[2021-01-07] Eyebrows and eyelashes
My husband wears reading glasses to see up close, but it's rare that he's wearing them when he's very near to me. Today was an exception, and he was surprised to see just how thin my eyebrows are and how sparse my eyelashes have become.
I, of course, have noticed the gradual loss of volume in my brows and lashes over the past month or so, which began after about my fourth chemo treatment. This gradual loss was in contrast to the more abrupt and dramatic loss of the hair on my head, hastened by the buzz cut my husband gave me just days after my second chemo treatment.
My hair loss has been one of the harder things that my husband has had to deal with. I think he's still traumatized from having given me a buzz cut. I'm so grateful that he did because I was afraid to do it myself, fearing that I would cut myself with the electric shaver.
It hasn't bothered me to lose my hair, even though I know it makes me look more ill than I feel. In fact, I joked with one person today who said that he really needed a haircut by replying: "I don't need a haircut, which is surprisingly freeing. Who knew? ;)"
The truth is I love being able to jump out of the shower, rub my head with a towel and then pop on a beanie. Talk about wash and wear. And, as a woman, I appreciate not having to fuss with hair removal from any part of my body.
I disclose this as part of my goal of sharing what it's like, physically and emotionally, to undergo chemotherapy. That's not to say that my experience will be like that of anyone else. But for those who will deal with cancer after me, knowing what someone else's response has been to the side effects of chemotherapy may be helpful.
A friend who dropped off homemade spaghetti and meatballs yesterday (they were as good as they sound) and saw me fleetingly as he jumped in his car after his "ring and run routine" later wrote: "Great to see your big smile today." I may have lost my hair, but I haven't lost my smile.
