Hair!

Ever since I had to shave my head in late August because the chemo was causing my hair to fall out, I felt like I looked like a witch. It finally occurred to me why I thought this. It all stemmed from my favorite childhood television show, Sesame Street. I recalled a little sketch that I'd seen probably about a thousand times between the ages of two and ten (I have two younger siblings), when Sesame Street was "brought to me by the letter W" about a witch named Wanda who takes off her wig to show a spiky bald head. Well, having what some people call "Google-heimers", which is when you think of something you want to look up on the internet and then forget what it was by the time you get to a computer, it took me until now to find the clip. Here it is for you - the reason I felt like a bald witch:

A lot of people have asked, so I assume that a lot more are curious. They want to know, when you lose your hair on your head, do you lose your hair everywhere? The answer is yes and no. I can't speak for everyone, but personally, I lost hair everywhere - yes, everywhere - except for my arms. Don't ask me why the hair on my arms did not fall off, but it didn't. Eyebrows, eyelashes, legs, armpits - gone. Best. Brazilian. Ever.

It is starting to grow back ever so slowly. For the past month and a half or so the hair on my head has been growing in. It is a super-fine, downy-soft fuzz that the chemo nurses tell me is just the beginning of new hair growth. The really toxic chemo I had in my first round which made the hair fall out in the first place has worn off and since the second round chemo isn't as toxic as the first, it has started coming back in. Once I finish chemo completely - one more appointment- then real hair - not just feathery-soft stuff - will start to come in.

The unfortunate part of my re-growth is that my hair is coming in totally gray. I have had to color my grays for years and in that time I have said that I would bet that if I stopped dying my hair it would be totally gray, and guess what? I was right! If there is any dark hair left, it is all in the back. What I can see when I look in the mirror is gray and right around my face - totally white. Thanks to my late Nonna Carmela for passing on that gene! Take a look:

It's so fine, that it's hard to see:

Here's a closer look:

And an even closer look:

So, it looks like I'll be wearing my wig for a while yet. Unless this gray hair looks totally stylin', which I seriously doubt it will, I'll have to wait until it's long enough to color again. Will it be three different shades of brown since it's white in the front, gray in the middle and dark in back? Time will have to tell. In the meantime, I'll keep you posted of the return of hair!