My hair started falling out in clumps last night in the shower so I shaved it all off. Now I'm a shiny Q-ball again. My radiation oncologist had told me my hair might fall out after the whole-brain radiation I had, but it wasn't guaranteed. I had grown back about an inch of downy-soft hair after losing it all to the last round of chemo months back, but now it's all gone again. Oh well. Hair is hair.
In a way, I like being bald. If I'm going to be a cancer patient, maybe I should look a bit like one so that people will be more understanding if I display other side-effects of being a cancer patient. Things like fuzzy memory and fatigue are not visible enough signs while baldness and missing body parts are.
I also want people to see me as an example of how someone can go on living a full and happy life with cancer. I want strangers in the street to look at me and think, "Hey! I think that lady has cancer! What's she doing up and about doing the shopping instead of waiting for death in a dark corner somewhere?"
I think people are still too afraid of cancer and people with cancer. Maybe I should wear a T-shirt that says, "Ask me about living with cancer!" I guess that's what my shiny bald head is saying. Ask me about cancer.
Pink Ribbon Pin
Support the Singapore Breast Cancer Foundation. Sell these crystal pins for S$5 each to raise money for the BCF. To collect pins for sale, call 6352-6560. E-mail: enquiries@bcf.org.sg. Thanks!
About Me
- Shin
- Singapore
- I was born in South Korea in 1966. My family immigrated to the U.S. when I was eight years old (I'm now a U.S. citizen). We lived in Nashville, Tennessee and New Jersey. I went to college in New York City, worked as a schoolteacher in Indiana and Philadelphia, and as a legal assistant in New York. I worked as a reporter in Seoul, South Korea and as a TV news producer and Internet news editor in Singapore. I've lived in Korea, U.S., France, and Singapore. My favorite travels have been to Peru, Belize, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. My proudest moment is now. My least proud moments are too many to list. My happiest moments are now. My unhappiest moments are too few and too unimportant to remember.
3 comments:
Hi, I don't think you need to do anything more than you are now - people are already touched, awed, amazed and perhaps even envious of you under the circumstances. You are surrounded by so much love and concern - something others will die for. on the lighter side, at least you have an excuse and know why your hair is dropping - mine is dropping wigs and I don't know why!!!
Hang in there, sweetie,
SK
So many women have a nuerotic, impossible attachment to their hair, feeling, and perhaps rightly, that, if it's done right (style, colour, what not), their hair can lift enhance their basic looks by about 60%. That's what I used to say when I wrote hair articles for the women's glossies. You my dear are so beautiful, you don't even need that lift! You are bold, bald and beautiful!
and don't forget, you have great cheekbones and pretty eyes! (I've seen the pics.)
Post a Comment