Hair Loss Woes

Days 2-5

The last few days, I've had some minor side effects from the chemo. Slight nausea, migraines, and metallic mouth. The metallic mouth bothers me the most because I can't control it. At least with the nausea and headaches, I can take medicine. With the funky taste in my mouth, I don't even want to drink water. Plain ol' water makes me queasy, so I've had to resort to other types of drinks...iced tea, ginger ale...even my oh so loved coffee has not tasted good at all. I could be getting headaches because I'm not drinking enough coffee! I can't tell which side effect is caused by chemo or which ones are caused by the Neupogen shots, which have been stinging me like crazy. My right shoulder is also very achy. I thought it was from the port surgery, but now that I think about it, it might be from the Neupogen.

I visited Dr. Morton for my post-op yesterday. It looks like I developed some sort of allergic reaction around my incision site. Other than that, it is healing just fine. I knew it looked weird and it shouldn't have itched so much.

I had a crazy, vivid dream last night. I don't remember the exact location, maybe a graduation somewhere. As I was standing there, my hair started falling out in huge clumps, roots and all. I remember seeing all the hair come out in what looked like clip-on hair pieces. The anticipation of my hair loss is causing me to lose sleep. I feel like I am so prepared for this, yet I am beyond scared for it to happen. I have read everything there is to read about hair loss during chemo. I find myself visiting the same websites over and over again. I've even contemplated buzzing it 10 days post chemo. I need a haircut right now anyways. It's actually getting a little long. According to the doc, I have roughly 9 days of hair left. Since we are expecting a heat wave, buzzing it might not be a bad idea. But I'd still have to cover up when going out in public. Ugh, I just don't know what to do to minimize the emotional effect this is going to have on me.