One of the pitfalls of chemotherapy is losing your hair. Even though you know it’s coming and you think you’ve prepared for the inevitable, it is devastating when it finally does happen. Oh sure, there’s some really cute wigs and hats you can wear but there’s something about losing your hair that feels kind of hopeless. I always thought I looked sick when my hair was gone. It also caused others to give me that, “oh you poor thing” look. How in the world can anyone have hope when their hair is falling out by the handful?
My moment of hope came when one of my students so bluntly reminded me that she “really didn’t care about my hair.” The weather was warming up and my wig was getting very hot and itchy. We were to be in a small group testing situation and I asked if it would bother her if I didn’t wear my wig. Like I said, she let me know in her own special way that this situation was not about me. She was the one who had to take the test and my hair really didn’t matter! I began to realize that no one else was as worried about my hair as I seemed to be.
I have to admit though, when that first peach fuzz covering of hair appeared on my head I was overjoyed. It took a long time after finishing chemo for this to happen but it gave me hope that if my hair could return, then maybe I was going to be okay as well. So if you or someone you know feels hopeless about their situation with cancer right now, just hang on. Somewhere in all this darkness there will be hope; even if it is something as simple as hair.
Blessings, Cindy J
Footprints of Hope 