Like I said before, she lost her hair. But, to be fair in documenting this whole thing, it wasn't ALL of her hair on her head. She actually had a few tufts around her ears and near her neck. So, what to do... what to do... We pondered this and after oh, a minute or so, she asked her husband to "just shave it all off". I was so worried about his reaction to seeing her without hair. I mean, I had seen her in the bathroom, but he hadn't seen her yet. What I didn't know what that he had seen the huge amount of hair in the trash can. He got the idea then. It's just that actually Seeing it is different. Anyway, so he has this shop out in the garage that he calls home. Lots of tools and gizmos and different "guy" stuff. Kinda not interesting in my opinion, but hey, I'm a girl. So, mom gets a chair, his electric razor, and sits down in the middle of the table sander and the electric table saw. What a momentous occasion. I asked before I took the pictures because I didn't want mom to think I was a strange person or anything... she said I was Way before this, so what surprise is that! lol (She still has a sense of humor anyway!) You'll see the pictures of the day my mom shaved her head. She's got a few stubble left, but for the most part, she looks like Kojak's little sister. Her husband was so kind after he shaved the hair off - he used the power air hose to blow the hair off her head, shoulders and such. He did it from the back and I have to say, out of all this garbage that's going on, to see my mom's ears flapping forwards and her scalp do the wave, was quite the funny looking thing! I guess her hair begins to grow back right before each treatment. Probably looks like a cactus of sorts... I'll help her shave it until she's done with the
It happened. I knew it would. I thought I was prepared.
She came out of the shower and opened the door.
Wrapped in a towel was my beautiful mom.
All her hair was in the bottom of the tub.
When I say it was a shock, I mean I sucked in air and felt a bit faint.
I started crying. I didn't mean to... I just did. She cried too.
We hugged for a while. Still, I hadn't seen her head yet because it was wrapped up in a towel.
As I prepared myself to look at it, mom said, "This is good. This means I'm going to get better."
Then the towel came off.
I've read so many blogs and articles about people undergoing treatments and how their hair falls out, but no one really puts the actual moment into words. It's terrible, horrifying, and it just plain sucks.
But, at the same time I was in awe. She has such a positive attitude. I hope I can be like her.
We did all this before church this morning. I went to church sporting red-rimmed eyes. She came to church sporting her new wig. She looked beautiful! I mean, really. She smiled and greeted people and sang and listened. I'm telling you, it was amazing. Then, she decided to hang around afterwords and wanted to visit with people and have coffee!
I personally would have run home (if I would have gone out at all) and cried some more.
Anyway, we shall see what this afternoon brings...
