Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you BREAKING NEWS!!! My very best girlfriend, Carmen, finally had her baby girl (6 days past due) this evening at 7:16 p.m.!! Congratulations, Carmen and Maurice (Mum and Pop)!!! Sydney Jade Hinds weighed in at 8 lbs., 1 oz. (whoa!) and has a full head of dark, curly hair .... apparently much more hair than me now. Hoody-hoo!

M'kay, now back to the show ... although this MAY not be for the faint of heart. (smile) I've actually had more than enough time to make peace with the idea of losing all my hair for the next several months while I undergo chemo. Like everything else about this experience, once I'm able to digest any perceived bad news, I manage to quickly put it behind me and keep it moving. So I was very proud of myself that I shed not one tear over any of this today. Not one ... just like a big girl!

Everything I'd read and everyone who had been here before told me I should expect to have a tingling sensation in my scalp and clumps of hair falling out approximately 14 days after the start of my first treatment. So when last Thursday (the 14th day) came and went, and my head/hair/scalp appeared to be doing nothing out of the ordinary ... I was elated. In the words of Tony the Tiger, I said, "Grrrrrrreat!" Maybe I'd be lucky and my hair would just thin, not fall all the way out -- as some who wanted to be hopeful for me had suggested. Well, it was really wishful thinking ... and deep down, I knew it all along. The following day, I got up, got dressed for work, took a brush to my hair, and noticed whole strands were coming out in the brush. It was so surreal, especially because I otherwise felt entirely normal. Since then, I had brushed it verrrrrry gently and pulled it back into a ponytail or bun each day. I managed to go to a wedding on Saturday, hang out with my Sweedy on Sunday (had the best mango martinis too!), go to work the next 2 full days ... all with that same ponytail/bun seemingly in tact! (In truth, my hair was shedding and tangling profusely with every passing day ... yeesh.)

But today was absolutely the last day my hair was able to hold on. I could just tug at a strand anywhere on my head and it would come right out. Easily, I could have pulled ALL my hair out my head with little or no effort. Fortunately, the hair replacement system Mario Mazza of Couture4Cancer had ordered for me was finally here! So off I went to Mario's salon in Jupiter, FL (approx. 1.5 hours away) to have him shave my hair and give me my new Couture4Cancer look. Mario colored my new hair with really beautiful highlights and his lovely wife, Donna, cut and styled it for me.

I had really wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love (a wonderful not for profit organization that provides hair prosthetics to children with long-term medical hair loss) ... but I waited too long to cut my hair while I held out for my hair replacement ... and then my hair was simply too matted, and not to mention unwashed, to be of any good use.

But here's the new (temporary) me ... both before and after ...

hold onto your hats ... get ready ...

Ta-daaaah!

Do you know my parents were going to name me Adrian if I had been a boy??? Adrian Coke?? Mmm, I don't know about that one. I'm looking at these pics thinking I might not have been halfway bad looking for a boy ... at the very least, I don't have a pointy, cone-shaped dome. But it certainly would have sucked to have only been 5 ft. tall and bald headed with a corny name like Adrian, trying to get some hot chic to dance with me. (Hope I've offended no one here .... but heck, these are just my honest, shallow thoughts.) Okay, so I digressed.

The best way to explain this hair system is that it is essentially like a wig ... only it is custom made with human hair to match the texture and color of my real hair. The hair apparently comes from India, Pakistan, and Indonesia ... donated by women as a cultural practice when they get engaged and cut their long hair. Hmm? (I just might have to google that and do a little Nancy Drew sleuthing of my own ... curiosity has the best of me now.) Anyways, the scalp part of it is very, very thin ... it mimics the first layer of skin and looks much like a real scalp ... it can be parted anywhere, for instance. It is then affixed to my head with surgical bonding glue that lasts 6 weeks ... then I just go back for "maintenance." I should be able to wash, blow dry, flat iron, swim, jump out of airplanes, etc. with this hair and it should not come undone.

Mario wants me to try it out for one week with just the strong adhesive (no bonding glue) for now ... he will then make any adjustments I want before gluing it down around my hairline. I can already tell I want him to move it further down on my scalp ... it's set a little too far back right now. I feel like I'm going to break into song with an old Sade hit .... "Smooth Operator." (But then again, I could also pass for Susan Taylor's little sister.)