeks, I became observant of my own hair from this point. Sunday had a few more loose hairs from styling. But nothing really prepared me for what I saw on my pillow Monday morning - lots of hairs all over the sheets and pillows. I stared at these hairs in the dark at first - and knew there was lots of hair there, then pulled the curtains down and just cried. I knew hair loss was inevitable - I even got my hair cut short in preparation for this - but even so I am still finding this incredibly hard to deal with and very distressing. Each day there is more and more hair loss - and I am now using chemo caps/hats at night and during the day to prevent these loose hairs just falling out as I cannot cope with this - at the slightest touch the hair just falls out. The loss so far has been quite even and not in patches and I am aware that perhaps this is a good sign as it means the chemo is actually working in my body. But it doesn't feel good when I see and feel the loose hair wherever I go. My scalp is also quite sore all over - don't know why but will raise this if this continues with the chemo nurses when I have my next chemo session - this Friday.

Therefore, having experienced one round of chemo, I really hope that the next round will be a lot smoother - after all the side-effects have subsided and by then complete hair loss, I would like to be able to have good days without having to deal with any other issues other than relaxing/resting (which I am not the best at.) Maybee then I will be able to find this journey a little easier to deal with.