And so it begins...

My adorable sister Jackie drove an hour to my house tonight to bring our family a yummy dinner and bring me a gift pre-chemo.  Jackie is the sister who embroidered all the t-shirts for our family Christmas party and when she discovered that I couldn't wear my "Team Heidi" shirt to treatment because it covered my port, she promptly ran to the store and bought me some hoodies to wear.  I had no idea she was doing this but I should have known, this is Jackie after all - that girl serves others day and night.  Jackie's the youngest in our family of seven kids and I think she's an example to all of us.

 

While Jackie was here she noticed something on my shoulder and grabbed it off.  She looked at it and was puzzled at what it was so I took a look as well.  At first we both thought it was dog hair but since Maggie has passed we don't have any around.  We both looked at it for a while and then "lightbulb!"  It was MY hair... duh - we had a pretty good laugh about how clueless we were.  I've heard from other cancer patients that when the hair begins falling out their follicles feel kind of like when your hair has been in a ponytail all day and then let it out; tender and itchy.  When I was washing my hair this morning, I did notice that my scalp felt that way, but I didn't think twice about it.  Now I know why!  Of course, after Jackie left I put the kids to bed and when straight to the bathroom to comb my hair.  Yup, it's definitely falling out.  I watched "Home Alone" with the little boys last weekend so here's my best Macaulay Culkin impression about this new advancement.  Seriously though, I'm okay with it all.  My options are to be bald or to die, not a hard choice really.  (Ok, so that sounded extreme and morbid but I meant it to be light hearted... black humor maybe??)

I don't think I'll shave until either the weekend (it's Owen's birthday on Friday and I don't want to take away from that), or until the hair starts clumping out more.  I'll keep you posted.  Here's some info I got from the internet just in case you're interested about why hair falls out and/or thins during chemo.  I'll be getting all the drugs below except Adrucil so there's no chance my hair will stay in; triple whammy!

Hair loss occurs because chemotherapy targets all rapidly dividing cells—healthy cells as well as cancer cells. Hair follicles, the structures in the skin filled with tiny blood vessels that make hair, are some of the fastest-growing cells in the body. If you're not in cancer treatment, your hair follicles divide every 23 to 72 hours. But as the chemo does its work against cancer cells, it also destroys hair cells. Within a few weeks of starting chemo, you may lose some or all of your hair.

The extent of hair loss depends on which drugs or other treatments are used, and for how long. The various classes of chemotherapy drugs all produce different reactions.

The timing of your treatments will also affect hair loss. Some types of chemotherapy are given weekly and in small doses, and this minimizes hair loss. Other treatments are scheduled every three to four weeks in higher doses, and may be more likely to cause more hair loss.

For example:

• The breast cancer drug Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) causes hair thinning but not complete hair loss.
• Adrucil (fluorouracil) does not cause hair loss.
• Adriamycin (doxorubicin) causes hair to thin during the first three weeks of treatment, then all the hair falls out.
• With Taxol (paclitaxel), there is very sudden hair loss; you will likely wake up one morning with your hair on your pillow.

To prepare emotionally for the change, most patients have their hair cut before they start chemotherapy. Others choose to have their heads shaved. Just be assured it will grow back, often within a few weeks of completing chemotherapy.