Today I did something I do infrequently because it takes so much energy and causes me pain — I showered! But before that, I buzzed my hair off.
Hair
What began as a casual consideration became almost a compulsion. Get rid of my hair before chemo has a chance. “You want to take my hair? Fuck you, Cancer. I’ll do it myself. Kind of stealing your thunder, aren’t I?!” I’m sure Cancer’s very upset about it. 😆 But it felt somewhat empowering and I think it’s important to feel empowered as often as possible in situations that make you feel powerless. And few things have made me feel as powerless as Cancer.
So, yeah. Stick a lightbulb in my mouth and call me Uncle Fester. Not feeling overly attractive but I am feeling strong. And that’s way more important to me. (Although if I could do both, that’d be ideal. 😆)
I do keep my hair short and have for years now. It’s a preference but also a necessity due to the fatigue from ME/CFS and POTS. That said, I’ve never gone full GI Jane on my hair. Recently I’ve been using a #2 guard. So, this is a new experience and I always appreciate a new experience.
Glue
I also used the shower as an opportunity to remove the surgical glue from my incisions. I put some cooking oil on the glue so it could begin to do its thing with the adhesive. I let it sit while I cut my hair. I think it helped with removal. I did kind of a lot of light scrubbing to remove the glue and I think my incisions are a little unhappy now, but I’m sure they’ll feel better soon. It’s pretty cool to be able to see the incisions without all that gunk in the way finally.
Wigs
I’ve been somewhat anti-wig so far because 1) my skin hates everything and 2) most of the wigs I’ve seen are long hair and I’m not into it. But I did a quick search for short hair wigs earlier and wow! They actually have some wigs in cool styles that I would wear. So, now I’m thinking about trying the wig thing. If they end up working for me, maybe I could gather a little collection of wigs in cool styles and use them even after my hair comes back. That might allow me to sometimes feel a little more stylish than my buzz cut allows without having to put in the energy to actually maintain and style my hair. I mean, look at this one! #hairgoals
Chemo Education
You may have noticed I haven’t yet posted about the chemo education session we had on Friday. It went well but I’m waiting for them to email me the information from the session so I can write about it in detail. There was a lot of info in that 30 minute call.
What I can tell you is that I now know what kind of chemo I’ll be getting. It’s called the TC regimen. It’s apparently pretty commonly given for breast cancer. I appreciate that I can now research about that chemo experience specifically.