Ok, not to be rude..but I will not be sympathetic to you if you complain to me about having a 'bad hair day'. Don't even go there with me!! =) I have to say that going bald trumps any bad hair day you could tell me about!!
So what is happening to me?? I keep asking myself this same thing. Here's the story:
At the time of my surgery I was told I would lose hair about the size of a golf ball, on the back of my head where my Gamma Knife Radiation Surgery was. The radiation is so strong it would kill the hair cells. They said the hair sometimes grows back. I'm holding onto the sometimes part!!
So on Dec 26th, three weeks after surgery I lost a bunch of hair. It took about three days and I had a big bald spot on my head, about twice as big as they had prepared me for. That wasn't good news..but I tried to stay optimistic and I could cover it up easily with my crazy curls!
Ok, so fast forward two months later..the end of Feb..around the 25th, all of a sudden I'm losing HANDFULS of hair in the shower. This is de ja vu from Nov of 2007. Could this be happening all over again? I can't handle hair loss again..its just too much!
Well, the hair kept coming out, little bits every day for about 2 weeks. Then I went CRAZY as every day it got harder and harder to cover up the bald spot. Now my hair is so thin that I can't completely cover it up anymore.
I'm losing hair across my head in the same spot as my surgery as well as the hair above my surgery area...hence the thin hair on top! So..I am not a happy camper about this. My bald spot is twice as big as it was in Dec and growing!
Friday I was STRESSED OUT about this so I called my Neurosurgeon. They said that this size of baldness is not normal. So the Radiation Oncologist pulled up my surgery scans and they realized that because my tumor was so close to the surface, that I actually had a lot of SKIN that was radiated in strong amounts. As a result of this I will lose much more hair than the golf ball size they anticipated! If my tumor had been deep, I would have had hardly any hair loss or none at all! (Can I say not fair?..No, I'm grateful my tumor wasn't deep)
Ahhhhhhhhh!! What do I say to this? They told me that hair loss usually peaks at 1 1/2 months and starts regrowth in most situations at 3 months. I told them I was a little backwards since mine is FALLING OUT at three months instead of growing back.
He said my body is just reacting on its own timetable and other than psychological stress of being bald, I should come out of this with little damage in the end! Ok, so if I was completely bald I could wear a wig. I have a few great ones of those!! But, what does a person do with a huge bald spot like this???
And can I feel sorry for myself for a minute?? Ok, so guess what? My hair has been growing since Feb of 2008 and this is as long as it is. SOO..this means that it will take till Feb 2010 for my bald spot to be as long as my hair is now. Ahhh....ok, I'm done feeling sorry for myself. At least it will hopefully grow back.
Now may I encourage you to not complain about bad hair days anymore and to be grateful that when you walk outside on a windy day that you don't have to worry about holding your hand over your head so your BALDNESS doesn't show!!
So what is happening to me?? I keep asking myself this same thing. Here's the story:
At the time of my surgery I was told I would lose hair about the size of a golf ball, on the back of my head where my Gamma Knife Radiation Surgery was. The radiation is so strong it would kill the hair cells. They said the hair sometimes grows back. I'm holding onto the sometimes part!!
So on Dec 26th, three weeks after surgery I lost a bunch of hair. It took about three days and I had a big bald spot on my head, about twice as big as they had prepared me for. That wasn't good news..but I tried to stay optimistic and I could cover it up easily with my crazy curls!
Ok, so fast forward two months later..the end of Feb..around the 25th, all of a sudden I'm losing HANDFULS of hair in the shower. This is de ja vu from Nov of 2007. Could this be happening all over again? I can't handle hair loss again..its just too much!
Well, the hair kept coming out, little bits every day for about 2 weeks. Then I went CRAZY as every day it got harder and harder to cover up the bald spot. Now my hair is so thin that I can't completely cover it up anymore.
I'm losing hair across my head in the same spot as my surgery as well as the hair above my surgery area...hence the thin hair on top! So..I am not a happy camper about this. My bald spot is twice as big as it was in Dec and growing!
Friday I was STRESSED OUT about this so I called my Neurosurgeon. They said that this size of baldness is not normal. So the Radiation Oncologist pulled up my surgery scans and they realized that because my tumor was so close to the surface, that I actually had a lot of SKIN that was radiated in strong amounts. As a result of this I will lose much more hair than the golf ball size they anticipated! If my tumor had been deep, I would have had hardly any hair loss or none at all! (Can I say not fair?..No, I'm grateful my tumor wasn't deep)
Ahhhhhhhhh!! What do I say to this? They told me that hair loss usually peaks at 1 1/2 months and starts regrowth in most situations at 3 months. I told them I was a little backwards since mine is FALLING OUT at three months instead of growing back.
He said my body is just reacting on its own timetable and other than psychological stress of being bald, I should come out of this with little damage in the end! Ok, so if I was completely bald I could wear a wig. I have a few great ones of those!! But, what does a person do with a huge bald spot like this???
And can I feel sorry for myself for a minute?? Ok, so guess what? My hair has been growing since Feb of 2008 and this is as long as it is. SOO..this means that it will take till Feb 2010 for my bald spot to be as long as my hair is now. Ahhh....ok, I'm done feeling sorry for myself. At least it will hopefully grow back.
Now may I encourage you to not complain about bad hair days anymore and to be grateful that when you walk outside on a windy day that you don't have to worry about holding your hand over your head so your BALDNESS doesn't show!!
6 comments:
I am so sorry! I wish there was something I could say/do.... but you can be sure I'll never complain about my hair again! I'm thinking positive thoughts for your appt on Friday :)
What a bummer! I am so sorry! I'll be hoping it starts filling in soon.... And its ok to feel sorry for yourself sometimes. Just keep working on those positive thoughts!
SO sorry about the added stress of hair loss. You're right, we have no right complaining about "bad hair days" you put things in perspective really fast! Good luck on friday, we pray for good news=)
My dad may have some suggestions on how to cover the bald spot. HeeHee :)
So Sorry for your added stress, and hair loss. At least you can do a come over and not look dorky like old men do . :) Just trying to make you smile. Have a great day.....and I too finally joined the blog world.
Heidi, I'm so glad to hear you feel sorry for yourself. You're HUMAN!! :) I'm sure you have some great hats though, if not buy some!! and make sure you put sunblock on it. A sunburn would NOT be good!
Always thinking about you!!
Ashlee
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