I had been told that I would lose my hair with chemo but it didn't really sink in until I was brushing my lovely long hair up into a pony tail one morning before work and saw huge amounts in the brush.
Oh well, it'll be fine!
A few days later I was sitting at my desk, sans ponytail, and as my head was itching a bit I ran my hand through my hair. Imagine the horror when a mass of strands stuck to my hand and simply fell out. I felt like crying but held it in until I was talking to a couple of workmates and when they asked how I was going, ran my hand through my hair again and showed them how much was coming out. That's when I lost it and just cried and cried. They were brilliant and took me away to sit down and just let me vent the horror I was feeling.
When I got home from work that night I did the same 'run the hand through the hair thing' in front of my 34 year old son. The look of terror on his face was heartbreaking. Seeing his Mum so obviously sick with this insidious disease was something he was unable to deal with at the time. His way of dealing with it was to withdraw from me and try to ignore what were the obvious signs of my illness.
My hair is now starting to grow back but I kind of liked not having to mess around with hairdryers, straighteners etc. Hmm, should I just keep it super short? It certainly makes getting ready in the morning a breeze.
Melbourne, Australia